The shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is shocking. Frightening, too, especially if you're someone who spends a fair amount of time in the presence of elected officials, as my wife does. But even though the year is barely a week old, dozens more Americans have been killed by someone wielding a handgun.

The notion that someone might simply walk up, plant a pistol on someone's forehead and pull the trigger might be shocking to those who live outside urban areas. For those of us a little closer, the scene is more deja vu than WTF. Handguns are everywhere, and they're cheap.

I've never understood the arguments for personal use of handguns (police and army use are another question altogether). They exist, though. The NRA and folks like that would have you believe that Giffords could have pulled out her own piece and defended herself against her assailant. The truth is, if she had been able to unholster a weapon and pull the trigger, no one knows where that bullet might have gone. Maybe another child would have been killed. Strapped or not, she would still be in a coma in the hospital.

The handgun issue heats up every now and then, and I've read interviews with hunters who say they always carry a handgun in order to "finish off" a wounded animal. Such "hunters" (I hesitate to use the term, out of respect for real hunters) are dumber than rocks. There are a lot of ways to "finish off" an animal, but standing over it and shooting isn't one of them. Standing a ways away and using a rifle (or arrow, if you're bowhunting) is much better. For starters, that method eliminates the chance of the animal getting off a successful attack. Pulling a Dirty Harry on a wounded animal is a recipe for losing your testicles. If you're lucky.

There is only one good use for a handgun: wounding or killing a person at close range. As Saturday's events prove, a semi-automatic pistol is quite effective in a crowd.

But do we need handguns in our society at large? I don't think so. Most police officers like carrying their weapons, but more than you imagine don't ever use them in the course of their careers. Thirty years on the street without even pulling a gun? That's not just possible; it's the sign of smart police work.

During the first eight days of this year, eight murders were logged in Prince George's County, Maryland--one body was found less than a mile from my house. This is an extreme rate, as P.G. County has averaged about two murders per week the last couple of years. But I would guess that once all the M.E. reports come back, most of those murders were committed with handguns. Handguns in the hands of kids and young adults. Not a good combination.

I know, your balls swing a little heavier when you're strapped. This whole handgun/concealed weapon thing is all about fulfilling macho needs. Concealing your weapon is certainly impractical. Wearing your weapon conspicuously is a much more effective method of intimidation, if you feel the need. And if you want to scare the holy living shit out of people, walking around with a shotgun in your hands works every time.

Similarly, if I was concerned about needing to protect myself from the government and being ready to fight an insurrection in the name of freedom, I would have a couple heavy rifles and a 12-gauge shotgun. The rifles ought to keep intruders away from the homestead for a bit, and then I could turn to the 12-gauge for some serious in-close anti-personnel help when necessary. 'Cause if you want to be sure, use a 12-gauge. There's no lingering in the hospital when the contents of a shotgun cartridge ramble through your head. In fact, there's usually very little head left, period.

I waited an extra day to see if the usual morons got up on their varied political soapboxes to lay blame for the Giffords shooting. They did and continue to do so. The blame game is simply continuing the toxic atmosphere that pervades our country. The truth of the matter is that crazy people do crazy things. And the only thing we can do is try to give crazy people fewer options for mayhem. Handguns have very little practical use other than killing people. There's no good reason an estimated 65 million handguns are floating around our country--and testicular enhancement definitely is not a good reason--but they're there, nonetheless. I can't imagine how we could get rid of even most of them.

But I think we ought to try. After all, George Washington and the boys did pretty well against the Redcoats without handguns. The paranoid still will be able to stockpile overwhelming arsenals without owning a single handgun. The only problem I can foresee is be that criminals will need to find a new form of male enhancement. Maybe they can give a call to Smilin' Bob.

Jon Worley is pissed that his prediction for the decade came true so quickly.