This morning’s carnage in California offers yet another sad reminder that current solutions are not working.
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Death and destruction played out in an all-too-familiar picture on Wednesday, this time in San Bernardino, Calif. The shooting left numerous individuals dead and wounded, throwing people across the United States and around the world into states of sadness, anger, rage and wanting more answers than there were available.
Just like Sandy Hook. Just like Aurora. Just like Paris, France.
Wouldn’t it be nice to believe that mass shootings would cease and desist after Wednesday? You and I know better. It will not. This will happen again, even as law enforcement officials did their job, responded to the event and hunted down the suspects that carried this allegedly well-planned and cowardly act out.
Instead of getting caught up in rhetoric and emotional chaos, can people in high positions drop their persona l and professional agendas, come together and seek a solid plan to end mass shootings for good?
It would be nice to believe this will happen.
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What leads individuals to do such heinous acts? Maybe hate. Maybe mental illness. Hell, maybe it is a twisted desire to make a name in American history books.
It obviously does not matter if a shooter is young or old. Case in point: Adam Lanza in Sandy Hook, Pa.
Mass shootings, either on large or small scales, have happened too damned much.
Peace on Earth? Man, that’s not just a seasonal saying. It’s an everyday action which many people work so diligently to bring into others’ lives. In the hours after this type of event, it is really easy to react, react, react and get caught up in the moment.
You and I can agree to disagree on this point, but it is safe to say that America still has not come up with a solid plan to thwart these horrid events for good. Yes, there are more national and state law enforcement officials on duty all the time. You can look at all the statistics, though. Numbers can be used to defend multiple stances and, believe me, there will be more words and pictures in the coming days. The bottom line, though, is that there has not been any sound, reasonable, collective response that would prevent mass shootings from happening again.
Simple “We have our Second Amendment rights” or “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people” sayings are not going to help. This is another painful reminder that there are those who want to inflict pain and heartbreak on innocents. Is there any way for Americans and lawmakers alike to have a calm conversation about these types of situations?
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Of course, there are individuals who will look for a way to make their presence known through taking part in bigger-than-life, deadly events.
The United States is a beautiful country, filled with great people doing superhuman deeds every single second. But these shootings, whether large in size or small in scale, leave people crying, shaken and afraid.
There are voices that will blame media coverage for inciting copycats. What type of media coverage do you want? In this world of “need-to-know-now”-ness, everyone becomes a reporter.
Of course, let us not leave out how much President Barack Obama will be blamed. Someone has to be blamed. Might as well be the commander-in-chief. This, though, goes beyond politics. This goes beyond religion. This goes beyond skin color. It goes straight to the point of no return. A solution must be created now, not later.
Don’t look for a solution to be mapped out here. A group of higher, more powerful people will need to literally sit down and hash it out. I would hope, though, that San Bernardino would be that last straw. The event that calls leaders together, have them leave their egos outside the office doors, and strive for a solution.
One that will stick. Forever.
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Photo Credit: Micah Escamilla/Los Angeles News Group via AP / A SWAT vehicle carries police officers near the scene of a shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. Police responded to reports of an active shooter at a social services facility.
And if you’re talking about this particular mass shooting then do not allow the middle eastern refugees in at all.
We could start taking men’s issues seriously, for a start. I’ve said it again and again until I’m blue in the face, but most of these guys are disenfranchised people on the fringe that have been pushed off the edge. We can pontificate about “toxic masculinity” all day, but that only adds to the problem. Either it is time to talk about male issues, or it is time to invest in some kevlar. Choose one or the other.
I’d like to point out that one of the shooters was a women.
True, but men are the canary in the coal mine. Social ills often hit men first, but they don’t get addressed until women start becoming more affected. We see this with the student loan crisis. No one cared until college became majority woman. We see this with alimony reform. No one cared until women started getting screwed over in divorce. It hasn’t picked up that much momentum because women are still a very small number of people paying alimony, but it has heated up as their numbers grow larger. We see it in push back against the carceral state. No… Read more »
John, I can always count on you to bring some things into the light that have been pushed back. Each one of the items you mentioned could individually be a topic for an article. At the very least it’s a good recap of how things have not really improved for men.