A Post on Guns from December, 2012

Thursday, October 10, 2013


I had my eyes examined today to ensure nothing is amiss with them.  Thankfully this was confirmed.  My examination required my eyes to be dilated.  I am thus staying away from my computer as much as possible tonight.  I welcome you to read a piece I composed in December, 2012.  Considering the failure of substantive gun legislation earlier this year this piece is still quite timely.

Guns and Fantasylands

Much ink has been spilled since the blood of young children was spilled in Newtown, Connecticut last week.  I’ve been reflecting on this horror since it unfolded.  There are so many aspects to the sadness I feel about what happened that it is challenging to disentangle all the threads of feeling and thought I have been aware of within myself.

My purpose in writing is to share my own experience and perspective.  I believe people should have the right to defend themselves.  I also believe that we need a sensible and compassionate discussion about gun control in this nation.  In my opinion that time is very long overdue.

First I have to say that I find it genuinely creepy that I have lost track of what is the cause of flags being flown at half mast here in Minnesota.  Is it being done in recognition of the children who died in Newtown?  Are they still lowered in honor of 31 year old Cold Spring police officer Tom Decker who was killed in the line of duty recently?  Or perhaps they are lowered in honor of two year old Neegco Xiong who died here in Minnesota when his brother accidentally shot him to death using a gun that was stashed behind a pillow.  Do you notice a pattern here?  Yes, these deaths all were the result of use of a gun.  And yet guns somehow necessarily make us safer?  I beg to differ.  And I shall share my own story.  Here it is.

I nearly lost my own father when I was a young boy.  He was shot in our own home while I was hundreds of miles away visiting my grandparents.  My stepmother had an underage boy pull the trigger.  It is only dumb luck that allowed my father to live; one mere inch difference in his position within the doorway in which he was shot would have made all the difference.  My father was not shot because he was threatening anyone whatsoever.  No, he was shot because my stepmother had apparently lost ever moral fiber within her being.  And she apparently found inspiration for her plotting from daytime soap operas.  Anyone who refuses to acknowledge the potential influence that violence in the media may have on human behavior will get a roll of the eyes from me. 

A proposal made by the NRA to place armed guards in schools thus leaves me feeling dubious at best.  It would seem the NRA would have Americans believe the solution to gun violence is to actually increase the presence of guns in our society.  Really?  It would seem we should do something on a national level that would mirror what once unfolded between this nation and the former Soviet Union, namely deter violence through arming ourselves even more.  My own experience, as well as that of so many others, argues against this.

Many arguments have been made about what the true policy issue is that must be corrected.  Some argue it is the presence of guns.  Some argue it’s the inappropriate or excessive use of medications to treat the mentally ill and that we need better mental health resources in communities throughout this nation.  I read an opinion piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today arguing we have a major issue with the glorification of revenge in American culture.  Still others look to the dynamics within families and communities in which warning signals are missed until it is too late.  The gender modeling of appropriate behavior has also been examined.  I would argue that all these perspectives have some degree of validity.

Let’s take the example of Newtown and break it all down.  To make my argument I need to introduce the concept of necessary and sufficient conditions.  A necessary condition is something necessary for something to occur but does by itself not guarantee a certain outcome.  A sufficient condition is a condition whose existence does guarantee a certain outcome.  What unfolded in Newtown could not have unfolded without a confluence of events.  The elements of the event include a disturbed young man, a gun, easy access to the gun and a defenseless target population of schoolchildren.  What unfolded could not have happened without ALL these pieces in place.

Much has been written about the mental health of the perpetrator.  This is valid.  But we must necessarily then look at the many factors that can influence a person’s health.  It is interesting to note how perpetrators of mass shootings are often male, frequently feel aggrieved and also were noted to not socialize well.  I think it is therefore timely to explore the issue of how young women and men are developing in our culture.

Yet the tragedy in Newtown would not have unfolded without other important conditions being met.  One of these is the existence of weapons capable of quickly killing others.  A related issue is the accessibility of such weapons.  This tragedy might have been avoided if Adam Lanza had not had such easy access to the weapon he later used.  What always amazes me when mass shooting incidents occur is the trope that individuals drag out arguing that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”  Well yes, that is true, but killing people is made much more feasible with guns.  Seriously, are we to believe that people like Adam Lanza could have easily walked into a school and murdered twenty children if all he had were his own hands to attack them with?  A man like Adam Lanza would have been much more easily subdued had he only had his own hands to attack with.

And so I return to the concept of necessary and sufficient conditions.  Of those I mentioned which was the condition that had to be met for so many children to die?  Adam Lanza used a gun to commit this mass shooting spree.  It thus seems perfectly reasonable that gun regulations must be seriously reviewed.  While the other conditions (his mental state, his family upbringing) are important pieces, it is disingenuous, disrespectful and irresponsible for the NRA to completely avoid any willingness to acknowledge the importance of gun access itself.  In my opinion it is an affront to the memory of the children who died in Newtown.  It is also an affront to common sense.  All the contributing factors to this tragedy must be considered as policy review is conducted.  And that includes the ease with which a young man was able to access a gun.

Now let me return to my own personal example.  What my father experienced could not have happened without a gun present.  Would an NRA advocate have me believe that this incident would still have unfolded in the same way had no gun been involved.  What would my father have been attacked with?  A knife?  Clenched fists?  Last time I checked such methods of attack are more manageable to counteract.

I want to make one more argument as to why we must take up this issue in this country now.  And I will again draw on my own experience.  Place yourself in the minds and hearts of those millions of children throughout this country who are the age of those who died in Newtown.  They look to the adults in their lives as examples of how to think and behave.  They look to their parents and other people in their community to learn how to become responsible adults who make a contribution to society.  They learn from adults about essential capacities including empathy.  Can you imagine what they may conclude if we don’t actually confront these multiple issues?  By doing nothing substantive they may interpret our nation to be one lacking concern for the fundamental needs of children to feel safe and secure.  These are fundamental needs that must be met for children to develop properly.

I can speak directly from my own experience.  After my father emerged from the hospital we had no significant discussion on what had transpired.  My stepmother was never prosecuted for the crime of attempted murder (another story).  I was lied to.  And I came to believe I was expected to ignore what had happened.   I became angry and resentful as a result.  My capacity to trust was undermined.  It took me a long time to heal from the harm of this childhood experience.

Regardless of your opinions about guns I believe we can and should have a national discussion about what we ought to provide our children.  Let me reframe this discussion yet another way.  Those children who died would quite likely have lived sixty, seventy, eighty or even ninety years more.  Imagine the contribution they could have made to our nation and the world had they lived to adulthood.  They will never have that chance.  Our children deserve better.  We as a nation can do better.