The problem here is that a crazy with the gun can (and does) turn up anywhere. A relative of mine lost some friends at work a few years ago when a gunman turned up at their office. Has that happened recently in your town? There was a shooting at our local mall a couple of weeks ago, where shoppers were forced to flee as bullets were flying. Does that happen where you live? My son has to do active shooter drills at school. How many times does your kid have to do drills like this? Kids turn up at school with guns in their backpacks to show their friends. You can sometimes hear gunshots at night. And I live in a very nice area.
Unless you've lived here, you really can't say that someone's imagination needs to be "reined in", or that people shouldn't be scared. This is a country with approximately 400 million guns. Just think about that statistic for a moment.
As a matter of fact, I do live here.
I live in a very nice area that is probably an hour and a half south of Highland Park, less depending on traffic. There are large gay and black and Jewish populations in my suburb, which is proud of its contribution to racial justice in this country. Its voting record is the bluest of blue. It opened a symbolic registry for gay couples to register domestic partnerships years before the Supreme Court legalised gay marriage. It's in many ways a plum target for right wing extremist violence. The local synagogues and their preschools are well equipped with cameras and security patrols.
Any random disaffected young white man aged 18-24 could carry a gun to a civic event - there are lots of them, from family movie nights in the local parks, open air theatrical productions, live music events, street festivals, and Memorial Day and 4th of July parades - to the packed public swimming pools, to a high school football game on a Friday night, to the many restaurants with outdoor seating, packed with diners on a lovely summer night, to the congregations attending synagogues and churches on weekends, to the lines of people at the ice cream place, and to any school at recess. A student was removed from the high school in the past semeter when it was discovered that he had a gun, not the first and probably not the last.
I have worked in a few different skyscrapers in the city next door, and I know dozens of people who still do. This despite 9/11 and despite the murder in broad daylight of the husband of a women from my church community many years ago by a former employee.
I live about fifteen minutes on foot from an area of that city which is plagued by incessant gang violence. I used to live two blocks from this area and on warm summer nights I could hear the pop of gunfire and the sirens of police cars and ambulances.
My children have always done tornado and fire drills, and added shooter drills when the oldest was about 12.
Are we barricaded inside our home? No.
Do we often leave the back door unlocked at night? Yes.
Does life go on? Yes.