A History of Violence

The human race as a species is capable of unspeakable violence. A brief reading of known history reveals this, let alone an extensive study which can send chills down your spine. This violence can be the result of nation versus nation or individual acts of criminality.

Last week we once again witnessed a mass shooting in a movie theater in Louisiana. The perpetrator obtained his weapon legally from a pawn shop in Alabama. This in spite of his troubled history, his ex-wife had removed his weapons from him and at one point he was committed against his will. He was bi-polar and apparently routinely did not take his medications. He had a love of Nazism and was estranged from his whole family. All of these things are indicators of a possible meltdown. Could he have been prevented from legally buying a weapon? The answer is yes if all fifty states and territories were properly reporting all of the data they are supposed to and there were no loopholes in buying a gun. He still would have achieved his objective by illegally purchasing a weapon.

In the aftermath Louisiana Governor and Presidential candidate Bobby Jindal said this is not the time to talk about gun control. We seem to hear this after every incident of this kind. It's a canned response that needs to end.

America has a strong gun culture, this cannot be denied. There are those who fear their guns are going to be taken away. That is not going to happen. Unfortunately this fear breeds a resistance from even insisting that our existing gun laws be strenuously enforced.

There are highly illogical ideas that get floated after everyone of these crimes occur. Case in point is Presidential candidate Rick Perry suggesting that gun free zones should be eliminated and everyone should be armed. The overwhelming majority of gun owners are lousy shots when they are calm, add the adrenaline of fear and you have a recipe for disaster. There is a reason special units of law enforcement and the military go through extensive training to be marksmen. In a dark theater it would be very difficult to locate, sight and execute the shooter. This is a hard topic and requires thoughtful consideration, not jingoistic rhetoric.

The philosophy that you could allow all people to be armed in all places is filled with legal impediments. A movie theater or mall is private property and it's owners have every right to say no guns allowed. How do you overcome that?

Part of an even larger problem is the continueing insistance of a division between mental and physical illness. Until medical practitioners, universities and academics in general join forces and state once and for all that illness is just illness no matter it's individual causes, the stigmatization of mental problems will keep people from seeking help when they need it.

We also must accept that there are genuinely bad people in the world. If we accept that there is good, then we must accept that there is an opposite. The amount of guns available certainly makes this a scarier proposition.

Yes we have a constitutional right to keep and bare arms. The battle over this has always hinged on the word militia. Today that word signifies military units or radicallized groups that self identify as this. At the founding of the nation all citizens were that militia. It is an insult to the Founding Fathers to suggest that they did not believe that arms would evolve technologically, particularly when you consider the presence of Benjamin Franklin. Did they envision automatic weapons with large magazines? Probably not. But they also, optimistically believed in the common sense of generations yet to come. On occasion that optimism seems unfounded.

There is a common sense middle ground that preserves the Second Amendment while enforcing gun laws that make sense. It takes leadership which we are lacking because of strident voices sowing discord.

I don't honestly know what I would do if confronted with one of these horrible situations and hope I never find out.