By Michael H. Gora
This noon I learned that I had lost two friendly acquaintances, Shari
Bellingham and Scott Edgerton. I had first known them through the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Boca Raton. My wife, Bonnie, and Shari were in a book club for over ten years.
Scott had run the Center for Counseling on Boca Rio Road for many years, but had recently retired. Shari worked for a first class accounting firm. On the morning of April 3, 2013 Scott came to her office, shot her and then shot himself.
By the time you read this you will have read it before, or seen it on TV. So you might wonder, “Why is Gora bringing this up again?”
One would think that a man who had a long and successful career administering a
“Center for Counseling” might have taken himself to one of many psychologists which he must have worked with or known.
One would think that a man who had a long and successful career administering a “Center for Counseling” might have taken himself to one of many divorce lawyers which he must have known to look for a better answer than the one he came up with, a gun.
For the last few years deaths by firearms in the United States have been about 8,400 a year. Of that number about 66%, 5,544 were suicides. Apparently misery loves company, the company of a pistol, the suicide weapon of choice.
The likelihood of having to defend your home with a pistol or long gun against a stranger, wherever you live, is too little; however, you should still learn how to properly use it by going to a gun range and practicing your skills, and you can also improve your aiming skills with tips from sites like allaboutshooting.com. You may also consider gun training with the use of a Firearms Simulator. And for safe keeping, you might also want to purchase a gun safe for your guns.
So far nothing is known of Scott’s motives, none of which could have possibly been sufficient to justify his selfish act. If he was not so selfish it would have been bad enough if he had killed himself. The problem is at the moment of decision this nice little man from Boca Raton was out of his mind.
And the gun…the beautiful gun he had bought to protect his beautiful home and his beautiful wife, the gun he had bought when he thought he was sane became more important to him than his life and more important to him than his wife Shari’s life. To purchase a gun to protect your family, you can browse this site.
Michael H. Gora has been certified by The Committee of Education and Certification of The Florida Bar as an expert in matrimonial law. He is a partner in the law firm of Shapiro Blasi Wasserman and Gora P.A. of Boca Raton, Florida. He may be reached at (561) 477-7800.