Gerald Fischman, the long-time editorial page editor of the Annapolis Capital, was no stranger to mass shootings. He had written about them for years _ moving editorials full of pain, disgust and despair, but also determination. He championed reasonable restrictions on gun ownership. He deplored the lack of resources for mental health care. And above all, he insisted that we must come together as a community, to care for one another. He saw hope in the voices of young people moved to act after the Parkland shooting, but his editorials were colored by mounting frustration that it was a subject he was compelled to address again and again.
He was one of the five Capital Gazette staff members killed in the newsroom Thursday afternoon.
We wish we could know how he would have tried to make sense of the tragedy that struck his colleagues and community so deeply on Thursday. But we can witness the empathy with which he confronted the ceaseless parade of tragedies that has befallen our nation. Here is a sampling of his editorials in reaction to recent acts of mass violence.
