Don't Give Evil Your Knee-Jerk Sanction

Gun control? Mental health? I do not know the solution or if there even is a comprehensive one - gun bans and mental health care can do only so much. Clearly, there is an underlying, and overlooked, societal issue(s) driving the uptick in mass shootings over the past few decades. This is especially concerning with teenage perpetrators. Unfortunately, this trend will not stop until it is properly addressed. But sometimes, evil simply just exists.

New Gun Policies Won’t Stop Mass Shootings, but People Can (National Review)

None of These Popular Gun Control Proposals Would Have Prevented the Parkland Shooting (Reason)

The Existing System is Broken: How Government Failures Helped Enable Four Recent Mass Shootings (Townhall) 

Whenever a mass shooting occurs, anti-gun activists and pundits turn to the same retreaded rhetoric that only ever addresses the means - the weapon used - rather than the root cause - the person who used it. Ostensibly, at the core, adult and teenage perpetrators alike increasingly are not all right - emotionally, mentally and/or socially. Why? Answer that question, find actionable solution(s) and, hopefully, lessen the violence.

An alcoholic or drug abuser does not stop being such just because a bottle or drug is taken away or access is restricted. In those instances, the root cause for the behavior must be addressed in order to stop the abuse. This is the very basis of and mandate for counseling, rehabilitation, etc. The same logic applies to perpetrators of violence. Address the root cause for it, and, hopefully, stop the violent behavior.

Or, maybe some people are just evil. In that instance, there is only one way to confront it - and it does not involve banning guns from the lawful and stable citizen who might do so. 

©2018 Steve Sagarra