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So I've been trying to put together some thoughts on this horrible shooting at Northern Illinois University. First let me say that my thoughts and prayers go out to the students affected and their families.
This type of incident is unfortunately becoming more and more common. Thanks to 24 hour cable news and the frequency of events that just a couple of decades ago would've seemed outside the realm of possibility in America, we're starting to become numb to these things
I like to quote my dad, so I'll do so again here.
"It's getting to be just like the wild west again where you better own a gun or know someone who does."
How could this incident have been stopped? No one knows for sure, but my immediate reaction is similar to how I felt after the Virginia Tech shootings. Allow students to carry guns on campus. If responsible students, maybe it's law enforcement students, ROTC students, or others who have attended special training to carry and operate a firearm, if they were allowed to carry guns would these incidents suddenly become less frequent, or end up a little differently? Unfortunately we'll never know because this type of situation simply isn't allowed.
A lot of people will argue that this problem stems from the government getting involved in restricting the rights of citizens to bear arms. I agree that the constitution is very clear and the government has erred in this regard, but there is more to the problem than just the government. It's a society problem.
The truth is that we're living in a different era in our country. Guns have been demonized by the media and pop culture. Guns are associated with criminals, crazy rednecks, and gangster rappers. There was a time when fathers would spend time training their sons (and sometimes daughters) how to responsibly use a firearm. While this still occurs in rural areas, this practice has by and large ceased to exist among the general populace.
How do we change this? Can we change this? Should we change this? I'm not sure how, but I know we can, and I think we should. Just like a host of other problems that plague our society we need to have families step up to the plate in raising their kids.
Just like the loose morals epidemic that plagues our pop culture, the violence epidemic can be addressed by parents who teach their kids responsibility. That's easier said than done though. There are two problems that develop when we focus on the strategy of parents raising their kids.
First, willing parents feel that they are fighting an uphill battle most of the time. The same media and pop culture that shoves casual sex, homosexuality, and other loose morals in the face of youngsters is also busy selling gory gruesome violence and associating guns with this horrific imagery. There is no John Wayne anymore.
Let's face it being a parent is tough business. You're fighting against the Internet, MTV, and even the biased news media which makes gross stereotypes. Something needs to be done to help enable willing parents to raise their kids without the negative influences that are propagated by corporate media and Hollywood which have their own depraved agenda.
It's time to start speaking the language of these forces that seek to corrupt the moral climate of our nation while padding their pocketbooks. Let's hit them in the wallet. Consumers have that ability by making educated purchases and the government could aid by providing tax incentives for companies that clean up their act.
The second problem that arises from putting the onus on parents and families to instill morals and responsible self defense methods is that so many parents have been brainwashed by the culture themselves and either have no interest in raising responsible families or are too lazy to take the time to do so.
I don't know what you do to address this second problem. I know that some of my libertarian leaning readers will be ready to jump down my throat as if I'm insinuating that government should be the one responsible for dealing with this epidemic. I'm acutely aware that government is no less corrupt than the general public and is in fact more corrupt most of the time.
Therefore, ultimately, it's up to people to get the job done. It's up to individuals to reach out to others in their neighborhood. It's up to people to reach out to their community. It's up to churches to encourage, nurture, and inspire and to teach responsibility when it comes to morality and when it comes to using firearms.
If this was emphasized by families and they were allowed to do so without the interference of corporate forces in our culture, would this prevent incidents like the one at Northern Illinois? While there is no guarantee, it sure couldn't hurt could it?
Crossposted at Andy Barnett's Culture War Blog, go there to comment
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