Guns, guns, guns.

It took less than two hours after the breaking news awakened us on Friday morning about the massacre at a theater in Colorado, for one nut to send me a message that said to stop this kind of slaughter of human life, every American should pack heat. Should be forced by law to pack heat.

For full disclosure, I am a Second Amendment rights advocate. People should be allowed to own guns. No question. Period. But to carry them around like Jessie James is ridiculous, stupid and defies logic. I interviewed several of my buddies on the local police force and to the man (and one woman) they all said, “NO” to arming citizens on the street. One even went so far as to say that giving the general public open license to carry guns around would be tantamount of starting the next big war.

The “I’ve ben in office too long” governor of Texas, Rick Perry, had suggested after a student shooting, that all students should be required to carry handguns for protection on college campuses. He was serious, too. Can you image that?  I can. It would be a drunken blood bath. Carnage 101.

Look, the crime in Aurora, Colorado is horrible. Whether you are a gun owner or not, it is an insult to the civility which Americans try to prescribe for their daily lives. The peace and tranquility we so desperately want, the safety for our families and friends we try and envelope around us, will not be aided by crackpots calling for more guns on people and more guns on the streets.

The opposite will happen. It’s like saying to stop HIV we need more unprotected sex.

What this country does need is an awakening to the fact that serious sick people are getting their hands on guns. What can we do about that? I don’t have an answer this morning, but I promise you I will be thinking about it. And if you are a member of the NRA, I would suggest you get your organization thinking about it as well. Because every time there is one of these huge shootings, the Second Amendment gets weakened ever so slightly and soon, I fear, the legs beneath its support will come crashing down.

The best way to halt the erosion of support for gun ownership protection is to find a way to keep the nutcases from owning guns. It is going to take some real open and honest looking at the problem.

What it doesn’t need is loud-mouth crazies calling for everyone to arm themselves on America’s streets.