The mass shootings that have occurred in recent years are absolutely atrocious, regardless of whether they were committed as an act of terrorism (perpetrated by those both foreign and domestic) or as the public manifestation of deeply deranged individuals’ failure to fit into a civilized society. EVERYONE hurts when one of these atrocities occurs. EVERYONE processes his or her grief and frustration differently. EVERYONE questions how these acts happen. And EVERYONE seeks to assign blame. There is no doubt that some see tragedy as a way to further political agenda, but most just want to grieve and hope/pray that it never happens again.
Many people want to simplify this crisis by assigning blame to inanimate objects. I actually understand why they do this: it is an easy target. A firearm is a tangible symbol of evil in their eyes. It is something they can see and touch (not that they would choose to do so), thus it becomes their focus. They feel that ridding society of these “weapons of war” will make us all safer. However, they are assigning a simple “solution” to an incredibly complex equation. The problem is evil men will find a way to perpetrate evil, regardless of the tool they choose to employ, be it a knife, a vehicle, fertilizer and diesel fuel…or a box cutter. All of these items listed, including firearms, are neither good nor bad. It is how they are used by the people that choose to employ them that causes them to be anthropomorphized (if you are unfamiliar with this term, please look it up) by misinformed, if well-meaning, people. Real change is hard. Guns are seen as the low hanging fruit through which they can make an immediate impact. School shootings are an emotional issue that deserves something other
