LETTER Getting to the root of shootings
Another senseless school shooting. People will want to spread the blame. I have questions about these phenomena that the media seldom looks at. All of these types of shootings were well planned and were not an act of impulse or passion. No one steps up to report or even suggest that the people involved should be looked at. Why?
Every shooter felt some sort of justification for their act. How did they arrive at their conclusion? Strange the number of films available to the public that express the kind of convoluted thinking that justifies the taking of someone’s life. We have tolerated the gratuitous violence that these types of films portray.
Doctors cannot, by law, release the information concerning the medications that many (if not most) of the shooters are taking. When you look at the possible side effects of psychotropic drugs, is there a correlation between thought and the act?
Lastly, everyone has the knee-jerk reaction to pass laws to prevent this from happening again. I would ask someone to quote one law on the books (Pennsylvania Crimes Code has more than 90 to control the sale, possession and use of a firearm) that prevented a criminal act. Law enforcement is reactive, not proactive.
This behavior has seeds in our loosening of moral values, acceptance of lower standards of behavior and loss of parental supervision. It didn’t happen overnight. We need to reverse the process.
William Bryker
Washington