Anyone who knows or ever knew a six-year old has to be totally stunned and heart-broken at what happened on Friday. It is one of the scariest and most meaningless kind of acts that anyone can commit.
The U.S. is faced with another awful, expensive dilemma, as another part of our infrastructure is found to be neglected, underfunded, and ignored, and that again, it is revealed what happens when a problem is left to grow instead of being solved.
The first problem, and one I admit I have an interest in, is the huge amount of mental and emotional difficulties that are not dealt with. There is a growing number of kids who are on the autism spectrum and/or have really difficult behavior problems. These kids either don't get help and end up in jail, or they bounce from school to agencies, to probation to special schools, and if they are getting the treatment they need, and some do, it is very expensive.
Could this kid have been found and his behavior averted if there were more services available? Perhaps. That is very difficult to know. It is certainly worth the effort. I think some of my patients could have gone that way, perhaps, but they got at least some attention.
And the other part is guns, especially automatic weapons, that can shoot dozens of rounds very quickly. I have asked on some of the web sites I visit on which there are some gun advocates, for an explanation of why American citizens need to be armed. I have not yet received an answer that I really understand. I do not expect it to be rational, as perhaps my abhorrence of the availability to such weapons may not be rational, but I would like to understand the thinking, or the feeling.
Yes, gang member have guns, and drug dealers have guns, and so do legitimate hunters and backwoods men. But we don't live in the 1820s any more. We live in a time when all of our lives are greatly intertwined. There are many more restrictions we have to live under if we are to have a society that functions.
But I really believe that there are many people out there who believe that the Muslim in the White House is about to declare Sharia Law, and that if we are not armed out women will be taken away. I guess tehy feel that if it can happen in Egypt, it can happen here.
2 comments:
If Adam Lanza hadn't had access to guns, this wouldn't have happened. Nor would dozens of other shootings that happen almost as a matter of course in this country. I have no idea how to solve this problem. It's like locking the barn after the horse is gone. The country is awash in firearms. It annoyed me terribly to see a sign in Marion, OH offering a class on "concealed carry." I say, make 'em wear holsters like the cowboys.
there are not words to describe the horror of what happened. I wish I knew the answer
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