IN CITIES AND SMALL TOWNS, TOO MANY ANGRY PEOPLE ARE RELYING ON GUNS TO SETTLE DISPUTES

Children learn by example. What are they learning from the growing rage on the road, at the office and at home?

It's not just faraway places that deal with adult rage. A recent case in Poplar Bluff illustrates the problem.

An argument over barking dogs apparently sparked a recent shooting among neighbors in Poplar Bluff. A man confronted his neighbors, complaining their barking dogs had kept him awake the night before. After arguing a few minutes, according to police, the sleep-deprived man pulled a gun from his pocket and shot two neighbors. He went home, got another pistol and fired 10 more shots at the neighbor's house. Then he turned the gun on himself.

Disputes among neighbors over dogs and a thousand other little things are nothing new. But too often these days the first course of action seems to involve firearms.

Society needs a better way to handle the anger that is welling up in too many people.