Loss of the Innocent

If we as a nation are so concerned about the safety of our children,

shouldn't we focus on the biggest problems first?
 

 

Newtown Tragedy

I stand with the millions of people around the world in remembering the horrific shooting in the Newton Connecticut school one month ago today. I am saddened by the tragic loss of life, and by the struggle of those who survived. It was a terrible event, but I am also saddened by this nation's reaction to that event.

 

In the short time since the shooting almost everyone is making the same mistake, focusing their anger on the tool instead of the problem. When a deranged bomber kills people we blame the bomber, when a drunk driver kills people we blame the driver, but when a disturbed shooter kills people we blame the gun. Some go so far as to insist that a world with exactly zero guns in it would be a safer place, even though that’s never going to happen, and although it seems intuitive I seriously doubt that it’s true.

 

Steven Pinkers and Chris Uggen have writtent that, "A narrow focus on stopping mass shootings is less likely to produce beneficial changes than a broader-based effort to reduce homicide and other violence. These rare and terrible crimes are like rare and terrible diseases, and a strategy to address them is best considered within the context of more common and deadlier threats to population health.”

 

Focusing on guns is not the answer; they’re just a tool, they are not the problem.