Daily random shootings in the city?

It really does seem as though there is at least one random shooting per day in town.

Here's today's nugget:

A woman in a house was wounded tonight in a drive-by shooting

"Someone fired several shots into a house in the 3700 block of Bales Avenue in Kansas City about 9:30 p.m. The victim is being treated at a hospital, and police did not immediately know how serious her injuries were. Officers were still talking to witnesses about an hour later."

I don't write about the shootings that happen at 2 am or some other "middle of the night" instance. Our Dad always said there was no one out in the middle of the night but "muggers, whores and thieves" (thanks, Dad!) and that anyone that was out at that time of night should get some sense. (And this was St. Joseph, for pity's sake).

What gets me are these senseless shootings in the rather normal, waking hours. If you're paying attention, they happen too frequently. And sure, it's summertime but that doesn't mean this makes sense or that it's somehow okay, by any means.

Can you imagine clunking around your house in seeming safety and then all of a sudden you're shot? Can you imagine the terror?

Can you imagine being in a party at a house with 40 other people when suddenly a car drives by and sprays the group with bullets, like happened the other day, and 2 people are shot? I have to say, I can't.

I'm not being alarmist here, either. It's not like this is the first summer ever, here in town, that we've had shootings. Far from it. And we're up a bit in murders in town but it's not "off the chart", so to speak.

It's just that the daytime shootings seem much more frequent and commonplace, almost.

I'd like to think we aren't at the point where we aren't cavalier about shootings, the frequency of shootings and some wild availability and use of guns.

Here's hoping.

Links to stories:
http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2009/08/1-woman-shot-injured-near-37th-and-bales.html
http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/local/story/2-Injured-in-Shootings-in-East-KC/Snm5Pm6Ff0SM-9pf33lmsg.cspx?rss=764