An Atlanta mom hides her kids in a crawl space and armed herself to take on an intruder. Yet, MSN reports the mom as a trigger happy woman!

So let’s understand this. A man knocks on her door. She believes it is a solicitor and tells her kids not to answer the door. The person at the door continues to bang on the door and ring the bell. The woman calls her husband. He tells her to hide the kids and then calls 911–smart man!  The intruder then breaks into her house, begins to rummage through her things. When the intruder finds the hiding space, the mom, armed to protect her kids,  opens fire to save her family. That makes her trigger happy?

And what about the intruder? He was released from jail in late August after serving 9 months for simple battery and probation violations. According to his jail records, he had six other arrests since 2008–hardly a first time offender! Maybe this is where the news focus needs to be. What happens to criminals who serve a short sentence and then are released to the streets?

Our penal system is overcrowded and failed. Locking people up and releasing them with no rehab or real accountability is where a major problem lies. What are we doing to address the broken criminal system? Instead of politicians clamoring for gun control and more regulations, how about some real action towards fixing our ailing prison and rehab systems! Talk about broken! Yet, I’ve heard nothing on the news about this incident that raises the awareness of politicians and community groups to take a look at how we deal with criminal behavior. When nothing is done but lock people up, release them for overcrowding, or give them a pass because the system is already overburdened, crime walks into our living rooms.

It’s time to stop blaming the victim, being distracted by gun control arguments, and take a hard look at our penal system.