Sandy Hook Shooting, Gun Control and the Emotionally Unstable

I am moving back and forth between rage and tears, fear and sorrow.

            The shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School falls too close to my sphere to be viewed with the sympathetic detachment that generally accompanies these oft-repeated tragedies.   Besides being the Grandmother of six children, five of whom are in elementary school, I taught for 30 years in elementary school, eventually becoming a principal.  I have had to confront and detain a student believed to have a gun (thankfully, he did not).   But today’s news has brought me to my emotional knees. 

            I am willing to bet that a few things will come to light in a few days:

1.       The killer will be emotionally unstable with a history of small but escalating violent episodes.

2.      The family will be in denial about the severity of all of this.

3.      Medication will be required but frequently skipped, missed and excused.

4.      There will be frequent use of violent games, and anti-social, isolating activities—a computer in a closed room is this guy’s best friend.

The scenario is too familiar.  I’ve had it.  I am now going to step on everyone’s toes and if you don’t think you can handle it, stop reading and go back to watching news coverage of 20 babies being cut down by a monster. 

First, we need gun laws in this country that make it much harder for these crazy people to get the weapons they need for this mass destruction.  My father was a champion marksman.  Two of my son-in-laws are hunters.  I’m fine with all of that.  But Canada has lots of hunters and they don’t have semi-automatic weapons being sold to the mothers of mass murderers.  It isn’t enough to have tough gun laws (Connecticut has some of the toughest in the country), we need a ban on the guns designed to kill people, not animals.  And for all of you who are busy typing out the words, “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” My answer to that is the better to identify the outlaws.  Throw their asses in jail or shoot them on the spot. 

Second (and here is where I get to offend the other side of the political spectrum) there are ways to identify the dangerously maladjusted and we need to do that and then limit their opportunities to commit crimes against humanity.  Between genetic markers, observable data and scientific evaluation it is possible to identify a large number of the people who are capable of murder.  These people do not appear out of thin air.  The first victim of sociopaths and the few violently inclined schizophrenics are the families who cover for them and excuse their increasingly heinous acts.  For all of you out there who are worried about violating their rights I will tell you that I just don’t care!  There are 27 humans whose rights have been permanently abrogated.  If a person needs watching, medication or institutionalization I insist that they have it.

Finally, if we encourage a culture that desensitizes us against violence we had better expect more of this.  Freedom of speech does not mean exemption from good taste and responsible production.  If you make your money producing the games, movies and, “gangsta” rap that glorifies this carnage you get to share some of the blame.  Shame on all of you.

Have I offended everyone?  Good.  We’ve got to do something.  The price of doing nothing is too painfully high.

Some days it is so hard to keep the faith.