Another Round of Debates

So here we go again with another round of national debates about gun control, violence, and mental health as the country questions and tries to recover from not one, but two, mass shootings this past weekend.

As my kids and I were on the interstate headed north to Six Flags for one last summer frolic, the news blasted over the stereo airwaves about the shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. I refused to look online for the details until our amusement adventure was over. The only thoughts of death and destruction that were going to occupy my mind for the next few hours was whether I would fall to my death from the Goliath or Acrophobia.

Just devastating to hear about the shootings and it doesn’t get any easier to deal with or digest with each tragic occurrence. The question is always why? It is my son’s favorite question no matter what is happening…why is the moon round, why is water clear, and now why did that man shoot up the Walmart?

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that happened December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut probably has unnerved me the most. It’s likely because at the time my eldest was about to enter kindergarten and I was strongly disturbed.

I remember taking the parent tour of the school in the Spring that followed and asking our knowledgable tour guide about school security measures, not curriculum, which doors are locked and unlocked at all times, what were the lock down protocols, why wasn’t there on campus security—I was for sure quite annoying but they were answers I needed to know and turns out many others were inquisitive about but dare not speak of.

In my mind I kept thinking about a how a 20 year old could enter an elementary school with an assault rifle unnoticed and kill 26 people including 20 children aged six and seven. Not to mention that before driving to that school, he shot and killed his mother at the home they shared.

Anything can happen, it does, and it has—Columbine High School 1999, Fort Hood 2009, Virginia Tech 2011, Century 16 Theater 2012, San Bernandino 2015, Pulse Nightclub 2016, Sutherland Springs 2017, Las Vegas 2017, Stoneman Douglas High School 2018, Gilroy Garlic Festival 2019.

Will the recent shootings be the last, hopeful thinking but no. Is there any chance of reducing the possibility of it happening again, yes but it will require effort and observation from everyone, not one particular faction but a consortium of many.

Everybody from politicians to psychologists to data analysts are throwing around their opinions on prevention methods and looking to play the blame game. Could increased gun control, more extensive background checks, increased mental health rehabilitation, less video gaming, or more severe punishment be the way to less violence? Personally, I don’t believe the solution is one or the other but a combination of all.

Let’s be honest, if you take away an individual’s right to bear arms they will find a way—this is America anything can be acquired for a price (sad but true).

More background checks equal increased employment of government personnel and many will say they don’t want to see government grow adding to what—our tax dollars.

With increased mental rehab many will argue about what standards qualify as unstable and how do you test that stability—monitoring Facebook and Instagram posts nowadays might help. I would like to think that if the Parkland shooter’s social media posts had been monitored, taken more seriously, and addressed that maybe those students and educators in Florida wouldn’t have perished that day.

But then to be frank, the Parkland and Pulse shooters had both been flagged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and investigated to some degree, I don’t how thoroughly but it was obviously not a deterrent. I have learned that if anyone truly desires something, good or bad, they always find a way to make it happen with some plain ol’ perseverance and mental telepathy.

Sometimes I wonder if the veterans that committed the Fort Hood and Sutherland Springs shootings had maybe been given just a little more post-trauma attention from Veterans Affairs perhaps those shootings could have been foiled as well. Who knows what those men saw during war and how they internalized it. Heck I know Vietnam veterans who for decades have never spoken of any of their experiences in that war and, if so, only with other Vietnam veterans.

Now the less video gaming theory could help some troubled minds stuck in the mentality of Call of Duty or GTA. Excessive gaming does concern me some as I have an eight year old seemingly obsessed with Fortnite missions. However, I have learned to set limits and there are frequent talks about reality versus “the box,” as I call it. But unlike me, some parents like “the box” as a baby sitter with more time to themselves and they don’t see or ignore the effects it may be having on the kid’s psyche.

But the truth is that it’s not the adolescent and tween kids playing now—it’s the late teens, 20- or 30-something adults that began playing as kids and never readjusted their mindset and/or lacked proper monitoring and social skills. So if you are raising or know a gamer be aware and be vigilant.

Either way if you see something off or feel something is awry ask questions, say something like that grandmother in Florida recently who may have foiled her grandsons’ planned attack last week. It takes a village!