Newton School Shooting
On December 14, 2012
20 children died in school shooting - Millions of children attend school safely
More than 20 children died in car accidents - Millions of children rode vehicles safely
More than 20 children died choking on toys - Millions of children played with toys safely
More than 20 children died when furniture fell on them - Millions of children interacted with furniture safely
More than 20 children died in playground accidents - Millions of children played on playgrounds safely
More than 20 children died of food allergies - Millions of children ate safely.
Tragic as this shooting is, it must be viewed in perspective. Just as we do not try to restrict vehicle or toys or furniture or food ownership and use because a very small percentage of children die, we can not, should not, try to penalize gun owners for what is a very minor percentage of gun use. Even countries with strict gun control have had both gun massacres as well as mass killings using other weapons. It is impossible to eliminate everything a mentally ill person might use to kill others.
When I was a child, a mentally ill father walked onto a school playground during recess with dynamite and blew himself, his kid, several other kids and teachers to smithereens. Horrible? Yes. But the world did not overreact because outside of the city where it happened it was not shoved into everyone's face constantly on the news. And where it happened people put the incident in perspective - they sent their kids back to school the next day and ran some drills to remind kids to obey their teachers. No calls for turning schools into mini-jails with the kids locked in, no calls to further restrict purchases of dynamite. in other words, people reacted in an reasoned, ADULT, manner instead of hysterically overreacting.
There is NO WAY to make life 100% safe for everyone under every circumstances and attempting to eliminate everything that might, in some way, hurt someone is giving us generations of both timid fearful children and adults as well as generations of adults incapable of making responsible decisions for themselves. Just as a parent cannot protect a child 100% from ever being hurt in any way, the government cannot protect people from being hurt, nor is it the government's responsibility.
Blame for the school shooting can be laid in this order
1. The shooter
2. The shooter
3. The shooter
4. The lack of accessible mental health care for uninsured adults
5. The lack of a mechanism to treat unwilling mentally ill adults
6. The media, which sensationalizes these incidents feeding the fantasies of the mentally ill to do something bigger and badder so they will be famous.
Every time the US makes laws based in emotional reaction to some isolated incident or in an attempt to protect us from ourselves, be it 9/11, the war on drugs or this school shooting, it does nothing to prevent other incidents and does everything to penalize law abiding people and violate our human rights.
Restricting gun ownership will not end gun violence. Surprisingly enough criminals will not care if they break another law by stealing a gun (as is noted by the last two shootings where the shooter *stole* someone else's legally owned guns) nor will the mentally ill care if they break an extra law or two in route to the glorious infamous end.
20 children died in school shooting - Millions of children attend school safely
More than 20 children died in car accidents - Millions of children rode vehicles safely
More than 20 children died choking on toys - Millions of children played with toys safely
More than 20 children died when furniture fell on them - Millions of children interacted with furniture safely
More than 20 children died in playground accidents - Millions of children played on playgrounds safely
More than 20 children died of food allergies - Millions of children ate safely.
Tragic as this shooting is, it must be viewed in perspective. Just as we do not try to restrict vehicle or toys or furniture or food ownership and use because a very small percentage of children die, we can not, should not, try to penalize gun owners for what is a very minor percentage of gun use. Even countries with strict gun control have had both gun massacres as well as mass killings using other weapons. It is impossible to eliminate everything a mentally ill person might use to kill others.
When I was a child, a mentally ill father walked onto a school playground during recess with dynamite and blew himself, his kid, several other kids and teachers to smithereens. Horrible? Yes. But the world did not overreact because outside of the city where it happened it was not shoved into everyone's face constantly on the news. And where it happened people put the incident in perspective - they sent their kids back to school the next day and ran some drills to remind kids to obey their teachers. No calls for turning schools into mini-jails with the kids locked in, no calls to further restrict purchases of dynamite. in other words, people reacted in an reasoned, ADULT, manner instead of hysterically overreacting.
There is NO WAY to make life 100% safe for everyone under every circumstances and attempting to eliminate everything that might, in some way, hurt someone is giving us generations of both timid fearful children and adults as well as generations of adults incapable of making responsible decisions for themselves. Just as a parent cannot protect a child 100% from ever being hurt in any way, the government cannot protect people from being hurt, nor is it the government's responsibility.
Blame for the school shooting can be laid in this order
1. The shooter
2. The shooter
3. The shooter
4. The lack of accessible mental health care for uninsured adults
5. The lack of a mechanism to treat unwilling mentally ill adults
6. The media, which sensationalizes these incidents feeding the fantasies of the mentally ill to do something bigger and badder so they will be famous.
Every time the US makes laws based in emotional reaction to some isolated incident or in an attempt to protect us from ourselves, be it 9/11, the war on drugs or this school shooting, it does nothing to prevent other incidents and does everything to penalize law abiding people and violate our human rights.
Restricting gun ownership will not end gun violence. Surprisingly enough criminals will not care if they break another law by stealing a gun (as is noted by the last two shootings where the shooter *stole* someone else's legally owned guns) nor will the mentally ill care if they break an extra law or two in route to the glorious infamous end.