Tragedy in Newton, CT

Tragedy in Newton, CT

A tragedy has occurred in Newton, Connecticut, one we won’t soon forget. The mass shooting that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut has renewed talks of gun control and legislation to eliminate the violence.

Maybe you, the reader, don’t realize as most Americans that all the legislation in the world and all the gun control will not change what has happened in Newton, Ct. nor prevent it from happening again in the foreseeable future. This phenomenon that the United States faces is home grown and created by many factors, guns are just a part of the equation.

If you were to analyze all the shootings, mass or the simple every day murder, you will find that a very small percentage, in fact a miniscule percentage of the murderers will purchase a gun legally with the intention of committing said crime.

Americans as a whole have more weapons in their homes than some countries have weapons for their military. You could ban the sale of fire arms today and it will have zero effect on the murder rate in this country. I am not a member of the NRA (National Rifle Association) and it is my belief that no company, club, religion or private entity should have any say in what the Government of a country dictates, and as we all know the NRA has a lot of power in our Government, but regardless they are right, NOTHING, but nothing that we do today will have an impact on the crime wave when it comes to fire arms and murder. Murderers steal guns to commit their crimes, murderers illegally buy guns to perpetrate their acts against other humans and that is a fact.

If you want to minimize these mass shootings and senseless murders you have to tackle the problem at the root and spread from there.

Yes, it is tragic that “20” six & seven year old children were murdered in cold blood while attending school, not to mention the six teachers and the mother of the crazed man, but more people than that lose their lives everyday throughout the country; “everyday”.

Mental health issues, is the main cause for mass killings and we as a society must deal with that reality. A simple example of what many parents are going through right now with their own kids is the revelation of a mother named Liza Long, she lives with the reality that her own son could one day kill not only her, but her other two kids and who knows how many others.

If you want to read about her ordeal go here: ( http://thebluereview.org/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother/ )

There is also the stigma of having a mentally disturbed individual as a family member, I personally know a well to do family whose first born could one day be the next Adam Lanza, but they refuse to admit their son has serious mental issues, even though they constantly have to deal with his rage and violence towards his sister and other children in their neighborhood and his school. Denial for them will one day cause the death of someone else and by then it will be too late as is the case of all these crazed young men.

1)             From personal experience I will tell you that when it comes to matters of the brain like schizophrenia, depression, and other mental issues, if you don’t have medical insurance and or money to pay for your own treatment, no one cares. The system will rather deal with the aftermath which usually results in death, either by suicide or other types of death, but no one cares for the small percentage of cases where many innocents die at the hands of these crazed individuals as it is the case in Newton, Ct.

2)             Poverty also plays a vital part in the murder rate and other violent crimes like robbery, assault and domestic violence. The segment of our population that can do something about these crimes usually live shelter lives away from the inner cities or the trailer parks where everyday people live the reality of violence on a daily basis.

3)             The media, especially television has a lot of blame on a lot of the crimes committed on the daily basis. All those “cop” shows exposing the young minds to explicit crimes day after day desensitizes our brains to the point of feeling nothing but an adrenalin rush and maybe even satisfaction when emulating what they watched on TV. Reality shows that glamorizes the worst in human behavior where the participants are encouraged to be outrageous in their interactions with their peers, the lack of respect for our fellow human beings from the top of our government to the every day person on the street in order to gain votes or a place in line at Wal-Mart on Black Friday. Yes we have been exposed to these behaviors for the last thirty years or so if not longer and now we are seeing the results, and it doesn’t look like it will end any time soon.

4)             The abuse by law enforcement whether racial or just because a demonstrator does not obey an order. People feel the need to rebel against those who are there to supposedly protect us. Authority figures have become an abomination except when they actually do their jobs within the realm of the law, then they are praised and revered only to disappoint those of us that have suffered the consequences of being different in their eyes.

5)             Out of control institutions that have a license per say to steal our money and take our money/property in “legal” ways. From banks that after you have paid more than double the value of what your home is worth will foreclose on it without hesitation, to the phone company that will illegally bind you to a “service contract for years and charge you a “penalty” for early cancellation of services NOT delivered, to the cable company that forcibly sells you channels that you will never watch.

6)             And to end it short, how about a Government that is constantly taking from its citizens to give to other nations just to have them a “friends/allies”. We as Americans do not have the right to health care which should be a God given right in any and all parts of the earth; it will cost too much they say. But our government doesn’t blink and eyelash when it comes to giving terrorist States Billions of American taxpayer dollars. Countries that owe the United States billions of dollars have their debts “forgiven” or annulled, but if you miss a few payments on your house, the financial institution that holds your debt will be quick to reposes your house leaving you homeless.

There are many, many sides to the violence that is engulfing our nation, and there is no one real solution, but we can start attempting to fix it not for us, but for our children and for our children’s children.

What has transpired in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Ct or the Clackamas Town Center in Oregon, or The Virginia Tech massacre, how about Paul Michael Merhige who massacred four family members including a six year old, or as far back as the Columbine High School massacre, how about the 1990's incidents of workplace violence involving US Postal System that generated the “gone postal” phrase? Apparent senseless violence is an American way of life that must come to an end and it can only happen if as a Nation we come together and put our values and respect for each other before monetary gain, power or politics.

Jorge