The war against guns is once again at a fever pitch. The
Atlanta slayings of twelve innocent people by a crazed gunman has
social commentators working overtime in the media. Even a usually
conservative columnist that I admire has written that this
incident proves that we must do something. She writes enough is
enough. We need tighter gun controls now.
I can certainly understand everyone's anger and frustration. The
crazed gunman Mark Barton would never have been able to kill his
nine co-workers in the same manner he killed his family. He had
already bludgeoned his wife and two young children with a hammer
earlier in the week but he used two guns to slaughter his nine
colleagues and wound several others. It was the easy access to
guns that led to the mass murders, so say the pundits.
I can't argue with the fact that guns have caused mass
destruction. It is the weapon of choice in many crimes of heat,
passion, greed and despair. Uzis and rapid fire revolvers have
increased the total number of victims in any single incident. The
dreadful human toll that these weapons exact triggers this
never-ending debate about the efficacy and constitutional
validity of the second amendment. This debate is fraught with
sincere anguish on the part of the gun control advocates and
defensiveness on the part of the gun owners.
What can we do? What needs to be done? What laws can be passed?
These are questions that good people on all sides of the issues
ask. Common sense, however, is missing when they call for
registration of all guns.
One woman of noted pedigree and heroism appeared on the O'Reilly
Factor on the Fox News Network. When asked what good national
registration would do, her response was,`` It would slow down the
process of gun ownership.''
This is what I do not understand. All the laws, all the
regulations, all the restrictions would impact only legal
ownership of guns. If the only guns in existence were legal
weapons then I could see the point of tighter gun controls.
Unfortunately, throughout the world, weapons are sold illegally
to criminals, terrorists and anyone with unsavory interests.
These laws would not affect them at all but it would severely
restrict any law abiding citizen who needed a weapon for defense.
Criminals have no difficulty buying or stealing whatever weapon
they choose. They do not heed laws or restrictions but they
welcome them for everyone else because it disarms their future
victims.
As I've written before, I hate guns. I'm terrified of them but
I'm terrified even more of living in a society where the balance
of power lies with those with evil intent.
Unfortunately, as this debate rages in the media, proponents of
gun control will persuade through emotion and hand-wringing and
paint the NRA and Charlton Heston, its president, as paranoiac
fringe militants. Carol McCarthy, who lost her husband in the
LIRR shootings by madman Colin Ferguson and ended up in Congress,
will again be trotted out by the media to illustrate the human
wreckage due to guns.
Someone has written that guns are the weapons of losers and they
are correct. The handgun is called the ``great equalizer'' and in
the hands of people with social inadequacies it can hold great
appeal. It does not take great courage to be behind the trigger
and point at an unarmed target. Cowards always make sure that the
power is in their favor and the gun control advocates unknowingly
enable their position.
So what are we to do as an alternative solution to this mindless
chaos? There is no easy answer and I hesitate to proffer what I
personally believe because it may seem too simplistic. However, I
do feel that what is being overlooked in all these cases is this
important question. Why do so many people feel like losers?
Many of the perpetrators of these horrendous acts of carnage come
from privileged or middle class backgrounds. They are not needy
nor do they lack for any of the comforts of life yet they
consider their lives bleak and unworthy of living. Why? Shouldn't
this mentally deficient processing be investigated further?
In a great number of these cases, the murderers have been under
psychiatric care and were prescribed heavy duty drugs. Even
teenagers like the Columbine killer, Eric Harris, had been taking
psychiatric drugs and it is suspected that he had stopped taking
them just before the killings. Do these drugs therefore initiate
manic depressive lows if they are ceased abruptly?
It's easier to blame the weapon for the disaster than to look
into the souls of the accused. When we look deeper into their
lives what we may see is more frightening because it's too close
to home. All these individuals are in a pain that arises from a
void in their lives. Money, riches and fame cannot fill that
emptiness. In one of his sermons, Father Tom Mullins noted that
all humans are born with a vacuum that can only be filled by the
Creator. That is why even primitive man was always seeking an
answer to his existence.
However, going to a church, synagogue, mosque or any religious
edifice or ceremony does not mean anything if we're there for the
wrong reason. If we cannot look upon our neighbor with love, his
heart may harden and grow cold. If we close our eyes to our
neighbor's pain his suffering may come back to haunt us.
The following words were taken from a web site explaining the
credo of the TCM {trench coat Mafia} the group Eric Harris felt
close to:
``Welcome to the works of the trench coat. Welcome to the
handiwork of the tribal haters- to the decimated lives, the
unbearable pain, the absence, the tears, the sleepless nights,
the memories, the dead.''
A society that creates people to whom death is a welcome escape
from mental anguish can expect to witness abominations.