Region reels again from another unfathomable police shooting

BY the time Northwesterners learned of a third police shooting in less than two months, the region was numb from the unspeakable series of tragedies. There is no good way to process the unfathomable harming of public servants who risk their lives daily to protect people.

How could it happen again, again and again? Nationwide, this has been an unusually perilous year for police shootings and our region stands out as a horrific example. Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton. The four Lakewood police officers gunned down as they sipped their morning coffee.

Then Monday, another mentally unstable individual does it again. Angry and full of rage, he takes his emotions out on his family and the Pierce County sheriff's officers who came to settle things down.

The shooting that left Sgt. Nick Hausner wounded and Deputy Kent Mundell Jr. in critical condition may sound routine. A domestic-violence case. An enraged individual. Shots fired. But this cannot be the way we experience the latest hideous attack.

If we are desensitized, we cannot imagine what the families of police officers endure every day.

It's a cliché to say we live in a sick, gun-obsessed culture, but it's true. Every time a state lawmaker attempts to tighten a gun rule or change a law, the Second Amendment crowd goes bonkers. They bear some responsibility for what is happening because of a never-give-an-inch stance on gun policy.

Guns don't kill police officers, people do. But people with guns kill more readily than people without guns. Sensible gun legislation should be welcomed in Olympia.

The tragedy in Eatonville scorches us anew. Families of fallen police officers and families who watch a brave public servant go to work each day are forever wary and changed.