The Mall Shooting

So here we have another example of where our culture fails to recognize the incredible importance of mental health and not letting people who have health needs slip through the cracks. What I find so incredibly tiring about these situations, which are becoming more and more frequent it seems, is that there are signs that seem to be ignored by those around these unfortunate shooters. This one actually spent time in mental health facilities, and put out messages to friends about his health problems and eventual crime. Where were these friends when he needed their support? More than that, where were they when they received what must have been disturbing messages about what he'd do?

I'm not sure how much responsibility should be placed on the shooter when he actually reached out whether for help or attention to those who should have taken notice, and they did nothing. At the very least they should have turned the messages in to police and perhaps this would have prevented a tragedy. I was watching footage on my local news station and it showed authorities removing rifles from the place where the teenager was living, multiple rifles. The report also said that he managed to fire off thirty rounds in what must have been only a short few minutes, meaning it wasn't a hunting shotgun but some sort of semi-automatic rifle.

Is it so impossible for people, especially the gun lobby, to see the connection between automated weapons and violent crimes? Is it that hard to understand why there should be further restrictions on who can acquire such weapons, where they can purchase them and how long they have to wait while a background check is being processed to insure that they are legally able to purchase the weapon and licensed to do so?

Weapons are designed for one thing only: to kill things. That is the simple truth and has been since the beginning of time. People with mental health problems shouldn't be able to get their hands on guns of any kind, much less semi-automatic military style rifles, and much less multiple guns of that type.

While the boy who committed the crime shouldn't be thought of as a victim and while he bears most of the responsibility for his actions, we can't completely absolve those people around him who he reached out to specifically and our culture more generally of its responsibility in this horrible, and terrifyingly more frequent, crime.

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