The headline story this morning on the website of our local newspaper, the Citizen-Times: “WNC Gun Market to Remain Strong.”  The story relates how gun sales in the area have exploded, so to speak, over the last four years and are expected to continue that pace with the re-election of President Obama.  The reporter quoted Dawn Stucker, co-owner of an Asheville gun store: “Anytime you have those election years where people are going to do the what-if, what if this is an anti-gun person, what if he is going to bring the ban back, what if?  Anytime you what-if people, what do they do?  They want to go out and buy.”  The story later cites statistics from the FBI that “guns were used in 21 percent of assaults and 68 percent of murders” in 2011.

Right below that headline is a link to another story, “Arrests Made in Cherokee Homicide.” Two months ago, an elderly woman from Shelbyville, Indiana, was shot by a robber with a handgun at close range, in a Fairfield Inn parking lot with her husband at her side, after gambling at the casino in Cherokee, North Carolina.  Suspects were arrested yesterday.

A little further down the page, one finds “Asheville Police Investigate Drive-By Shooting.” The article reports that “someone fired about a half dozen shots from a vehicle around 12:30 p.m., aiming at a group of young men and women gathered in the street.  Some of the bullets hit and went into a residence, but no one was injured.”

Many people here in the North Carolina mountains must be asking “What if… ?” today, and I am not referring to the gun owners.