Fair warning: We’re going to be talking about an especially awful situation today, the kind that some people will find disturbing.
I’m not discussing this story today to glorify it in any way. Frankly, it’s one of the most awful that I’ve heard outside of a school shooting.
But there is a lesson that we can, hopefully, learn from what happened that may help to protect you and your family.
So, to start things off, let’s get into some of the details of this story. Matthew Brown, Gene Johnson, and Mikella Schuettler with the Associated Press write,
Shovelful by shovelful, investigators sifted through the charred remnants of a Montana home where four generations of a family were killed as they gathered for Sunday dinner, searching for evidence that might help explain what happened and why.
Alan Smith, 44, killed his grandmother, his parents, his younger sister and her children before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound just after police arrived, authorities said. Multiple fires were set inside the suburban home on the outskirts of Billings.
An absolutely awful situation.
But the vileness of what happened begs the question, “Why did this happen?”
And further into the story, we hear details which may give clues, such as “Smith had lived there before being asked to move out weeks earlier, according to accounts from police and surviving relatives.”
Now, I can’t say with certainty that being thrown out of the house caused Smith to slaughter family, including children, but it does appear to be a likely motivation.
It sounds like the rest of the family felt that the situation had been smoothed over enough to have family dinner together, though. Sadly, it would seem that they were wrong about that.
Which leads us to the first of two big lessons that I want you to take away from this: You can’t know when someone will decide to start shooting.
No one can, not with any degree of certainty (which is why it’s patently absurd to believe that law enforcement has the ability to keep everyone safe from people who intend other people harm).
And that leads us to the second big lesson, which is to always be carrying. Always. Because you simply can’t know when you’ll need to use your firearm to save your life or the life of someone else, so you must be prepared at all times.