So here we go again. The shooting sprees are occurring in rapid succession. A garlic festival in Gilroy, California. A Walmart in El Paso, Texas. A neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio. The frequency is horribly alarming.
With each shooting spree, the same sad routine is repeated. The initial outrage and disbelief… the angry calls for gun control… the polarization of people to the same old tired extremes… the repetitive back-and-forth bickering between these extremes… the political brownie points chased after by high-profile politicians…and finally, nothing gets done. Time marches on… and the public consciousness is slowly dulled by yet another tragedy fading toward the past. Until the next shooting spree, when the whole ridiculous cycle begins all over again.
I belong to an Internet forum where issues like this are discussed, and it’s comical to see the same characters assume the same stances immediately after a shooting spree occurs. One of the old-timers, a staunch Republican, Trump fan, and very much pro-gun… immediately assumes the defensive pose. The sad part of this is that, no matter how hard one tries to get him to moderate his stance, he just digs into his foxhole and does not yield an inch. The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution giving citizens the right to bear arms… the mistrust of the government… the refusal to budge on any issue that might contribute toward a solution. As with many extremists, he is very knowledgeable about the topic, citing statistics that suit his argument.
On the other hand, there is the opposite extreme. Those who immediately call for a ban on guns, something akin to calling for Israel and Palestine to get along. It’ll never happen. What these extremists do is actually provide fodder for the opposite extremists. It’s why my Internet friend says, “See? They want to take away all our guns.” One can only imagine the “cold, dead hands” line will soon follow.
In this day and age, when the human race has proven that no technological barrier is insurmountable, it is tragic to see that a critical problem such as this can go unresolved because two sides cannot sit down, roll up their sleeves, and come to collaborative solutions. It’s tragically comical to see the same “rinse and repeat” cycle repeat itself every time there is a new shooting spree. They say a dog will not bump into the same rock twice. Well, on issues like this, we humans not only bump into the same rock more than once. We take that rock and beat ourselves senseless with it. If we were being observed by some alien beings examining life forms on Earth, they would have long been rolling on the floor in hysterical laughter.
Some facts surrounding this sudden explosion of shooting sprees are undeniable. For one, many of them have been carried out by sick-minded individuals consumed by hate toward a certain group of people. Blacks, Hispanics, LGBT, Muslims, Jews, etc. Another fact is that increasingly, the shooters are armed with weapons capable of killing many people in a short amount of time. My Internet friend says the mainstream media pushes the narrative that all shooting spree weapons are automatic action assault weapons, when they’re not.
My answer is that there should be full transparency every time there is a shooting, regarding the nature of the weapons used. To those of us who are not gun experts, these details should be explained.
This topic really deserves more discussion than can be accomplished in a blog article such as this. I will definitely write more articles on the subject. But I’d like to close by saying that at some point, this situation will reach a critical mass. At some point we are going to have that one shooting spree that is going to grab society by its collective collar and say, “Get off your butt and do something about this!!”
I would’ve hoped we had reached that point already.
It is a very disturbing never-ending cycle. You’d think that the murder of 20 6 yr olds back in Newtown, CT would’ve sufficed to bring about change, but apparently people’s love of the 2nd amendment is far greater than their respect for human life.
I understand that this is a problem much more complex than just banning guns. Something drives young white men (they’re usually young and white) to choose extreme violence as the answer to whatever woes they’re going through at the moment. The main problem here is that until that “something” is addressed the best recourse to prevent this from happening again and again “ad nauseam” is to make their weapon of choice less accessible.
Is it inconvenient for gun enthusiasts to have to go through a few extra steps to get their guns? Sure. It certainly was inconvenient for smokers to be banned from exercising their right to smoke inside restaurants, airplanes, office buildings. However, when it was proven that cigarette smoke was pernicious to the general public’s health a decision was made for the greater good. I suppose that cigarette lobbyists are amateurs compared to the behemoth that is the gun industry.
I will say that a possible long term solution that can be implemented now in schools is to create more group engaging activities akin to those in office settings. Activities that have individuals interacting and working in groups towards a similar goal. Clearly these young men are completely lacking in empathy. They need to build bonds with people from different backgrounds and ethnicities starting at a young age. School can be a terribly isolating environment and this should be addressed early.
Thank you for your excellent comments as always, Angela. Your comments had been missed as of late. This is a complex topic that is impossible to cover in just one blog post, which is why I will probably post a few more articles in the near future.
The most frustrating thing I see in people when discussing this issue is their penchant to rush to one extreme or the other. Once they are there, they don’t budge. I have long expressed my views (in the Internet forum I mentioned) regarding possible steps toward resolving the issue. In my opinion, it must be a multi-pronged approach. Not just one area, but several. Mental health screening, background checks, stricter laws on gun and ammo types, a more federal rather than state approach… these and other areas need to be tackled.
I insist in that actions must be taken now, rather than waiting for the next tragedy. At some point it will horrible enough to everyone that the scales will finally be tipped in the right direction. But at what cost?