I feel conflicted because, on one hand, this woman is dead and that's terrible, but on the other hand, well, just read this:
St. Louis (CNN) -- A woman appears to have accidentally fatally shot herself in the head with a gun bought to prepare for possible Ferguson-related unrest, according to sources briefed on the police investigation. [...]
The boyfriend, who wasn't identified, told police that the couple had bought a gun because of fears of unrest related to the pending grand jury decision on the shooting of Michael Brown, the sources said.
The woman reportedly waved the loaded gun around inside the car which caused her boyfriend to crash after moving his head to avoid the fucking loaded gun. The gun went off during the crash, killing the woman.
Chances are high, if not absolute, that this couple who bought a gun for protection would have never needed it.
I can't think of many reasons to have sympathy, but I will say that politicians, including local politicians, have been stoking fears for weeks now and the governor even declared a preemptive state of emergency.
Not everyone is as enlightened as we'd like them to be and it's the responsibility of elected leadership to not cause panic.
Of course that's not the world we live in. We live in a world where the panic button is a very useful campaign tool.