Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Mass Shooting in Newtown: Who was at fault?

By Douglas V. Gibbs

In my article, "As Gun Control Cries Rise, The Real Killers Are Ignored," a person who disagrees with me on the gun control issue commented: If only Mama Lanza was a gun owner - she could have stopped him. oh wait.

She was trying to be witty.

When it came to Mama Lanza, there is a number of things she should have done.  She should have had a gun safe, trigger locks, and any variety of other safety measures.  She didn't, so the boy had access.  As individuals it is important for us to be responsible.

With freedom comes responsibility.

The fault could be in a number of other places as well.  Perhaps the boy's mental anguish, or whatever caused him to be so dead inside he could kill children in cold blood, should have been dealt with.

Perhaps arming the teachers or the principal would have stopped the carnage.

In the end, however, the error is not in the guns, but in the hands of people - and as humans, we are fallible.

The kid, it turns out, planned it out.  He did things before the shooting that reveals he was well aware of what he was going to do.  He didn't just snap.

We live in a culture that may have played into his decision, as well.  We have cheapened the value of life with our murderous ways, be it abortion, or whatever else you want to throw on the pile.

We live in a culture where violence is glorified in song, movies, video games, and the like.

I am not calling for bans - remember, unlike liberals, I don't believe in a big government going around yanking our freedoms - but I do think we need to acknowledge reality, and as a society act in a manner that corrects our cultural rot.

What did we expect to happen when we decided to start killing our babies, began assisting people to commit suicide, began glorifying death in music, movies and video games, eliminated prayer from schools, and began working to remove God from the public square?

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

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