Senseless Murder, But we CAN do something...
Murder en Mass
In the wake of yet another mass murder - this one more sinister than the last, or at least outwardly - it's becoming apparent that we have to do something. Gun control is NOT the answer, it's something much more simple than altering our second amendment rights. We need laws to change on a whole different level.
Laws that give officers, judges, hospitals, parents, people in public, roommates, or whomever, the right to be protected when they are threatened is what we need. The young man who commited the murders in California was from a wealthy family, so it's easy to blame them and say they should have concentrated more on their child and less on their successes, but the facts in the case suggest that they had warned others, including calling the police to tell them that he had escalated and was making threats. The police officers who interviewed him found "a nice young man with some social issues, but not a threat to anyone." Why do we not have laws that err on the side of caution anymore? Why do we have to wait until a crime is commited before anyone pays attention to a youtube video in which someone states they are going to kill their roommates and then unleash on society in general? Why isn't a threat of harm enough for a hold, an arrest, a psych evaluation, or anyone's attention? On this, we have to act.
We can't affect change with big pharm - they are in congress's pockets so deep that they will forever be protected for the hundreds of thousands of violent people they've created.
We can't change gun laws, because inherently we all DO have and need the right to protect ourselves - even though I do believe that registration and background checks for buying weapons would weed out a lot of unstable people from buying them (like this guy, who had Aspergers for most of his life and was able to walk right in and legally purchase weapons used in these crimes).
We CAN change laws on the local, state and federal level that make it a crime to threaten any citizen. Just as Homeland Security has laws prohibiting people from entering the country who MIGHT plot against our nation, right here among us there are those for whom laws need to be written and enforced that make it a criminal act to THREATEN to kill someone.
The warning signs, the threats, the videos...it was all there, but the way the law reads in almost all states, is that nothing can be done until a crime is committed. A law against threatening to kill someone could have saved countless people's lives, both in California, Connecticut, Colorado and many other places where people have been senselessly murdered by deranged mentally ill people among us. There are ALWAYS warning signs. ALWAYS.
Please, people, talk to your lawmakers in your state. Tell them this is important and needed. Don't let them continue to make bogus laws that don't affect change. Tell them you want REAL change. This type of law would do that. We need the "protection" of the law now more than ever. If this keeps up, many of us won't be around to enjoy any of our rights. WE can all do something. Deliberating about "what" has gone on too long. DO something real, something important.
Speak out because it's not just some town far away from where you are. It's in your neighborhood. A ticking time bomb ready to explode into violence could be on YOUR street. But we can stop it if we want to. DEMAND protective laws that protect us from threatening murderers numbed by prescriptions, pain, mental illness, sadness, alcohol and drug abuse. DO SOMETHING. And may God have mercy on all of us.
