What is Going On?

[jeweledvixen]

Twenty-seven young school children murdered in an elementary school in Connecticut. Now, three people wounded and the gunman dead in a shooting at a hospital in Alabama. What the hell is going on? I don't understand at all. These incidents are just in the last two days. It seems like there is a new shooting in a public place every week. Why, just...Why? What has changed so much in the United States that people feel this is the answer to their problems?

The gunman/gunmen almost always die during these incidents - usually by killing themselves. Is the idea to take as many people with them as possible? If so, I have to ask again - WHY? Those were twenty-seven innocent five- and six-year-old children. They had done nothing wrong. Why did they need to die?

I seriously don't even want to get out of bed in the morning anymore. I'm afraid of what new horror will have occurred while I was asleep.

But let's not even discuss gun control. Oh, no! All Americans have a God-given right to as many guns as they want. Why, if more people had more guns, things like this would never happen! Yessiree! More guns = less violence. On what planet does that make sense? Not on the one I'm living on, it doesn't. I think we should ban all assault rifles and make it tougher all around to get your hands on a gun. But, hey, I'm just crazy like that.

Comments

[proseac]

Wish I could "like" this post 1,000 times, sweetie! I agree with you 100%. Take 1 phrase in the Bill of Rights and twist it around so it means something entirely different from what the Founding Fathers intended, and you have a recipe for absolute disaster. Poor old Thomas Jefferson is rolling around in his grave, I'm sure.

[merzibelle]

Was going to comment here but realized it was very, very long and slightly ranty, so posted what was to be the comment on my journal as a regular post.

[ophelias_heart]

It is absolutely horrifying! I have to say though that it's not just about gun control. If any of these people were getting continued help for their obvious mental illnesses, then that would also cut down on these tragedies. As someone who has had to seek therapy many times and even though my job provides 8 free sessions a year, it is still very difficult to get through to the actual people who are going to help.

[amethyst_hunter]

There's a lot of factors involved...

I have mixed feelings about gun control, but more and more, I find myself agreeing with the pro-control crowd. And I don't even care much for guns to begin with. Firing them on a range can be kinda fun, but it's not something I feel the need to do on a regular basis. Maybe it's because I see guns as serious tools, not toys, and I respect that power which carries an inherent responsibility. Having grown up with the conservative crowd that was into hunting, I can sort of understand their feelings on it. But unless you're in a situation where arming yourself to the teeth would make sense (and let's face it, most of us are fortunate enough not to be), I just don't see the need to collect all these goddamn weapons whose only purpose is to kill as many people in as short a time as possible. (And considering that I have dealt with chronic depression, it makes even more sense NOT to have something around that would make it that much easier for me to harm myself during one of my especially depressive cycles!)

Something I've noticed, and seen others point out: 9 times out of 10 when these killings happen, it's ALWAYS a male and he ALWAYS has issues against women. And he ALWAYS kills himself after he's done to avoid capture, and therefore having to face the consequences of his evil actions. Like the Newtown killer - he apparently had something against his mother to the point where he decided to murder the kids she worked with. 12 of the 20-some kids that were murdered were girls, more than boys, and every victim was sprayed multiple times as if he wanted to pulverize them. That, to me, speaks of a deep-seated hatred that is frighteningly all too common and accepted in our culture. If we as a society would focus more on fixing that problem, chances are that would go a long ways to preventing these horrors.

I have mixed feelings on the mental issues as well. Personally, I'm not inclined to believe that this guy was ill, at least not in the standard sense. Most mentally ill people don't go killing others; they're more likely to harm themselves. I know that schizophrenics can be violent, but by and large, the murderers in these shootings aren't schizophrenic. And perhaps this is personal bias on my part, but I've always felt that there is a certain line that distinguishes between genuine illness and being an asshole - like you said, there was NO reason these poor kids and their adult caretakers deserved to die. I'm afraid I just can't work up much sympathy for the killer (and I would be saying the same thing if it were a woman who had done the murdering). I do agree that our health system drastically needs overhaul to catch people *before* they snap.

The sad thing is that these murders are going to continue until we finally get the balls to look our own faults in the eye and actually do something about them. Somehow I'm not holding my breath. :(