Virginia Tech - Point the gun, point the finger

Tragically, it’s happened again. What follows will be the endless debates about how to assign blame and more disturbingly, how to cast off blame.

Who shall we blame? Where can we point our righteous, fat fingers? Let’s blame firearm laws, Marilyn Manson, video games, action movies and Ritalin.

Personally, I see two major segments that make the equation...

1- There are people in this world who are ill and marginalized and, for the most part, ignored.
2- These marginalized individuals have access to firearms.

1+2=BANG

A person that decides that his best solution is to go into a school and start killing young people is in ill and distressed circumstances. And you know he didn’t find himself in this situation over night. Like suicide, these spree killings can be pre-empted with social intervention.
Unfortunately, the more crowded the world gets, the more isolated the individuals are. So a young, tormented person wallows in his grief until the illness takes complete hold. Don’t blame the music and movies because they are as inanimate as the chair and lamp. None of these can react to what they see and intervene.
But, we’re all to busy for our friends and families, never mind a distressed stranger. The government would rather get their talking points on gun control in the papers than to unglamorously increase resources to the social safety net.

Until we accept that these shooters are a product of our society, they will continue to be… well… a product of our society.
Take ownership.

-- My deepest condolences to the victims, families and friends--

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