(Published: December 30, 2012 in The Macon Telegraph)
By MIGUEL FARIA — Special to The Telegraph
The latest shooting rampage of 26 people, including six adults and 20 children in an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., on Dec 14, is a senseless tragedy and words cannot convey the horror and the magnitude of the loss of innocent life.
FARIA: Campaign against gun ownership is misguided
The second deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was carried out by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, a loner with a personality disorder -- and in critical need of psychiatric evaluation and treatment. Once again, these deadly rampages are the result of failures of the mental health system.
Consider the case of Jared Loughner, a 22-year-old disturbed individual who shot and attempted the assassination of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. He also killed six others, including an innocent 9-year-old student and a federal judge, and wounded 12 other people in 2011. There were signs of psychiatric illness and social pathology, that should have alerted those around him and called for mental evaluation and psychiatric treatment. But Loughner, like Lanza, fell through the obvious cracks.
In the case in Norway, after bombing a government building in Oslo and then taking over an island, a homicidal killer perpetrated a horrible massacre. Anders Behring Breivik massacred 69 of his fellow citizens, systematically hunting down unarmed youths at a camp, methodically killing mostly defenseless teenagers.
Imagine if just one person had carried a gun and knew how to use it to defend his or her life and the lives of others. But Norway, for all practical purposes, like most of Europe, is like the schools in the U.S., a “gun-free zone,” where guns are not allowed and a deranged individual can enter and kill with impunity.
These three specific incidents represent cases of criminal insanity associated with regrettable and overt failures in the mental health system, rather than the easy cliché of “too many guns” in the hands of people. In my article, “America, guns and freedom” I also cite other recent cases, including the two reciprocal incidents in Aurora, Colo., earlier in the spring and summer. One incident was widely reported; the other, where a citizen stopped a rampage and saved the lives of others, was not. The vast majority of citizens use firearms responsibly.
Incidentally, the United States is a federal republic, and the 50 states of the Union have some leeway in passing and enforcing gun laws. We already have 20,000 gun laws on the books. We don’t need more statues. The failure lies elsewhere.
The killer in Connecticut operated with impunity in a state that does not easily allow persons to carry guns for self protection, and most states in the U.S. already have a “zero tolerance” for guns in schools, which are in turn “gun-free zones,” where firearms are strictly prohibited. Perhaps it is time that we consider allowing teachers to receive special training and attain concealed carry firearm licenses to protect students in this mad, dystopic world we are creating in which we are permissive to criminals and deranged individuals, while we easily blame and propose more laws and controls to limit the rights of law-abiding citizens in society at large.
There is an even more sinister, contributing factor, and an even more serious problem -- namely, the problem of media reporting and sensationalization of violence that in association with the “15 minutes worth of fame” and the pursuit of celebrity status in vogue today are all pervasive. What more evidence is needed than the immense popularity of vulgar “reality” television shows? It is not a big step to link extensive coverage of shooting rampages in both the press and the colorful electronic media as a major contributing factor in the pathologic and even morbid attainment of celebrity status even in death.
The death of innocents, particularly children, is a tragedy, and responsible media commentators should be compassionate while remaining honest, objective professionals in dealing with social problems of this magnitude.
We cannot use atrocious crimes charged with emotions to incite even more passion to effect a desired public policy. And the media moguls need to get their minds together to begin the systematic de-sensationalization of crime and making morbid celebrities out of criminals.
In medicine, surgeons cannot guarantee results. Complications and sometimes bad results occur; the same can happen with guns. Firearms in the hands of terrorists, criminals or the mentally deranged, are dangerous. Those using this latest tragedy, eliciting emotionalism, are doing so to score political points -- while ignoring the accumulated objective research published in the criminologic or sociologic literature. They are not lamenting the deaths of the innocents or sympathizing with their families, but attempting to score points, political points at the expense of the victims.
My heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the grieving families in Connecticut.
Miguel A. Faria Jr., M.D., is an ex-member of the Injury Research Grant Review Committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Consider the case of Jared Loughner, a 22-year-old disturbed individual who shot and attempted the assassination of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. He also killed six others, including an innocent 9-year-old student and a federal judge, and wounded 12 other people in 2011. There were signs of psychiatric illness and social pathology, that should have alerted those around him and called for mental evaluation and psychiatric treatment. But Loughner, like Lanza, fell through the obvious cracks.
In the case in Norway, after bombing a government building in Oslo and then taking over an island, a homicidal killer perpetrated a horrible massacre. Anders Behring Breivik massacred 69 of his fellow citizens, systematically hunting down unarmed youths at a camp, methodically killing mostly defenseless teenagers.
Imagine if just one person had carried a gun and knew how to use it to defend his or her life and the lives of others. But Norway, for all practical purposes, like most of Europe, is like the schools in the U.S., a “gun-free zone,” where guns are not allowed and a deranged individual can enter and kill with impunity.
These three specific incidents represent cases of criminal insanity associated with regrettable and overt failures in the mental health system, rather than the easy cliché of “too many guns” in the hands of people. In my article, “America, guns and freedom” I also cite other recent cases, including the two reciprocal incidents in Aurora, Colo., earlier in the spring and summer. One incident was widely reported; the other, where a citizen stopped a rampage and saved the lives of others, was not. The vast majority of citizens use firearms responsibly.
Incidentally, the United States is a federal republic, and the 50 states of the Union have some leeway in passing and enforcing gun laws. We already have 20,000 gun laws on the books. We don’t need more statues. The failure lies elsewhere.
The killer in Connecticut operated with impunity in a state that does not easily allow persons to carry guns for self protection, and most states in the U.S. already have a “zero tolerance” for guns in schools, which are in turn “gun-free zones,” where firearms are strictly prohibited. Perhaps it is time that we consider allowing teachers to receive special training and attain concealed carry firearm licenses to protect students in this mad, dystopic world we are creating in which we are permissive to criminals and deranged individuals, while we easily blame and propose more laws and controls to limit the rights of law-abiding citizens in society at large.
There is an even more sinister, contributing factor, and an even more serious problem -- namely, the problem of media reporting and sensationalization of violence that in association with the “15 minutes worth of fame” and the pursuit of celebrity status in vogue today are all pervasive. What more evidence is needed than the immense popularity of vulgar “reality” television shows? It is not a big step to link extensive coverage of shooting rampages in both the press and the colorful electronic media as a major contributing factor in the pathologic and even morbid attainment of celebrity status even in death.
The death of innocents, particularly children, is a tragedy, and responsible media commentators should be compassionate while remaining honest, objective professionals in dealing with social problems of this magnitude.
We cannot use atrocious crimes charged with emotions to incite even more passion to effect a desired public policy. And the media moguls need to get their minds together to begin the systematic de-sensationalization of crime and making morbid celebrities out of criminals.
In medicine, surgeons cannot guarantee results. Complications and sometimes bad results occur; the same can happen with guns. Firearms in the hands of terrorists, criminals or the mentally deranged, are dangerous. Those using this latest tragedy, eliciting emotionalism, are doing so to score political points -- while ignoring the accumulated objective research published in the criminologic or sociologic literature. They are not lamenting the deaths of the innocents or sympathizing with their families, but attempting to score points, political points at the expense of the victims.
My heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the grieving families in Connecticut.
Miguel A. Faria Jr., M.D., is an ex-member of the Injury Research Grant Review Committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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