Lawyair On The Run

What has changed in American society since our founding to cause a spike in mass school shootings?

The total number of shootings (including suicide, accidental, and deliberate of ALL types) to date (from 1764 to the 14th of February 2018) is 467 incidents. In the 1700s, we had one. In the 1800s, there were 28 and the 1900s, 228. Since the beginning of 2000, there have been 212.

In those shooting incidents, ten people were killed in the the only incident of the 1700s (by melee guns and not a ranged weapon when American Indians entered Enoch Brown’s classroom and killed the teacher and nine students). In the latest incident on 14 February, a student with mental and disciplinary issues killed 17 of his fellow classmates.

Has access to weapons been eased over the centuries? I would argue not. In fact, the proliferation of gun laws has increased dramatically since 1934 when the first National Firearms Act was passed in response to the gangster culture created by prohibition. From the years 1791 (when the second Amendment was ratified) until that year, federal gun law restrictions were nonexistent. Today, because of a proliferation of harsh gun-restrictions laws in some parts of the country, it is all but impossible to own or carry a weapon.

In the earlier years of our country, the gun was part of the agrarian culture. It brought food to the table for the family. It protected the family from outside interference. It insured domestic tranquility. The gun was part and partial of an upbringing. It wasn’t something to be feared, but a tool to be utilized and respected for the damage it could do.

As we have moved from agrarian to industrial, we have crammed more and more people into tighter and more crowded zones. We have shifted from hunters/protectors to dependent/wimps. The gun that once brought food and protection to a family all but disappeared in some parts of society, especially the cities. In those confined parts of the country, the gun became viewed with fear.

The mindset of city dwellers is far different than those that live in the country. The behavioral sink, increased violence, and other personality modifications of those living in overcrowded, urban environments are explained by the 1950s work of psychologist John Calhoun. His work is frightening in its accuracy. Does Calhoun’s experiment explain gun violence? In part yes, but only in part.

What else has changed in my lifetime? A movement away from the nuclear family for one. The household where a man and wife are at the head are being mocked and minimized. Children growing up without both parents present is dramatically increasing. Family values and traditions are being replaced by what others claim are more important. The village has taken over parental roles in many incidents.

Discipline and guidance have been replaced by pandering and regulation. God has been slowly removed from public discourse by a barrage of law suits by unbelievers. The media has become a nonstop mess of negative and idiotic pronouncements creating a great divide in society. People are on edge and depend upon alcohol and drugs to “calm” themselves down. Many schools no longer teach American history or say the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the day, but have become repositories where teachers spend most of their time with administrative tasks and acting as disciplinary negotiators. Men of faith are mocked on national TV and a fawning crowd rolls with laughter.

But the biggest change has been a shift from children focusing on physical activities for entertainment to spending time logged into video games. In many incidents, we are no longer a society where boys are rough and tumble and take care of problems among themselves. They have learned from violent games that a gun can magically solve their problems and all will be OK. The games teach violence without teaching the necessary knowledge and respect required to handle a gun; the games ignore the consequences of mass killings; the games invite friends to join in online for the “hunt” of other humans as if it were a fairytale. In short, videos have replaced Mom and Dad, discipline, and responsibility in society.

The pathetic calls from politicians for confiscation and additional restrictions must be taken for what they are…sound bites to the uninformed and undereducated. It makes them appear as if they are doing something, when in fact all they are doing is cackling in their own henhouse. Those that have never handled a gun seem the most prolific; they continue to rule others with announcements of fear and ignorance.

So, when we enter into a discussion about “gun control” in society, let’s dig deep and try to understand the root causes of the violence. I think we will find the real problem is far bigger than a tool that does not function on its own. The gun is not the problem, we are.