Mrs. Amontillado and I are in Galveston for the Tall Ships Festival. It's a wonderful event. For those who obsess over sailing and the sea, it's far, far, better than Disneyland. On a personal note, my sailing started with mentoring from a friend's dad. Among his many adventures, he was employed as helmsman aboard Elissa, Galveston's iron barque.

Getting there was problematic yesterday. We were southbound on I45 in heavily impacted traffic, covering quite a few miles at ten mph. Northbound was a 50 mile long parking lot.

After we got to Galveston we learned three Bandidos were killed in two separate shootings on northbound I45.

As best I figure, this time the Bandidos were the victims. I know Cossacks who are good decent folks. I don't want to paint with an unjustified broad brush, and I wish the best for the slain bikers' families and friends.

On the other hand, I'm past ready to think of the Bandidos as more of a freak show than a biker gang.

From very brief personal experience, if you don't interact with Bandidos, they won't go out of their way to interact with you. Much like rattlesnakes. Leave 'em be.

But every time some idiot wrongfully pulls a trigger it compromises all our rights by fueling other idiots in Congress and in Austin.

In other news, New Mexico police raided the wrong house and killed a homeowner with no connection to their intended target - https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/07/us/new-me...ouse/index.html .

It would be wrong to disarm police because tragic incidents happen, even if criminally tragic.

It should be as easy to see it's wrong to disarm law abiding citizens because some people commit violent crime.

Or, maybe not wrong. Maybe just plain evil stalks the halls of legislatures. Kind of makes one want to never miss a vote.