The massacre of 26 children and adults at a Connecticut
elementary school Friday has left us searching for answers. Why did it happen?
How could it have been stopped? Is there a way to avoid such tragedies in the
future?
Predictably, the first knee jerk reaction to such a heartbreaking
event, was for more gun control--or, as some have suggested, the prohibition of
all guns in the United States.
That, of course, would require the elimination of the Second
Amendment which says, in part: 'the right
of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'
Let's look at some facts about gun ownership in the United
States. According to the General Social Survey (GSS), there are approximately
44 million gun owners in the United States. This means that 25 percent of all
adults owned at least one firearm.
The National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms
(NSPOF), conducted a few years ago, reported that Americans own 192 million
guns, with 36% of these consisting of rifles, 34% handguns, 26% shotguns, and
4% of other types of long guns. In the United States, 11% of households report
actively being involved in hunting, with the remaining firearm owners having
guns for self-protection and other reasons.
Imagine trying to confiscate 192 million guns. It simply
will not happen--nor should it. After all, gun owners are not criminals. And
while criminals do use guns to commit crimes, criminologists have found no correlation between overall
firearm ownership and gun violence.
It is interesting to note that at the outset of World War II
the Japanese scrapped plans to invade the West Coast of America because they
knew there were some 80 million guns in the hands of American citizens. That
was not the case in places like China, Southeast Asia and other countries
occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army.
That aside, what can possibly explain the massacre of innocent
children, teachers and others at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and other
places such as Virginia Tech University in 2007 when 32 people were killed and
17 others wounded by a deranged student who was diagnosed with severe anxiety
disorder.
What caused Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old killer in the Sandy
Hook shootings, to first shoot his mother in the face and then drive to the
elementary school and slaughter defenseless children in their classrooms?
We may never know what demons infected Lanza's mind, though
I am sure in the next several days and weeks armies of psychiatrists will offer
up their opinions.
No matter what motives and reasons are put forth for
such a horrific crime, there is little doubt that some will argue for changes
to the Second Amendment and others will blame guns as the sole cause of such terrible violence.
This is simply wrong-headed. What about Hollywood's
pandering to audiences with violent movies? What about gangster rap? Or the increasing
violence in sports?
And what about those graphically violent video games?
Scientists have long debated whether violent video games
have an adverse effect on young people and recently the Supreme Court overturned
a California ban on violent video games.
The court said that video games, even offensive ones, were
protected by the First Amendment, and that there wasn't clear evidence that
playing games such as Grand Theft Auto and Postal really harmed people.
However, research has shown that immediately after playing a
violent video game, kids can have aggressive thoughts, angry feelings and
physiological effects such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. In
addition, studies that survey large populations of kids on their game-playing
habits and measure aggressive personality traits or self-reported aggressive
acts — physical fights, arguments with teachers — often find an association
between games and aggression.
Other known factors more strongly linked to child aggression
are a history of abuse, poverty, genetics and personality — and the risk climbs
higher when several factors are present in combination.
For example, the continued destruction of the traditional
family in which children are reared by two caring and responsible parents has
been linked to children who are overly aggressive and angry.
In the case of Adam Lanza, for example, his parents divorced
in 2008. Studies have shown that many children of divorced parents have
difficulty adjusting and often blame themselves for the breakup. That in turn
leads to feelings of hostility, bouts of depression and a sense of isolation.
Is that what set Adam Lanza off on his mission of murder and
suicide? Once again, we may never know definitively.
But what we do know is that the Second Amendment was put in
the Constitution to allow Americans to defend their lives and property from the
aggression of individuals or government.
In the history of the world it has been governments, not
individual gun owners, that have been the greatest origin of genocide and
oppression. When governments want to control their populations, the first thing
they do is eliminate the ability of individuals to defend or protect
themselves.
People who want to scrap or dilute the Second Amendment should
take a few moments to reflect on that.
No comments:
Post a Comment