Although I am an advocate of gun ownership, I agree that something has to be done. In a previous blog, "Just my $.02 Cents Worth," I talked about gun ownership. I've had guns for years and believe it or not I've never had a gun fire a round by itself. So, although one wants to place blame, the blame is not the gun. Rather it is the lack of responsible individuals with guns, or any weapon for that fact.
Recently in a small, usually quiet and crime free, neighborhood of Arkansas, a wife came home to find her husband and two of her young children stabbed to death. Some time ago in little town here in Arkansas a couple was bludgeoned to death with a bat. In yet another case, an irate wife ran over her husband with the family car.
My point, there is no controlling the action(s) of a person that is not well. All the laws, all the controls, all the preventive steps, will not keep an individual from committing a heinous crime.
The day of the school attack in Newtown, Connecticut, China was dealing with a school disturbance of their own. Twenty-three children were slashed with a knife. Supposedly sparked by the Mayan doomsday prophesies, a young man burst into an elderly woman's home, hit her with a kitchen knife, stabbed her, and then ran to the local school and proceeded to slash and stab.
A sick horrendous act! Period. No trying to analyze here. This individual acted in a way that could not have been prevented. No one could have seen this coming. We will probably never know the underlying reasons why any of these acts were committed.
I agree, the average person that owns guns does not have a need for assault type weapons; or magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds (bullets) of ammunition. I don't think anyone needs to be in possession of thousands of rounds of ammo unless they are a bona fide licensed dealer. I'm sure we are in for a lot of argument regarding gun control.
I don't have the answer; however, I know for the sure the answer is not banning gun ownership. We can't punish everyone for the acts of others. If we ban guns, we may as well ban the knives in our kitchens, and take away our cars, and don't let kid's own baseball bats, for fear of someone being attacked.
Yes, I know the latter is silly, but think about it, guns lay in safes and on gun store shelves, and have for years. Not once has any of these guns "just" decided to shoot someone. Nor does your kitchen knife decide to cut your finger while slicing a tomato.
Tragic as it is, these are things our society must deal with and cope. Over the years as we have grown, both in population and technology, we've learned to cope with tragedy. Aside from war and natural disaster, the catastrophic loss of life has become part of our everyday existence. The Titanic, over fifteen hundred perished; in any airline crash a few hundred perish; yet we still cruise and fly.
Individuals must take personal responsibility. Parenting must include teaching the rights and wrongs and enforcing those teachings. We cannot "not" discipline a child because it is not the popular thing to do or for fear that our children will hate us. We must become aware when someone we are close to is not well, and help them seek help.
No longer can we stand aside and point a finger placing blame and responsibility.
