Mass shootings in the
United States can't be solved with knee-jerk measures. All this finger-pointing
and arguing isn't helping one bit either. Instead of passing blame and arguing
over quick blanket fixes that won't really do any good, let's first figure out
what's causing and facilitating all these acts of violence.
Before we even start
talking about guns, let's first focus on the individuals committing these
heinous acts. What do they all have in common? Are there some common red flags
or indicators that we can pick out? Without doing any real research other
than what I've read in the news, I can put forward that a lot of these
individuals were suffering from depression and other mental issues that, for
the most part, went untreated. And it's not like people around them didn't
notice they were disturbed or weird or scary. A lot of times it's just
that people didn't think it was worth reporting. And God forbid if
someone actually reached out the individual and just tried to befriend them or
help them. Many were loners and outcasts and they were not only depressed, they
were enraged with how society treated them as individuals. They wanted revenge
and they wanted to be famous.
Which brings me to the
next piece in this puzzle. The media. We live in an age of almost-instant news.
I'm not saying the media purposely glorifies these shooters, but it's obviously
been made to look like a very attractive alternative to living a depressing,
downtrodden life for these mentally disturbed individuals. I've seen many
reports of these people listing high casualty rates as one of their top
priorities. Why? Because they'll make history if they can top the last highest
total. It's the totally wrong way to become famous (or infamous) but it seems
to be a common link with a lot of these shooters. So how can we (the media) not
make such a big deal of these shootings? Good question. They ARE a big deal.
It's the media's job to report them. I just think maybe they can go about the
reporting differently. Use some restraint. Report the facts and then STFU
for a while. Don't do these in-depth profiles of the shooters -that only
glorifies them in the eyes of other disturbed individuals contemplating the
same thing. In my opinion, news has morphed into more opinion pieces and
entertainment than just straight reporting the facts. I think getting back to
just reporting the news instead of sensationalizing the story might help.
And then there's guns.
As much as all the die-hard 2nd Amendment-loving, NRA card-carrying fanatics
want to deny it, we need to seriously limit access to high-caliber, assault-style
weaponry for the general public. Nobody needs an AR-15 for personal protection.
If you think you do, you might want to think about moving to safer
neighborhood/city/state. When our founding fathers drafted the language in the
2nd Amendment, they certainly didn't foresee, nor account for, advanced
weaponry with armor-piercing bullets and grenade launching options. They were
talking about the right of every law-abiding citizen to defend themselves. The
year was 1791 and we didn't have the kind of law enforcement that we have now.
There wasn't a cop nearby that you could summon on your cell phone. People had
to be able to protect themselves and their family and they wanted to be able to
legally keep a rifle or a gun in their house or on their person in order to do
so. Fair enough in 1791, but it's a whole lot more complicated today. I
still believe in the 2nd amendment, but we have to evolve a little bit,
folks. Weaponry these days is a whole lot more advanced and a whole lot
more deadly than it was in 1791. Everything is more advanced. Except people.
People seem to be just as stubborn and misinformed as ever. When talking about
gun control, all the pro-NRA folks immediately translate that into a BAN on gun
ownership. So they're all dug in their trenches and wrapped up tight in the 2nd
Amendment and unwilling to enter into any form of discussion because it will
just end up taking all their precious guns away from them. Next comes the
cherry-picking of statistics to further enrage BOTH sides of the issue.
Meanwhile, nothing gets done and folks on both sides of the issue become more
angry and more adamant and... NOTHING GETS DONE.
Which brings us to the
government and our politicians. All of them got into office by accepting
campaign contributions -some of them from very powerful political lobbyists. Ya
know, like the ones that work for the NRA. The more money you take, the more
you're expected to side with your donors. So let's call these campaign
contributions what they really are... BRIBES. We've been talking for decades
now about eliminating lobbying from Washington. I think that's a tremendously
great idea, but money talks and these lobbyists have BILLIONS to spend. It's
tough for us normal folks to have our voices heard in such a system. Short
of a revolution (which would be ugly in itself and destroy our entire society
as we know it), I don't see any easy fix for the corruption in Washington. It's
everywhere and it's an ingrained, integral part of our system of government.
Sad but true. If you don't think money and effective advertising can buy
anything these days, look no further than who is President right now. He got
there using smoke and mirrors and lots of money from lots of powerful business
people who saw him as the best thing to happen to them since corporations
became people.
What we, as individuals,
CAN do is keep pressure on our elected officials. Stop arguing with each other
back and forth on Facebook and communicate directly with your county and state representatives.
The odds are better that something positive will come from that. Also, get
involved with your school and your community. If you have a neighbor who
appears to be struggling for any reason, see if you can help them or at least
point them in the direction of someone who can. If you're a parent, talk to
your kids about all this shit. Get their thoughts and get a feel for what
they're feeling. Tell them to help and befriend that loner at their school and
report anything they feel is not right or suspicious. Most importantly, make
sure you're not raising the next school shooter. Don't be afraid to be involved
in your kids' lives. Don't believe everything they tell you, be a spy, invade
their privacy. It really is your right as a parent. It's the only way you'll
ever have any clue about some of the stupidly ridiculous things they do or
think about doing.
Everything I just
mentioned is a piece of the puzzle. Leaving any one of these things out
of the discussion won't bring about the change we need. The solution -or at
least an effective mitigation- to the issue of mass shootings must involve
calm, logical, fact-based analysis and discussions involving the areas of
mental health services and screening, responsible media coverage and reporting
practices, effective and fair gun control legislation to include enhanced
licensing and tracking of personally-own firearms, increased security measures
and counter-measures at schools and other public buildings, community-based
education and awareness programs, and a willingness for everyone to get
involved and report suspicious activities. You would think all of this would've
already been done, but I believe everyone has been too busy arguing and
pointing fingers.
