Thursday’s horrific tragedy thrust Moultrie into the national debate on gun violence.

A 26-year-old Moultrie man killed his mother at their home, went next door and killed his grandmother, then went to McDonald’s restaurant, where he killed the assistant manager and shot himself to death.

Discussions in the community have ranged widely, including a lot of speculation that turned out to be wrong.

But something else came to the surface of these conversations. There are people in Moultrie who are accustomed to gunfire in their neighborhoods. They think little of it — or they try to think little of it, anyway. They’re scared, but they have to keep living in spite of the nightly pop-pop-pop!

That kind of experience is what you’d expect in a Third World nation where the government can’t control rebels or terrorists. Or in major cities where local law enforcement can’t control street gangs.

It’s not the way people are supposed to live in small-town America.

Whether the gunfire is from rowdies shooting in the air or gangsters shooting up houses, there should be some way police and the community can come together to put a stop to it.