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Blaming Violence on Guns and Mental Illness? Too Easy

Posted: 12/21/2012 12:35 pm
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The tragic shooting in Connecticut, like the tragic one before it in Colorado, once again has the public seeking answers and pundits seeking the easiest answers to give. Guns and mental illness -- these are the issues on the tip of the average tongue.

The notion that mental illness is a prerequisite for mass murder or could even serve as a complete explanation is a strange one that appears to have surreptitiously become entrenched in the public consciousness. Like a number notions entrenched in the public consciousness, it's untrue, as having a mental illness increases the chances that you will be a victim of violence as opposed to a perpetrator.

Should we be seriously concerned about mental states and murder, we would be best served in discouraging the consumption of alcohol as few other things are so ubiquitously associated with violence. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, as many as 86 per cent of homicide offenders were drinking at the time of offense. The American Journal of Public Health found that communities and neighborhoods that have more bars and liquor stores per capita experience more assaults.

Furthermore, If we expect our already struggling and overburdened teachers to also screen children for mental health issues, all the while wrestling with students -- many of whom have behavioral problems -- we might as well go full bore, double their pay, give them custody and call them "parents."

The second easy answer is that guns are the problem -- but mass shootings make a very poor case for gun control. Connecticut has some of the strictest gun laws in America, as does the city of Chicago. In a particularly confusing juxtaposition, proponents of gun bans are often opponents of drug bans and argue that drug bans "don't work" when it comes to substances like Marijuana (and they're right). The curious fact of this juxtaposition seems to be missed by them.

In any event, regardless of an environment that is often not in opposition to restricting access to handguns or automatic weapons, there has been an increase in mass shootings and in some cities, an increase in shootings, period. In 2012 there were more Americans killed in Chicago than Afghanistan; the city has over 400 homicides (usually involving handguns) and some of the strictest gun laws in America. This despite the fact that handguns in Chicago are effectively banned.

So far as mass killings go, a majority of the people involved have no criminal records and obtained their guns legally. Criteria that would deny them gun ownership would also deny it to ordinary people who have done no wrong. The level of planning involved in the average mass shooting -- the killers are arriving in body armor and in black fatigues -- makes it unlikely they would have been prevented from carrying out their massacres if gun bans were in place.

Extensive background checks, waiting periods and other initiatives are more effective at preventing ordinary crime than extraordinary planned violence. Killers in mass shootings typically arrive with multiple guns and have a fair amount of time to carry out their shootings.

The difference in the total number of casualties is not impacted by the availability of automatic weapons over semi-automatic (automatic weapons fire continuously when the trigger is held down, semi-automatic weapons require the trigger to be pulled for each bullet to be fired). This is not to say there is no room for improvement in the manner that guns are distributed, or perhaps a waxing of the American obsession with guns, but it is to say we need to look to some of the less easy answers if we are interested in stopping these incidents.

Mental illness is not a new or exclusively American phenomenon. Neither is widespread gun ownership (look at Switzerland). Neither is crime or bullies (both at schools and in the workplace).

Economic instability is also not new, America's economy has, like ours, oscillated between good, bad and back throughout its history. What has changed, in a manner difficult to put to words, is the way parents raise their children and the way individuals treat one another.

It feels as though these killings are in some ways evidence of America's general moral decline. Families are the building blocks of a society. And in the United States, those building blocks have become increasingly broken and fragile, with many children born into divorced or broken homes.

When the children in these homes have underlying mental health issues or are bullied (Amanda Todd's tragic death is another example) there are fewer resources to help them overcome these obstacles and they are more vulnerable to tragedy.

Mass killings do not make a good argument for gun control, but they might make a good argument for taking steps to make sure that our homes, the incubators of future citizens and where all of these young killers began their lives as young innocent children, are up to the serious business of raising them.

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  • Twenty-seven small U.S. flags adorn a large flag on a makeshift memorial on the side of Highway 84 near the Newtown, Conn., town line as residents mourn victims killed by gunman Adam Lanza, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. On Friday, authorities say Lanza killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • In this photo taken with a fisheye lens, a message honoring the victims that died a day earlier when a gunman opened fire at an elementary hang from a bridge near Hawley Pond, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Mourners carry ornaments to decorate the Christmas trees at one of the makeshift memorials for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Monday,Dec. 17, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

  • Crayons sit on a table outside of a barbershop a day after a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Crayons sit on a table outside of a barbershop a day after a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Tamara Doherty

    Shop owner Tamara Doherty, paces outside her store just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Tamara Doherty, Jackie Gaudet

    Shop owners Tamara Doherty, left, and Jackie Gaudet, right, meet outside their stores for the first time since being neighbors, just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Kristin Hoyt

    Kristin Hoyt, 18, of Danbury, Conn., ties a balloon to an overpass up the road from the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • A Newtown, Conn., resident, who declined to give her name, sits at an intersection holding a sign for passing motorists up the road from the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • A snowflake ornament with the name of 6-year-old Noah Pozner hangs on a Christmas tree at a makeshift memorial in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn., Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, as the town mourns victims killed in Friday's school shooting. Pozner, who was killed Friday when gunman Adam Lanza opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School, will be buried Monday. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Twenty-seven small U.S. flags adorn a large flag on a makeshift memorial on the side of Highway 84 near the Newtown, Conn., town line as residents mourn victims killed by gunman Adam Lanza, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. Authorities say Lanza killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life, on Friday. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Jamie Duncan, 16, of Newtown, Conn., lights a candle at one of the makeshift memorials for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Monday,Dec. 17, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

  • A mourner carries a giant Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal to place at one of the makeshift memorials for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Monday,Dec. 17, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

  • A hearse arrives at B'nai Israel Cemetery with the body of Noah Pozner, a six-year-old killed in an elementary school shooting, during funeral services, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Monroe, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • People arrive at B'nai Israel Cemetery during burial services for Noah Pozner, a six-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Monroe, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Veronika Pozner

    Veronique Pozner waves to the assembled media as she leaves after a funeral service for her 6-year-old son Noah Pozner, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Fairfield, Conn. Noah Pozner was killed when Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Twenty seven wooden stand in a yard down the street from the Sandy Hook School December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were shot dead, including twenty children, after a gunman identified as Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lanza also reportedly had committed suicide at the scene. A 28th person, believed to be Nancy Lanza, found dead in a house in town, was also believed to have been shot by Adam Lanza. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Newtown residents Claire Swanson, Kate Suba, Jaden Albrecht, Simran Chand and New London, Connecticut residents Rachel Pullen and her son Landon DeCecco, hold candles at a memorial for victims on the first Sunday following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    U.S. President Barack Obama waits to speak at an interfaith vigil for the shooting victims from Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown, Connecticut. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Eknoor Kaur, 3, stands with her father Guramril Singh during a candlelight vigil outside Newtown High School before an interfaith vigil with President Barack Obama, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    New London, Connecticut resident Rachel Pullen (C) kisses her son Landon DeCecco at a memorial for victims near the school on the first Sunday following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    US President Barack Obama speaks during a memorial service for the victims and relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were killed when a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary and began a shooting spree. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    A woman covers her face as US President Barack Obama reads out the names of children killed during Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting at a interfaith memorial for victims and relatives at the Newtown High School on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were killed when a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary and began a shooting spree. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    A woman pays respects at a memorial outside of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. On Friday, a gunman allegedly killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Residents wait for the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Cheryl Girardi, of Middletown, Conn., kneels beside 26 teddy bears, each representing a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, at a sidewalk memorial, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children.(AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Connecticut State Police officers respond to a bomb threat outside of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. Worshippers hurriedly left the church Sunday, not far from where a gunman opened fire Friday inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Ava Staiti, 7, of New Milford, Conn., looks up at her mother Emily Staiti, not pictured, while visiting a sidewalk memorial with 26 teddy bears, each representing a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This photo provided by the family shows Jessica Rekos. Rekos, 6, was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school, before killing himself. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Rekos Family)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    A U.S. flag flies at half staff outside the Newtown High School before President Barack Obama is scheduled to attend a memorial for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    David Freedman, right, kneels with his son Zachary, 9, both of Newtown, Conn., as they visit a sidewalk memorial for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    A man reacts at the site of a makeshift memorial for school shooting victims in Newtown, Conn., Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. A gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town, killing 26 people, including 20 children before killing himself on Friday. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    People wait in line to attend an interfaith vigil with President Barack Obama, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Residents greet each other before the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Residents greet each other before the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into the school Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. President Barack Obama is to scheduled to speak at the event. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Residents greet each other before the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into the elementary school Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak during the vigil. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This image provided by the family shows Grace McDonnell posing for a portrait in this family photo taken Aug. 18, 2012. Grace McDonnell was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the McDonnell Family)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This Nov. 18, 2012 photo provided by John Engel shows Olivia Engel, 6, in Danbury, Conn. Olivia Engel, was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Engel Family, Tim Nosezo)

  • Emilie Alice Parker

    This 2012 photo provided by the family shows Emilie Alice Parker. Parker was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Parker Family)

  • Noah Pozner

    This Nov. 13, 2012 photo provided by the family via The Washington Post shows Noah Pozner. The six-year-old was one of the victims in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Family Photo)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This handout image provided by ABC News, shows Nancy J. Lanza mother of suspected mass shooter Adam Lanza at an unspecified time and place. Twenty six people were shot dead, including twenty children, after a gunman identified as Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lanza also reportedly had committed suicide at the scene. A 28th person, believed to be Nancy Lanza was found dead in a house in town, was also believed to have been shot by Adam Lanza. (Family of Nancy Lanza / ABC News / Getty Images)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121215/us-school-shooting-victims/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage">Lauren Rousseau, 30,</a> had started a job as a full-time teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School this fall. She was killed in the Dec. 14 shooting at the school.

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    School psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, was killed during an attempt to stop gunman Adam Lanza during the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121215/us-school-shooting-victims/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage">Sherlach and school principal Dawn Hochsprung</a> reportedly both lunged at Lanza in an attempt to protect the school's students and teachers. Both Sherlach and Hochsprung were killed.

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Victoria Soto, a 27-year-old teacher, was killed in the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Her cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC that Soto, a teacher, died while shielding her young students from the gunman, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121215/us-school-shooting-victims/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage">according to the AP.</a>

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/sandy-hook-principal-dawn-hochsprung_n_2303944.html">Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung</a>, 47, was killed as she, along with school psychologist Mary Sherlach, attempted to overtake gunman Adam Lanza during the Dec. 14 mass shooting at the school. Hochsprung and Sherlach reportedly both lunged at Lanza in an effort to defend the students and teachers at the school. Both women were killed.

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This photo posted to the Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page shows Emilie Parker. Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, Robbie Parker the father of 6-year-old Emile Parker who was gunned down in Friday's school shooting in Connecticut told the world about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman. (AP Photo/Emilie Parker Fund)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Shop owner Tamara Doherty paces outside her store just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at the school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    This photo posted to the Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page shows Emilie Parker and her father Robbie Parker. Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, Robbie Parker the father of 6-year-old Emile Parker who was gunned down in Friday's school shooting in Connecticut told the world about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman. (AP Photo/Emilie Parker Fund)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Robbie Parker, the father of six-year-old Emilie who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, fights back tears as he speaks during a news conference, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Isabella Jimenez, 12, reacts while talking to reporters about the shooting rampage from a day earlier when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. Jimenez said she might know the victims because she has done volunteer work with small children. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

    Newtown, Connecticut mass shooter Adam Lanza is third from right in this 2008 yearbook photo. <a href="http://abcn.ws/UlqIyn">(ABC News)</a>



 

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JGBurke
11 Fans
02:53 AM on 12/23/2012
I would also like to take issue with the assumptions about mental health. The only difference between today and one hundred years ago is that doctors have put fancy names on things, so it appears like there is more of a problem. There isn't. People are no crazier now than then. It is simply more acceptable now to talk about it.

The "disintegration of the family" theme is also bogus. Families forced to stay together because of religious law one hundred years ago suffered through mental and physical abuse behind closed doors. They were in no way "better" than broken families today. We scoff at sharia law and honor killings, but we were no better back then. But we didn't hear about it, so it didn't exist.

The lament of the "general moral decline" is a euphemism for "traditional family values." These "return to family values" ideas are retrograde, in the vague hope that the white male will be put in charge of the world again. Not going to happen. Father doesn't always know best and sometimes fathers need to be booted to the curb. Broken homes are better than abusive dysfunctional homes. And mental illness is more likely caused by dysfunction than by a single-parent family.

The one thing I do agree with is that the parents, divorced or not, really are the key.
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Ike Awgu
57 Fans
03:16 PM on 12/23/2012
Lost and scattered, an odd reply. And internally inconsistent, as you admit that parents are the key but ridicule family values. The 'white male' portion is stupid (sorry) and I find it interesting you place all blame on the male figure in your comments. Projection, perhaps.
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JGBurke
11 Fans
04:03 PM on 12/23/2012
Projection, or just simple statistics?

You've bought into this "things were better in the past" arguement perpetrated by the white males who would be put back in control if we actually were sent back to the past. Men and women of any ethnicity should be wary of that.

The divorced parents of a child are no less responsible for the raising of the child than they were when they were married. Unsure why you find that inconsistent.
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JGBurke
11 Fans
02:27 AM on 12/23/2012
Saying Connecticut has some of the strictest gun laws in America is like saying Lindsay Lohan has the most self-control in her family. It might be true, but it's hardly the devastating point you hoped to deliver.
Comparing a ban on a harmless substance which people ignore because it's stupid, to a ban on military hardware in private hands is ridiculous. If I secretly puff a joint on my back deck, how may people are in danger? If I target practice in my back yard with my assault rifle, how many people are in danger? The only thing the juxtaposition exposes is the essential nature of one over the frivolous nature of the other.
An easy red flag: I would suggest that the person who buys tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, dozens of guns, bullet-proof vests, night vision goggles, military fatigues, riot helmets, up-armored cars, scopes, underground shelters and whatever else are certainly not concerned with hunting or home defense. Pretty easy to spot in any place but America.
Mentally ill or not, the guns multiple killers use are usually legal purchased or stolen from their owners. If they couldn't buy them, they couldn't use them. If those owners didn't have the guns, then the killers couldn't steal them.
Wishing that America's gun obsession would "wax" away is delusional. Limiting access to guns is the only known way proven to reduce gun violence.
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Ike Awgu
57 Fans
03:22 PM on 12/23/2012
"Comparing a ban on a harmless substance which people ignore because it's stupid, to a ban on military hardware in private hands is ridiculous."

Let me help you here: The relevance of the comparison is that when there is high public demand for something that is 'banned', people generally get it anyway. This is true for handguns, marijuana, cocaine, alcohol and virtually anything else.
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JGBurke
11 Fans
03:56 PM on 12/23/2012
Well, I can see you point, but there is one thing you're not taking into account. Desiring something lethal and desiring something harmless are not easy to compare. Takes a but of mind wrenching exercise to accomplish. I can walk out of my Vancouver apartment and get a marajuana joint within five minutes. Maybe I'm out of touch, but (thankfully) I would not even know where to begin to go to find an assault rifle.

You are equating those two bans in their effectiveness? Just to be clear?
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huffing and puffing2
28 Fans
05:14 PM on 12/22/2012
i think we have to redefine mental illness. many people suffer from emotional blockages and hurt that creates cerebral and mental disfunctions. it is easy to put a label on people and hope the pattern will imitate the label. but human being are human beings and most have to make the best of the capacities and possibilities we are born with and the realities that life deals us plus the choices we consciously and unconsciously make..
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huffing and puffing2
28 Fans
05:06 PM on 12/22/2012
i somewhat agree with you, families are not what they use to be. mothers and fathers have changed, for better and for worst,but also we live in times of greater insecurity and greater populations plus our value system has somewhat changed and so has our tolerance level.once upon a time, being honest,being courteous, polite etc was the respected and expected norm. today, many people are impolite rude, intolerant and generally dishonest. if alcohol and bars were a factor there would be no violence in the middle eastern societies where the majority is non drinking. violence has gone from arm to arm combat to weapons like knives or guns. when you lose the impact is not the same, it is not your pride but your lifethat you lose.
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Ike Awgu
57 Fans
04:30 PM on 12/23/2012
I love your name. Very clever.
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sillyblueness2
84 Fans
 
07:49 AM on 12/22/2012
While this makes some good points, reaching for broken families as the explanation is again, too easy. The US does not dominate in this if you examine worldwide divorce statistics. For example, the divorce rate in the UK is higher and homicide and gun related homicide rates much lower than the US.
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john james walker
0 Fans
10:19 PM on 12/21/2012
Newtown, CT and the Prohibited Canadian Invention: Proximate to 1999 President Clinton annunces discussions are on going regarding the discovery of a new safety device for guns and rifles that has the potential to save lives> A Toronto-Mississauga Co, MYtec Inc, registered on the TSX at that time invented and patented a gun technology where the hand grip part of the gun would hold the fingerprints of the proper registered owner of that gun.For anyone else except the registered gun owner the gun would lock -- it would not work..In Adam Lanzas case his mothers guns would not work using this Canadian Inventive technology...that was flatly rejected by the NRA as an invasion of privacy.....further....with 30% of gun crimes committed with stolen guns, these guns would also be nonfunctional. Mytec got delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange and that was the end of that technology.
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JGBurke
11 Fans
03:09 AM on 12/23/2012
And that same technology was introduced by Q in the last Bond film as a life saver.

Those Brits, taking credit for everything.
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bifster
46 Fans
05:04 PM on 12/21/2012
I agree that gun violence & violence in general is a complex problem; we live in a complex society.

But reading the comments here on HP & other places, you'd think that both sides of this debate have it all figured out. Not only do most who are commenting not want to hear an opposing view, it usually supported by little evidence & a healthy dose of name calling.

The tactic seems to be post early & often then make as much noise as one can. In Canada, we have a much different culture. Many think we are not that different but looking at this tragedy & the response by the Gov't, the NRA & other various interests, one can only shake one's head.

I am hopeful that in Canada we will not try to solve some of our major issues with an extreme or one-sided approach. With we have done that in the past.

While the rates of gun violence have been steadily dropping for 30 years or so, we should not become complacent that we have everything in place as we once did.

There are rising depression rates; more stress on people than ever; eroding social support systems.

You're right that it is too easy to blame convenient targets without first investigating proximate & ultimate causation, behaviours & the various systems that failed in our safety net.

We can never eliminate it all but through proper assessment of these various factors we can continually diminish it.
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Colleen Fuller
54 Fans
02:43 PM on 12/21/2012
I agree with much of what you are saying, Ike Agwu, but you miss some of the powerful evidence that these outbreaks of homicidal and suicidal violence may be linked to prescribed psychotropic drugs. This is the elephant in the room. Not all of the perpetrators came from broken families - in fact, most appear to have been middle class white men from stable homes. What most have in common is their engagement with the psychiatric industry. I agree with Michael Moore: it's time to investigate whether the prescribed medications being given to young people are contributing to the violence. I also think reform of US gun laws is urgent.
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JGBurke
11 Fans
03:02 AM on 12/23/2012
A valid point. The comical list of side effects at the end of commercials for some of these drugs should prevent their use entirely.

My personal favorite is warning people with depression that the anti-depressant may cause suicidal thoughts. Isn't that what the pill is supposed to prevent in the first place? And do these induced suicidal thoughts include taking as many people as possible with you?
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Colleen Fuller
54 Fans
02:48 PM on 12/24/2012
The warning about suicidal thoughts is usually accompanied by warnings about increased hostility, aggression and homocidal ideation. And of course these drugs lower inhibitions. Throw in access to guns and you have a potential catastrophe. And how many people being prescribed these drugs are just victims of Pharma disease mongering?
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