Are we just going to live with mass murder in this country?
Every time we have some random, senseless act of violence as we did in Aurora, Colorado, last Thursday night/Friday morning, we say the same things. We offer prayers to the dead and wounded, and their families. We wonder how someone could do something so horrible. And then, we don't have anything left to say, other than there's nothing that can be done about a crazy person.
That is true, to a degree. But are we to just accept this as the new normal? We're just going to have a half-dozen mass murders every year in our country, so watch where you go, don't let your kids ever go anywhere by themselves, be strapped at all times? That's the answer? That can't be the answer. There is something missing in us if that's the answer. This has nothing to do with politics. This is something much deeper, something wrong with us as a nation, if we accept this carnage as business as usual.
We are increasingly anesthetized to this high level of death. In Chicago, there's been a spike in murders this year compared with the recent past, but because they haven't happened all at once, they've gone virtually unnoticed by the national media.
This is a violent country. It was created out of violence; let's not put our heads in the sand about that. But this isn't about our history. This is a new phenomenon, where deranged people find weapons of mass destruction and start firing.
Can you talk about these horrors without talking about guns? No. But that's not the only issue. This is also a health care issue. Our mental health system, like the rest of our health care system, is leaving far too many people untreated, fending for themselves. Our information society transmits events worldwide in seconds, giving copycat killers ideas and blueprints. Why do so many people feel so completely detached from the world? This guy in Aurora was going to some sort of medical school; he was, like so many of these killers lately, distinctly middle class. We certainly don't know all the details of his life yet, but something led him down this dark, dark path. Why does this seem like an increasingly viable option for so many disturbed people -- I will take out my anger and disillusionment with the world out on strangers, by killing as many of them as I can?
And, yes, we have developed weapons that are increasingly lethal, and available, as long as the buyer isn't, you know, crazy. Unfortunately, there's no blood test or credit rating for crazy.
Is it possible to have a discussion about guns without both sides screaming, their lobbyists demanding that they not give a single inch? We aren't going to have a zero gun society, and I don't think most people want one; I don't. I want people to be able to protect themselves, and I want people to be able to hunt and shoot at targets. I just don't want a psychopath to be able to buy an assault weapon with a 100-drum magazine. Isn't there a happy medium? You have to take a test to prove you can drive a car. You have to take a test to prove you're competent to be an attorney. You have to go to medical school for years, and have residency in a hospital, before you're allowed to be a doctor. All you have to do to buy a gun whose sole purpose is to kill other human beings is to wait a few days.
Here's the basic question: is every gun a litmus test for whether you believe in the Second Amendment? I believe in the Second Amendment, and I don't think we need our streets flooded with Uzis and Glocks. Those are not mutually exclusive ideas.
I didn't know anyone who was killed in Aurora, though the friend of a dear friend of mine lost his son. And this young girl , who was trying to break into the sports media in Denver, was killed as well. Why is this acceptable?
There are those who demand that I never, ever write about anything that doesn't involve basketball. They are annoyed when their fun and games mixes with the real world. To those people I say, sorry. You are free to click on something else if this offends you. I am offended by watching this sick scene play out over and over, in city after city, where people can't go to a restaurant, or to church, or to class, or to a movie, without fearing that someone they don't know will kill them and others in the blink of an eye.
-D. Aldridge
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