It's Not the Gun, But the Hand on the Trigger

On Friday, a young man went into an elementary school with a gun.  He killed twenty children and six adults before turning the gun on himself.  Twenty-eight people dead, most of them younger than ten years old.  Just stare at those words for a minute—nothing else I say can encompass the full horror of it all.

Sickening as this is, it’s becoming a familiar story.  Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, and now Newtown are names which bring to mind violence and terror.  Thanks to the media, we know more than we ever wanted to know about what happened there and in other such places.

My interest is in people’s reactions.  Of course there is outrage and grief throughout the nation, and everyone has an idea of how to prevent this from happening again.  The most common suggestions involve gun control or mental health issues.  But a problem like this takes more than one solution to solve.

Take gun control, for instance.  Even before this happened, people were up in arms (pun intended) against any kind of regulation against guns.  And the constitution does say that we have a right to bear arms.  Personally, I wish the things had never been invented.  There’s something essentially terrible to me about being able to kill someone from one hundred feet away or more, with no more effort than the twitch of a finger.  But the fact is, the damage has been done.  Millions of people in America already own guns.  They are a part of our culture, and culture cannot be changed at will.  Love them or hate them, guns are here to stay.  Of course, I wouldn’t say no to a proper screening process for anyone wanting to buy a gun.  The fault lies not with the machine but with the operator.

That being said, we should focus on the person behind the gun.  Mental health is not something commonly talked about in the United States.  There aren’t many resources out there for those who have mental disabilities.  Families with mentally ill children struggle on their own to deal with them, living in fear that someday they will lose control.  And these children, who desperately need help and understanding, soon grow up to be the monsters that declare war on innocent people and the world at large.  (To read a testimony from a mother, click here.)

I firmly believe that violence only leads to more violence.  We may not be able to tie the shooter’s hands, but we might be able to convince him not to pull the trigger.  With the proper assistance and medical help, it’s possible that Adam Lanza and everyone like him may not have picked up the gun in the first place.

Photo credit http://smpalestine.com/2012/12/15/thoughts-on-the-newtown-shooting-from-halfway-around-the-world/.  To see an article about the victims, click here.