The lessons we learn from the shooting massacre in Sandy
Creek should but will not help prevent tragedies like this from happening in
the future. I say this because we are stuck on all the wrong reasons why this
happened. It has nothing to do with gun or god control. The other fact is we
are also not the only country in our wealth bracket that experiences these
tragedies. This problem has to do with the absolute failure of governments and
social services to properly identify younger individuals with behavioral
defects long before they wield a gun in vein. Globally we also expose youth to
violence and killing through mass media both with TV and Video games.
First thing we need to do is identify and deal with trouble
long before it happens. Hypothetically a man who is considered mentally ill by
a by medical evaluation and also certified by a State Justice that he is found
to be a danger to himself due to mental illness should never be allowed to
legally buy a gun in this country under those conditions. Let’s say though he
did obtain guns legally then committed a mass murder shooting at an educational
institution. There would be a call for radical change that would send
shockwaves through our country and its law system. Well, this tragedy did
happen; in 2007 Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded 17 others on the
campus of Virginia Tech. I stand corrected, all of it happened except the
radical change and that’s the reason why mass murder killings continue to happen.We fail to make improvements in this country after tragic events like the Newtown and Virginia Tech. Part of the blame must go to media coverage. Take Columbine for instance. The media made such big hype over that the term trench coat mafia became a funny joke. It made a bad situation come off as light hearted. This is dangerous because the story now has appeal because we gave the killers a cool identity rather than show what the real reasons were why they committed a horrible act.
What media should have done is put pressure on our law makers to bring about radical change. The problem is violence is very marketable and if TV companies denounced it they would lose potential revenue. A good example of ads promote violence would be the one I saw the day after the Newtown murders. I walked into a box mart and there was a pop up billboard by the entrance. The ad displayed a cool video character wielding a pistol. As it stands mass media would never boycott these ad campaigns just to send a political message. There is too much money generated from violent games. Money rules and until advertisers and TV are forced to take responsibility for their message they send they will not change.
Finally the last bit of change we need is to understand why these sick things happen. The Columbine and Virginia Tech shooters already showed warning signs of what they might be capable of doing prior to actually pulling the trigger. In the Columbine case, Harris and Klebold had even made a class project video depicting killing their classmates. The teacher wrote it off as being creative. Both shooters also felt like outcasts and were bullied quite a bit growing up. Bullying is another issue all together but that must be changed in this country as well. Bottom line is we have to be more cognizant of why these things happen and start to examine ways to change from a younger age.
What type of change we need more of would be much like what occurred in the aftermath of a shooting that cost 16 lives in Winnenden, Germany. The parents of the victims petitioned their local representatives to push for prohibition of violent shooter games, better monitoring of gun owners in the community and all ammo to be deposited with police. Notice very little of the change demanded had to do with gun control or religion. The change that these parents wanted was common sense. This approach is more proactive than endless knee jerk reaction that we get from news coverage and our politicians who take the easy road of creating more laws that will not be properly followed. Keep in mind gun control laws were in effect on December 14th when this latest shooting happened.
One final thought on these mass murder tragedies. In almost
every case the gunman or men turn on themselves and commit suicide. We never
really ask why. I have a theory. This is that the killers usually are mentally
incapable of fathoming how horrific their actions are until they reach a point
during the killings where I believe their conscious becomes aware of what they
are doing and how horrific it is. At that point the reality becomes so intense
they can’t fathom living and they kill themsef.
I wonder if we could have reached these people before they
committed these acts of violence if they were still capable of remorse in the
end. Like I say it’s a theory and we don’t like to reason in the moments or
time after these tragic scenes. We like to become an angry mob, have TV glorify
and overkill a story and then ultimately forget it happened and accept that
it’s part of life. If you do not think that is true why are we still dealing
with it. Please start pushing for change. I have put various links on the
bottom of this page to reference mass shootings that have occurred in recent
history. When you read the stories ask why this keeps happening, that is the
real truth.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seung-Hui_Cho
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_United_States_(by_state)