Our murderous young sons

James Eagan Holmes

Saturday before last was Gun Appreciation Day. Tens of thousands of gun owners turned out in cities across the country to rally in support of their 2^nd amendment rights. Certainly, you heard of the outbreak of gun attacks perpetrated at these gatherings. (No, we didn’t either). That’s because honest citizens with legally owned guns are not the problem.

But something is definitely going on – our young men are murdering us.

Nehemiah Griego, 15
Dylan Klebold, 17
Eric Harris, 18
Robert Hawkins, 19
Adam Lanza, 20
Tyler Peterson, 20
Jared Loughner, 22
Seung-Hui Cho, 23
James Holmes, 24

This is a partial list of deranged young men who have succumbed to their demons, murdering their fellow humans in a sociopathic rage often punctuated by suicide. In addition to their gender and age, they seem to have another thing in common – photographs reveal them as being disturbingly similar, with pin-point thousand-yard-stare eyes surrounded by stark white scelerae. What is going on here? How do we discover the ultimate cause?

Our culture has changed; that’s a certainty. Closer to the middle of the last century, guns were not vilified as today. A pickup truck with deer rifles in the rear window gun-rack was common, parked on Main Street or even in the high school parking lot. No one was terrified, no one was disturbed. Farmers strode into the Agway or hardware store with their “mouse gun” on their hip and no one called the cops. No need, for these were honest citizens who did not present a threat.

Fast forward fifty years and it’s all different. Now, monsters in human disguise mow down school children. Gang bangers and drug warriors battle with each other and innocent bystanders. The carnage in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington (centers of the strictest gun controls) is enormous. What is going on?

Here are some things that have changed over the last fifty years:

- The breakdown of the traditional family; millions of young men raised without male role models

- Government has become the defacto father of these unhappy young men; handouts stultifying their self-worth; gangs becoming their families

- Extreme gore and violence is endemic in the media, movies, and video games

- The war on drugs has fueled an enormous, lucrative market for drugs which is fiercely defended with deadly violence

- Our mental health system has changed drastically, with long-term hospitalization replaced by socialization, leaving potentially murderous patients living in the community

So when you hear someone decrying “gun violence”, you will know that they are already on the wrong track. The problem is violence, it doesn’t matter what kind. For instance, did you know that more murders are committed by striking implements (clubs, hammers, etc.) than by all kinds of rifles, “assault” or otherwise? We will make no real progress until we begin understanding, and countering, the underlying causes of violence. 

The lost souls sacrificed to our murderous young men demand nothing less.

Saving only one life

"The Life Line," Winslow Homer, 1884

Vice President Joe Biden, appointed by President Barack Obama to oversee a commission on gun policy following the horrific massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14^th, has established his criteria for making legislation.

“If our actions result in saving only one life, they’re worth taking,” Biden proclaimed at a meeting of victims and gun control proponents at the White House on January 9^th.

Let’s stop and consider this. According to the Vice President, the saving of one life is justification for taking legislative action which may affect the constitutional liberties of millions of Americans. Not to say that this is undesirable, but let’s consider a few scenarios.

On Monday January 7^th, a California mother was taken into custody for the death of her 2-year-old step-daughter. Proximate cause? According to police, she forced the child to ingest chili powder. Who knew that chili powder is poisonous to young children? The possession of chili powder should be immediately banned. After all, who actually needs chili powder? “If our actions result in saving only one life, they’re worth taking.”

In late March, 2011, a Georgia woman was killed by an injection of silicon intended to augment the allure of her buttocks. Morris Garner, a transgender, cross-dressing, unlicensed cosmetologist who formerly served in the military discovered that body-augmenting procedures might be profitable. So he hooked up with the unfortunate victim on the Internet. His lack of a license did not deter her, but led unfortunately to her death. Silicon injections for cosmetic purposes should be immediately banned. After all, who actually needs to have augmented buttocks? “If our actions result in saving only one life, they’re worth taking.”

Toledo, Ohio, August, 2011.  A 62-year-old women died from asphyxiation after falling head-first into her city issued recycling bin. It is likely that Sheila Decoster was trying to dispose of a small bag of recyclables but fell into the bin and perished from “positional asphyxia”. Clearly, these recycling bins are far more dangerous than we have been told. They should be promptly banned. “If our actions result in saving only one life, they’re worth taking.”

A recent Huffington Post article reports that 178 children have been killed by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and other countries. That's nearly nine Sandy Hooks. Do we hear a cry from the administration to curtail these strikes? “If our actions result in saving only one life, they’re worth taking.”

Not to make Mr. Biden sound foolish, but he is. Pandering to emotion to force political change is the worst kind of demagoguery. Legislation need be formed rationally, coolly, logically. Costs and benefits, rights and responsibilities must be carefully considered and balanced. We, the governed, deserve the benefit of the big picture, not the hormone rush of high emotion.