Topic : 10/12 Homecoming Shooting

     It seemed to me that 3 important issues were not touched upon in this program. One is the easy availability of guns which are beyond hunting/target practice/protection capabilities, not only for purchase, but available in the home to young people.  The second is the current trend to turn to violence to solve problems, and the underlying anger which seems to fuel the trend.  The third is the role of parents in the upbringing and care for the young people who become so violent.  Why are the parents so unaware of their children's behavior and mental health that they don't seek help for their kids? How can they not be aware of caches of weapons, etc, that their kids have.  Why do we blame school authorities, police, mental health officials, etc, and expect them to stop all such tragedies (or even to hold them responsible for them) when the parents are the people most consistently around these kids and should be the ones aware of their tendancies?  In both the Columbine and the Virginia Tech cases, these are educated, upper-middle class families, who one would assume would be more in touch with their kids.  I would really be interested in a program that interviews and profiles the parents of some of these troubled children.

 
 It is a scary world, You take a chance just walking out  your front door. With so many violent movies,
Internet access to gross behaviors, people trying to get attention any way they know how,perverted
attention especially. Notariety of these so called famous stars doing bad things and getting rewarded
for thier actions, a sick mind tries to do it to. With  no talent they come up with a violent way to get there attention.  Its the last days the Bible warned us about, its to be expected.

Merry

When my oldest (he is now 11) was younger I too disliked guns.  I wanted nothing to with them and wanted my son to have nothing to with them.  I now have three more children and my opinion of guns has changed drastically.  I now feel that by banning guns from my children I am doing them a real disservice.   My husband and I teach our children how to respect firearms and how to use them safely.   

 Our reasons for owning guns have nothing to do with hunting.  First of all it is our constitutional right to have them.  And I am proud that my children will grow up to exercise that right.  Some people make the argument that because times have changed since the constitution was written that many of the rights guaranteed to us are not important.  They are just important now as they were then.  The right to bear arms has nothing to do with hunting.  It has everything to do with keeping our government in check.  If we give up one of our right what will be next?  How do you feel about the freedom of speech and religion?

My plan for writing this is not to get into a debate about the 2nd amendment with anyone.  My experience has been that I will not be able to change anyone’s opinion about firearm ownership and vice versa.

 Every time there is a school shooting or a shooting involving children the same arguments are made.  You say we need to get guns off the street and out of our children’s hands.  Could you explain to me how that will solve the problem?  The way I see it, the banning of firearms puts me and my children in greater danger.  If you look at the history of mass shootings, you will notice that one common thread runs thru them nearly all.  They take place in gun free zones or places where firearm ownership is heavily restricted.  You will never be able to stop evil people from doing evil acts, but by prohibiting honest citizens from using the tools they need to defend themselves, you are empowering the evil people to cause greater damage unimpeded.  They almost always end with the shooter taking his own life.  A criminal by definition will not obey the laws.

 There is a much larger issue here than guns and weapons.  Our children are not learning the difference between right and wrong.  We have raised our children to believe they are the center of the universe, that their feelings are more important than anyone else’s.  They need to learn that life is not always going to go their way.  That they are going to go through some kind of upset.  They will not always win.  We need to teach them how to be a winner and a loser and how to handle both situations.

 Before I end I would like to those of you that are anti-gun to consider just one question.  Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons? http://blog.joehuffman.org/2004/12/15/Just+One+Question.aspx

 

You will not get any cop bashing from me.  In most cases they are wonderful people who's lives are dedicated to protecting others.  Still, they are human just like the rest of us and are capable of suffering from the same illnesses we all are.  Sometimes people with these illnesses have gotten very good at hiding them.  There is such a stigma out there on mental and psychological disorders that even though they are physical disorders that often can be treated, people are afraid that they will be branded the rest of their lives if they admit it.  It is sad that so many people think that the brain can't get sick like the rest of the body.  When the pancreas doesn't function properly we don't think anything negative about the person being treated for diabetes, but when the brain doesn't function properly the person is thought of as "crazy".  I've been there and it is miserable.

I have bipolar II disorder and anxiety in the form of OCD and know that stigma well.  That is why I hid it so beautifully until I was 18 and ready to do something about it.  I will admit, in my more depressed times I fantasized about harming those who had made me suffer so much in my life.  Those who teased and abused for their own pleasure... the only difference between myself and this young man was that I never acted on it.  I was raised with powerful values, I valued life.  I was taught at an early age that the best revenge is to live a good life, despite their attempts to bring me down.  And even though it took until I was 18, I got the help I needed and live a fairly normal life now.  I handle things the way a healthy person would.  Maybe if we didn't have such a horrible stigma on mental health issues these people could feel safe getting the help they need and these things would be less likely to happen. 

Oh, and I definitly agree that guns cannot kill people by themselves, but they sure make it easier for those people who fantasize about killing to do it.  I sometimes wonder if the pain I went through in 7th grade specifically, that had me in a suicidal state, would have wound me up 6 feet under if I had had a gun in the house.  All you have to do is move a finger... pull a trigger, no time to change your mind.  When you are holding a knife in your hands its a whole different story.

I've learned I was never crazy... just sick with treatable issues and I hope that more people move past the stigma and get the medical help they need before they fall so deep that something like this happens.  He didn't get his wish.  He didn't make them suffer... he made their families and loved ones suffer, but now, in death, he is labeled the hateful, cruel, cold-blooded killer, and those he killed are revered.  They suddenly become these good, kind, innocent souls taken too young... martyrs.  So many are dead now... and I cannot imagine what their families are going through, but I also feel for his family... they will now live a stigma the rest of their lives. 

I will not dispute this perspective.  I will offer another.  I feel that today's youth do not feel loved and valued within their immediate family.  I have heard many voice that sentiment.  When both parents are involved in careers and aspire to all of the finer material things in life, they believe they are doing it for the family and that they can do and have it all.  Unfortunately, our youth are suffering and never form the bonds that support successful tranfering of values from the older generation to the younger.  Overworked and over stressed parents cannot set examples of frustration tolerance to their children, because a lot has to be accomplished in a short time and patience runs thin.  Children are given most of what they want when they want it in order to keep peace.  All that teaches is further impatience and teaches nothing about how to deal with not getting what you want all the time.  Feeling loved and valued in the family gives youth an underlying security so that if outsiders tease or ridicule, they do not crumble emotionally and they can weather the storms of such actions from the peer group.  Love is more than money and more than words.  Our children must feel love and perceive the importance they hold within the family.  Without that, their psyches will be weak and they will have no self to respect. enhance and protect.  They will see the same lack of value in other human beings.

Comig Doctor Home Ing Phil  Shooting. Doctor Phil I  like to share some of my thought and onething that--

I like to say when will this end? I donot like guns at all. I really donot like guns at all except when police h---

ave to use them for cating robbers aswell. I do remember April of 1999 when Columbine Shooting in Jeff--

erson County was very scary and out of control. See you soon. Sincerley Your. Russell Vlaanderen.----------

I grew up in very rural Wisconsin where everyone had guns.  I hunted deer since I was a young girl (age 12) and we all had gun.  In our trunks and pick-ups.  None of my friends - no matter how angry they were - ever though to use their gun in our school.. in our workplaces..

 

So it's not the guns.  It's truly the society we live in... where nothing seems to be "wrong" ...  just "different".  Where morals are confused and kids are growing up not allowed to be disappointed or learn boundries and respect for others. 

 

My son (now 12 himself) is a shining beacon in his school because his teachers say he is polite, respectful and thoughtful of others.  He's that type of kid anyway - but we have taught him at home. 

 

Kids are raising themselves... they grow into adults who can handle rejection, dissappointment or criticism because teachers, parents, etc. aren't allowed (or simply won't) do it.  And their reaction is so extreme.  THAT is the issue.  What has changed?

 

So addressing guns as an issue in this (or any other case) is really doing our society a disservice.  Simply passing a law -- or giving problems lip-service, or throwing time and money in a misdirected fashion is ignoring the REAL issues.   This man made a choice... and I can venture to guess that there wasn't any psychological screening on him before putting him in a position of authority. 

 

I realize this isn't a typical "school shooting" but maybe some of these issues apply.  Why are people turning to guns?  Killing other people?   If the guns weren't there -they would find another way to do the damage.  So THAT is the root of the problem.

 

~Sue, Wisconsin

I still don't understand how something like this could happen.  I wonder why he did it.

 

unrelated note: I heard on my local news last night that today's show was going to be about the school shooting that happend in Cleveland

We live in a world where there seems to be a never ending stream of violence.  When things like this happen we immediately blame the parents for what they did or did not do to or for these perpetrators.  We need to wake up and realize that this individual chose to take the actions that they did.  As long as the justice system is the way it is and the prisons run like country clubs where convicts can get a college education on our tax dollars, we will forever see an increase in the violent acts that one human can perpatrate on another.  We need to stop with deathrow inmates living for years and carry out the discipline that they have had meted out.  At one time prison was a place to be feared and a convict was a reviled creature, not a glorified hero.  People would try to lives the laws of the land in order to avoid jail time but now it seems like a place to get an education that they may otherwise have not been able to obtain.  We also need to make sure that we as parents teach our children self respect and self dicipline as well as sympathy and empathy.  We need to stop being such a selfish nation and think of our neighbors.  I know that alot of people out there do not believe in God and that is fine, however, when we were a God fearing nation we lived a more respectable life and our great nation was something to be proud of.  We need to have a higher state of laws like the ten commandments to follow, or the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do to you.  When we stop living for ourselves and start living for our nation to rise up above this quagmire of disgust that we have become and start caring for one another we will contionue to see a rise in the violent crimes we see nightly on the news.  There are a few things that perhaps if we put back in our lives we may see a more peaceful nation rise up once more and become a place that we can be proud to call home and not live in fear everyday.  1. God, 2. Family, 3. Self., 4. Work,  5.Church.  Once we start to have priorities in our life that are more than just ourselves we may start to see a more positive swing in the world we live. 

As for this latest tragedy it is awful and my heart goes out to the families that have been affected by this and pray that they may have peace and serenity in there hearts.   I also hope that they will be blessed with the courage and strength to get through this horrible tragedy.This is a terrible tragedy that should never have happened, unfortunately it did, and now it is up to us to rise above this and caryy on with the lives that we have been blessed with.