NOW WHAT?
(Tuesday, December 18, 2012.
Newtown, CT.) Perhaps there is no more
tragic an event as that which transpired here in this small New England
community last Friday. Twenty innocent
children sitting in a kindergarten classroom were viciously murdered as were 6
members of the school staff. It is an
event that is difficult to process; it requires a suspension of reality just to
imagine it and who could possibly perpetrate such horror.
President Obama came here last
Sunday night to address an auditorium filled with residents of Newtown; the
families and friends of those murdered sat among them. In his remarks President Obama commented that
“this is the fourth time since I have been in Office” that he had traveled to
speak to a community recently turned upside down in the wake of a mass shooting
incident. It likely will not be the
last.
This is not a statement of
pessimism or apathy. It is a simple
statement of fact; fact that has been borne out in reality with regularity that
begs profound questions of us and elected leaders that are not easily
answered. The torn bodies of those slain
had yet to be removed from the scene of the crime before talk of “a national
debate” on guns, gun control, assault weapon bans, and similar tougher measures
was well underway. This call for
“national debate” we have often heard before with typical knee-jerk regularity.
Yes, there are questions we as
a nation must ask ourselves and our legislators on every level will have to
address some very specific questions, far more specific then the rubric of “gun
control”. First we have to acknowledge
some truths. We are and have always been
a “gun culture”. More than any other
Western nations Americans enjoy owning guns for a variety of reasons. That this right to bear arms is codified in
the Second Amendment to our Constitution gun ownership is not perceived as a
privilege but as a right and no one is willing to surrender any aspect of their
lives that is a right.
In the last 4 days since the
murderous rampage here at the Sandy Hook Elementary School all the usual
talking heads have loudly espoused their well-known and, sometimes, well-worn
positions. With tired predictability the
pros and cons in this on-going argument have stated their respective
cases. Their arguments, so familiar and
unyielding create a monotonic din that barely registers with us anymore.
In reality this is not a
simple issue. This is not a black and
white examination of gun laws. It is a
far more nuanced set of issues that need to be addressed dispassionately,
objectively, and without the ferocity of emotions that are flowing in the wake
of the evil visited on this community.
To view it as an “all or nothing” issue is to miss the point; actually
such rigidity misses several points.
FROM ONE SIDE OF OUR MOUTHS
Let’s face it, we are a
violent people. We are a crude, course,
aggressive, society swimming in a culture that awards, rewards and celebrates
violence in all its myriad forms. It
permeates every aspect of our culture in all forms of entertainment from movies
to computer games. We talk a good game
of in-your-face kick ass but shy away from the truth or try to masquerade it by
packaging it in the convoluted divisive disingenuous language of politics. But the truth, the nasty truth cannot be
obscured, hidden, or painted over. The
truth is on display 24/7 from coast to coast in every segment and strata of our
diverse and disparate society.
We are Jerry Springer, Maury
Povich, Cops, Lock-up, truTV, Jackass, reality program addicted voyeurs. We are
WWE smack down, body slamming, chair throwing, foul-mouthed buffoons. We are MMA knock out, choke out, knock your
teeth out, tap out, ground and pound, bare-knuckle, street, cage and ‘ghetto’
fighting crowds cheering for blood and guts with gusto equal to Romans at the
Coliseum. We are blindsiding,
low-blowing, sucker punching, head banging, gangsta rapping, heavy metal,
junkies. We are fast and furious, shock and awe, lock and load, cut and dry,
read ‘em and weep and Gung fucking Ho.
With mouths agape, beer in hand with our kids in the other room playing
Grand Theft Auto on the latest digital device honing their marksmanship skills
and becoming increasingly desensitized, we wait for the next late hit,
quarterback sack, crack back, cheap shot, head shot, take him down at the
knees, slam dunk, barreling home, bone crunching , brain rattling up the middle
image. Patiently we’ll sit through the
mind numbing ovoid hypnosis of a NASCAR race hoping the next turn brings a tire
blowing, high speed, fiery, multicar, collision. Yup, we like our violence and mayhem.
As violent people violence of
a sensational nature shouldn’t surprise us.
But we proclaim loudly that it does and that reaction reeks of idiotic
shallowness, another defining aspect of our culture today. We seem to be a very conflicted people, a
nation plagued by a strain of chronic hypocrisy, dissonance, and confusion that
it is no small wonder we don’t have more intractable issues to confront. The topic of discussion today is what
happened here last Friday. We talk about
it, may argue over it, and try to understand it or even arrive at a conclusion
that comports with our personal perspectives.
The gun owners among us can say, “Obviously, he was crazy. He needed help. Guns don’t kill people, people
kill people.” Their anti-gun neighbors
or coworkers will argue with equal ardor that “We need to ban all guns. We must start with assault weapons and get
rid of them. Then we need tougher laws,
more laws, more regulation.” But is it
all about guns; is that the essential problem here?
FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF OUR MOUTHS
We are also a God-fearing,
church attending, generous, charitable, neighborly, stick together people. We often demonstrate a collective conscience,
a shared morality, the ability to accept those others different than ourselves
and to extend our largesse far and wide.
We are hardworking, family-centric, community oriented people often
finding common ground in matters of justice and equality.
We tend to view ourselves as
good decent people willing to lend a helping hand when called upon. We do no doubt have our moments. In the aftermath of natural disaster and
large-scale mayhem we are able to demonstrate the best of human nature, a real
sense of unity, empathy, and compassion.
It seems that we are able to
speak out of both sides of our mouths sometimes appearing to be ailing from
some mutant strain of collective schizophrenia.
This dissonance renders us stuck at times; frozen in a moral place that
leaves us paralyzed and unable to act towards the greater good.
WHERE ARE WE GOING? ARE WE EVEN
ASKING THE APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS?
In 1999 during the impeachment
proceedings against then President Bill Clinton in the U.S. Senate, Dale
Bumpers, a long time Senate veteran from Arkansas stood in the well of the
Senate chamber and eloquently offered a powerful defense of President
Clinton. In his speech Senator Bumpers
made the following comment, “When they say it’s not about money, it is about
money and, when they say it’s not about sex, it is about sex.” He spoke the truth.
Now we find ourselves inundated
by media coverage of the Sandy Hook massacre (Some of which has clearly been
unethical) and the focus is on guns. To
expand Senator Bumpers’ astute observation, “When they say it isn’t about guns;
it is about guns” and the inverse corollary, “It isn’t about random, individual
madness, but it is. It’s not about
guns.”
Naturally it took the brutal slaying of 20
kindergarteners to bring to the fore an issue, not quite epidemic but extremely
fatal when it flares up; when it periodically erupts in our Country, to focus our
attention. The violence delivered upon the elementary
school here strikes particularly close to the heart not only for parents but
for most citizens. The tender age of 20
of those victims as well as the setting in which they were massacred may
represent a “tipping point” in the on-going gun debate but, it may actually not
have sufficient longevity.
Too often we’ve seen events,
mass casualty, mass fatality events and, in their immediate wake calls to
action are heard from all quarters. But
another disturbing collective ailment soon prevails, that being collective
short term memory. We soon grow tired of
the news coverage, of seeing the victims’ photos, of listening to survivors
accounts on the 24 hour cable newsertainment networks. Political resolves rapidly fades into just so
much political rhetoric. Our societal
recognition of the issue of the day wanes as people drift back to their long
held positions and opinions. Too much
happens too often to hold our attention for too long.
As has been the case after
every similar event to that which transpired here last Friday the same
questions are asked, the search for motive and understanding are given
attention and the need to assign blame locates the usual suspects. But to what end? What is it we are trying to understand, what
is it we need to have explained, who are we to blame because naturally, their
just has to be someone, some force, factor or influence to blame? The answers to these questions are elusive
and far more complex than they appear at first blush. It is much like trying to identify the cause
of a hurricane from one inland puddle of sea water. It can’t be done. So, what is essentially a micro issue in each
instance can only be tackled by a macro effort.
AWASH IN NUMBERS
Over the last four days the
media has saturated us with numbers, statistics and other data, some obtuse, regarding
gun ownership, deaths from firearms, and the mandatory pseudo-scientific data
that is always hauled out after a “lone gunman, mass fatality event”. Depending whose data you believe you can find
statistics that “prove” your particular point of view whatever that may be. Aside from the numbers and stats we have a multitude of diverse and often grossly disparate opinions as to causes and solutions.
America is a nation
approaching 400 million in population with anywhere between 85 and 300 million
“legally purchased, registered” firearms the bulk of which are “long guns”,
shot guns and rifles used by hunters, target shooters and other sportsmen. The Department of Justice and its law
enforcement branch the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) track analyze and
publish their “official” statistics for all major crime categories
annually. From their ocean of data it
appears that in an average year 22,000 Americans are murdered by a person
wielding a firearm. In the never
ending quest of the media to hype and exploit each of these horrific events in
headlines and the annoying scroll lines that stream across the bottom of the TV
screen on virtually every broadcast, we’ve been informed that 32 people a day
are shot to death in America. Or is it
34? Statistics, particularly government
statistics are infinitely malleable and notoriously cooked, crunched, and
inaccurate representations of whatever reality they are intended to
measure. But, there can be no doubt that
America has a higher percentage per capita of homicides via firearms than any
other Western nation.
One veteran NYPD Homicide
Detective (speaking not for attribution) expressed his dismay at the frequency
of mass fatality shootings recently but also commented that, “I’m frankly
surprised it doesn’t happen more often given our open society, population and
the number of the violent mentally ill among us who own their own guns or have
access to them.” He continued that it
was ironic that there have been lone gunman mass killings in a movie theater in
Colorado, a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, and several other locations this year
while New York City, once the “murder capital” of America, “will have fewer
murders this year than suicides. Our
homicide rate is at a 53 year low. It is
amazing.” When asked what can be
attributed to the low homicide rate in NYC he replied that “a number of
policies, practices, and aggressive policing have made a big difference but
there are other factors at work here. We
have been able to get guns off the street because they are the guns used in
most of the City’s homicides.”
Law Enforcement officials
across the country say that enforcing existing gun laws is essential while
conceding that someone bent on murdering someone or a group of someone’s is
typically virtually impossible to identify prior to the commission of a murderous
act or rampage. They unanimously agree
that “assault weapons” and “high capacity magazines” should be banned
completely simply because “they have no place in society. No hunter needs a semi-automatic, high
caliber rifle with a 100 shot clip.”
THE LEAST WE CAN DO SHOULD NOT BE ALL WE CAN DO
In almost every unprecedented
murderous act committed in America over the last 3 decades we have been slow to
act or we act in ways that follow the path of least resistance usually skirting
the true core matter at hand. Members of what would evolve into an organization known as Al Qaeda bombed the
World Trade Center in 1993, Timothy McVeigh bombed the Federal Building in
Oklahoma City in 1995, fifteen students and staff were shot near Jonesboro
Arkansas in 1998 and two young boys shot 33 students and staff, killing 12, in
Columbine High School in 1999. After
each of these events as the sad history of the intervening years has shown us,
there were no real new policies and procedures developed and implemented that
addressed the particulars of each of these tragedies. That seems to be the American way; a short
attention span, spineless politicians and a legion of Washington DC lobbyists
and special interest groups have thwarted those in a position to enact real
practical, sensible change. Will this be
the case now? Once the last of those
pitifully tiny coffins are interred in Newtown Connecticut will we all just
move on?
At the moment it appears that
this latest horror, a gunman killing 6 and 7 year old children as they sat at
their small desks in a kindergarten classroom, may – just may – generate
sufficient motivation, resolve and commitment to mitigating the likelihood of
anything like what happened at Sandy Hook elementary from ever happening again.
The least that can be done is
to reenact the ban on assault weapons signed into law by President Bill Clinton
only left to expire under President George W. Bush. Security at public facilities of all kinds
needs to be improved in a sensible, logical, affordable manner.
We can talk all we want about
guns and mental illness, about estranged, deranged young alienated loners,
the undiagnosed mentally ill among us, bullying, the NRA, the
Second Amendment, rights, privileges, privacy and the random nature of life
itself and those would all be conversations torquing the nuts and bolts along
the fringe of the real problems that confront us.
Sure, there is plenty of
“blame”, for what it’s worth, to go around.
We can blame movies, video games, TV, music, bad parenting, broken
families, aimless youth, drugs, sensory overload,inadequate mental health care availability, planetary alignment and all the other hot button “talking points” spinning
around the heart of the matter like so much wind-blown snow in a blizzard and
most of it would be just so much wasted energy and time.
It is not about taking “God”
out of our schools just as it is not about the “loopholes" in the existing gun
laws. What is at the heart of the matter
is who we are and what we are as a people, as a Country, as a culture and
society. There are no easy answers to
the questions we’ve yet to formulate but some serious debate needs to occur at
every level of government and society.
After some initial debate some answers will emerge but only if there is
earnestness and a sense of urgency in the debate process.
Are we as a nation prepared to
demonstrate to our fellow citizens and the world who watches America with a
fixed stare that we are better than this, that we are capable, willing and eve
able to be better than what we are today?
Time will tell.
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