I have to write something about the resent rash, so to speak, of horrific mass murders in this country of ours. It now seems to be a weekly occurrence which, although appalled, we as a society have become desensitized to. This is not only because of the frequencies of the shootings but most Americans enjoy viewing the repetitive, and I mean repetitive, violence on TV, movies and video games and the relative easy way to acquire a firearm. Any kind of firearm. The desensitizing was brought to a complete halt with the killing of twenty six people, 20 being 3rd graders, the week before Christmas 2012. This was an act of evil and cannot even be described in words of the ridiculousness of this horrendous event. It was on the level and in my inner feelings as tragic (I hesitate to say more tragic) than the World Trade Center attack in 2001 in which close to 3,000 souls lost there lives. I have been reflecting on what could be the cause of these frequent incidents besides the above mentioned possibilities.  I came to the realization that, although I was one to NOT believe violence on TV cause a violent society (I thought that years ago) I now think it contributes to the issue. But, upon further evaluation (in my own mind) I came to the conclusion that the American way of life is the major contributor. First I thought of all the wars this country has fought, just in my short fifty six years, not including the cold war, which was physicological like having a gun held at your head, especially for a seven or eight year old. We have been involved in seven that I can think of and I am sure I am missing a few. Korea, Bay of Pigs. (Cuba) Viet Nam, Panama, Grenada, Iraq, Iran, Iraq again, Those counties in the old Soviet Union, I can't keep track or remember the names. Not that any of these were not necessary, we, as the worlds police force have to step in with our firearms. I took a look at Wiki, entering "US at war" in the goggle search, thinking I would make a list for this blog. It became apparent it would have taken me hours to do so and since it is already compiled on Wiki you can take a look if you care to. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States Let me say that since the American Revolution, their has not been a five year period, from 1776 to present, that there was a five year period in which we were not using firearms somewhere. Nothing wrong with that. Most great civilizations have the same track record. Even though Egypt was the superpower for three to four THOUSAND years and the Romans for just a thousand or so. They did not have firearms though so they don't have any relevance here. I digress. So the firearm is in our culture from day one. It always will be. From killing Indians (whom shot back) to Wyatt Earp tracking down the murdering thieves at the OK coral. From the Gangsters who ran the country with Tommy guns to the FBI's assault (they were being shot at) on the Waco TX compound. The firearm IS our culture. Bans can be made and enforced as well as the drug enforcement actions we take as a country. The regulations always seem to make the politicians fell better anyway. But it will do nothing. This country is under some divine umbrella which we stand under with out firearms. So we need to dissect to the minutest degree (as Peroit would say) to determine how to keep firearms out of the nuts hands. This leads to another problem. I am sure "we" can determine the obvious psychopaths and other obviously mentally disturbed individuals but I think, by the looks of it, a lot of these nuts are fairly rational and no more nuts than any of the script writers of our favorite TV shows. Actually some may, at one time, been more lucid. Lets break it down here; sorry but I am going to use demographics, race and sex as part of the breakdown. Lets start with WOMEN: no, there does not seem to be any issue here. Many have guns and use them responsively whether for protection or sport. MEN: Now we have an issue, OK, black men: Not really in the mass killing world. Sure they have and use guns but mostly in a war environment. Turf and drugs, which we, as a country, have enacted laws to control. UNFORTUNATELY these wars take place in our neighborhoods and innocent people get killed. LATINO: Pretty much same as the Black guys, just in different states. WHITE: hummmm, I think I hit a nerve here. Lets break it down farther...INCOME: Well, most of these White guys don't have an income from what I could see, other than some pretty rich parents paying their way. This can be expected since most of these MEN are of college age and have not been out in the world yet. I think if we, as a nation, started screening all high school and college age WHITE MALE we, as a nation might intervene in one or two of these mass murders. Will we end them all? No, never. Will a gun ban help? No, never. Will we understand why, as a nation, we go out and buy more guns when a ban is mentioned...yes...we are a firearm oriented country. I just saw the movie LINCOLN which I thought was going to be about his life and was actually about the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation. Interesting to see the workings of politics during the Civil War (oxymoron?) but the end shows Lincoln at his end. Laying with a bullet lodged in his head. Not from a semi automatic weapon but from a single shot pistol which you could hid in the palm of your hand. It made me reflect on just how many Presidents, just Presidents, who's lives were ended by a firearm. Or almost ended by a firearm. Again, it would be a list that would take too long to list here and with Wiki already having it, take a look if you care too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots
All I can add to this summation is that when a white male of high school or college age decides to use the all American gun to make a point, please just use it on someone who counts.......yourself.