How do we stop mass killings?

August 8th, 2012

I have absolutely no idea.

I’m sure gun control won’t stop them. Even if you could un-invent guns, people would just use bombs, or arson, or poison, or park trucks on train tracks, push generators into public pools or do a thousand more horrible things that I can’t even guess it.

It’s the people who are the problem, not the tool they choose. (A fact so self-evident, I don’t know why I even have to mention it. After all, millions of people have access to all these devices of mass murder and never even think about using them.)

But how do you control people? Especially in a free society?

Are the killers always mentally ill? Sometimes suicidal? Politically motivated? Religiously motivated?

Do we need different approaches to the different root causes?

I really just don’t know.

What I do know is we will never cure the problem while we keep focusing on the symptoms (the use of guns for example) instead of the diseases.

Entry Filed under: Observations

3 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Roland Melnick  |  August 8th, 2012 at 11:37 am

    Excellent post, Elliot. The problem is that the questions and issues you raise are complex. Their answers and solutions do not fit neatly onto a bumpersticker.

  • 2. Debunked  |  August 8th, 2012 at 12:14 pm

    Their answers and solutions do not fit neatly onto a bumpersticker.

    Pretty sure it does: “Guns don’t kill people. I kill people.”

  • 3. Debunked  |  August 8th, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    Ah, nevermind. Right. The solution doesn’t fit nicely on a bumper sticker. Just the “too long, didn’t read” version of Elliot’s post.

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