Los Angeles Times

Commentary: I was shot in the Southern California desert. Why? That’s the wrong question

The writer was shot by a man attempting a carjacking on an empty desert road.

Why do we keep treating gun violence in the U.S. as a series of isolated incidents instead of an out-of-control epidemic?

Why do we seek the motive of the shooter, as if that knowledge offers protection from future acts of violence, perpetrated by other shooters?

A year and a half ago, on a morning in late summer, I was driving through the California desert, leaving a school camping trip early to make it back to

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