Thursday night’s tragic shooting in Lafayette really hits close to home.

A reported drifter from Phenix City, Ala., who was sitting in the back of the theater, opened fire with a handgun on movie patrons in front of him. Two people died, including one at the scene. Another nine patrons were wounded in the carnage.

Authorities identified the shooter as James Russell Houser, a 59-year-old while male with a history of mental problems, according to family members who were interviewed since the shooting.

It’s a shame innocent people simple can’t go out and enjoy a movie without experiencing this type of tragedy.

Coincidentally, Bogalusa firearms instructor Scott Ard recently had a firearms class for area clergymen. That was in response to the nine people being killed during a Bible study class in Charlestown, S.C.

Louisiana has a Concealed Carry law, and who is to say if the killings in Lafayette could not have been prevented if another patron had a weapon for self-defense?

But them again, who is to say one of them didn’t?

It’s simply tragic all the way round.

The Lafayette shooting is sure to rekindle the debate over gun control. Owning a weapon is a right of citizens according to the Constitution but surely the framers of the Constitution did not have mass shootings in mind when the Bill of Rights was written.

Though horrible, let’s hope the events in Lafayette don’t bring about knee-jerk reactions from either side of the gun control debate.