From the OC Register:
My wife and I were at Fashion Island on Saturday when a gunman in a parking lot by Macy's let loose with 50 rounds. We were never in danger, but seeing panicked shop girls on their cells phones, police helicopters above and Orange County sheriff's deputies carrying assault rifles was not your usual holiday shopping experience. We live in a post-Columbine world, and it is not pretty. The rash of mass shootings this year, from Seal Beach to Sandy Hook, makes one feel that when the history of this era is written, the iPhone and rampant gun violence will be viewed among our major, lasting contributions. We have much to be thankful for in this holiday season, but after the massacre of 20 first-graders and six teachers in a suburban Connecticut school, "sleeping in heavenly peace" has taken on a sad and somber meaning. [About the author: Kevin O'Leary is a journalist and political scientist at the Center for the Study of Democracy at UC Irvine.]

For the full story, please visit http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/gun-381015-guns-one.html.