A man with a semi-automatic rifle went on a shooting spree in Santa Monica, California.  Although his motive is yet unknown, what is known is that it began at the home of his father, Samir Zawahri 55, and his brother.  The shooter shot and killed his father and brother, then set the house ablaze.  We can therefore assume there was an argument and the fuse was lit.  Since the shooters’ ultimate aim was to get to Santa Monica College, it might also be assumed he attended or formerly attended the school.  Perhaps he was looking for revenge against a professor or another student.  That will need to be investigated further.  On the way, he hijacked the car of Laura Sisk and forced her to drive to the campus as he randomly shot, and killed two other individuals firing at a bus.  According to Sisk, the gunmen told her,”You’re going to drive me to Santa Monica College and let me out.”  She begged him to take the car be he refused telling her “he’d let me go if I didn’t do anything stupid.”  At a school parking lot, the gunman shot and killed the driver of a Ford Explorer and badly wounded the passenger.  He then ordered Sisk to let him out and she drove off and abandoned the car when she was a safe distance away.  He then shot and killed a woman outside the library as he disappeared in to the building.  The library was filled with students who scrambled for cover when he entered.  A short time later he was confronted by law enforcement who shot and wounded the gunman.  He died a short time later on the sidewalk after police carried him out of the library.  All told, five people were killed, five wounded, two seriously.  Once again we have a case of a misfit, malcontent who took the lives of innocent people for no other reason than the fact he was a loser.  And that truly is a waste.  The lives of surviving family members have been negatively changed forever.  But there is a lesson to be learned here.  People must begin having a heightened sense of their surroundings.  Gone are the days when people lived their lives in small enclaves protected from the violence of the big city.  We must notice our neighbors, people riding on the bus or subway.  Any man over the age of thirty, and living with his mother, should be watched closely.  I know it sounds like stereotyping and it is but it’s our first, best defense against dangerous individuals.  The only way to stop these incidents, is to prevent them.  Better to err on the side of caution.  Even if a so-called normally functioning man isn’t married or with a partner by the time he’s thirty, he certainly doesn’t want to live with his mother unless there’s something wrong with him.  It may not be kind, but sometimes the truth isn’t kind.  And the state of the economy is a poor excuse.  People must be more willing to become involved in their own safety, whether with a neighbor or on a plane.  The best defense is often a strong offense and hiding and cowering in a classroom is a surefire way to lose one’s life if a gunman is loose in a school.  The ostrich rarely survives an attack since he doesn’t see it coming.  One other important tip to anyone reading this.  If anyone ever jumps in front of your car in an attempt to steal it, hit the gas, run him over, and head to the nearest police station to report the incident.  I speak from experience.  Twenty-five years ago this happened to me after I dropped off my wife, (girlfriend back then) at her house after a date.  While driving down a major street at 1:00 in the morning, a young man, part of a group, attempted to jump in front of my car, I tried to go around him but he wasn’t going to allow me to pass.  As he reached for what I believed to be a weapon, I floored the car and drove straight for him.  At the last moment he jumped out-of-the-way, my side view mirror hitting him in the arm and knocking him to the ground.  Make no mistake, my instinct to survive, superseded my desire not to injure or kill another human being.  As  I looked in my rearview mirror I saw him get up so I knew he wasn’t badly injured.  I drove to the police precinct, which was nearby, to inform them what had just transpired. They took my information and told me I had done the right thing because there had been a rash of carjackings; a couple, ending violently.  Had I stopped, as others would have, and did, before me, perhaps I would not have made it home that morning. They sent a car to the scene to see if they could pick anyone up.  Even in today’s liberal, “can’t we all just get along” fantasy world, filled with people who hate guns, we have a right and responsibility to defend ourselves and other law-abiding citizens from bad people. Had one person with a firearm, and trained to use it, been on the street, perhaps a life or two may have been saved.  Law enforcement can not do it on their own.  We can either choose to defend ourselves or die like sheep.  No one wants to go back to the lawless west where might often made right, but what’s the difference, when incidents such as these continue to occur on a regular basis.  A word to the wise…..