Posted on 10/13/2015 9:00:56 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
There’s a Way to Stop Mass Shootings, and You Won’t Like It.
That’s right. You’re not going to like it because it’s going to require you to do something personally, as opposed to shouting for the government, or anyone to “do something!”
You ready? Here it is:
“Notice those around you who seem isolated, and engage them.”
If every one of us did this we’d have a culture that was deeply committed to ensuring no one was left lonely. And make no mistake, as I’ve written before loneliness is what causes these shooters to lash out. People with solid connections to other people don’t indiscriminately fire guns at strangers.
I know what you’re thinking. That’s never going to work because no one is going to make the effort to connect with the strange kid sitting by himself at lunch each day. No one is going to reach out to the gawky, awkward guy at work and ask him about his weekend.
You’re probably right and that’s an absolute shame.
Because I can tell you the things that aren’t going to work in this country when it comes to stopping these heinous acts. But they seem to be all anyone says, when inevitably, another person comes forward to inflict their tortured pain on innocent people.View Post
If you can’t tell by this point in the list, there is NOTHING the government or any other organization can do to prevent these events.
You can’t effectively keep drugs out of the hands of those intent on doing drugs. You can’t keep beer out of the hands of high schoolers intent on getting beer. You have a HUGE supply of weapons everywhere and concrete federal law protecting those weapons. You’d have as much luck passing regulation against tornadoes. It would be equally as effective.
So there it is. The god’s honest truth. No entity can do anything meaningful (more than is presently being done) to thwart a disaffected person hell-bent on committing such an act.
But you can.
You can talk to your co-worker for a few minutes. You can talk to the kid in your Physics class that appears to be all alone. You can teach your children to do the same, to make sure no one is left to feel totally isolated. Because that’s the breeding ground. That’s where the seeds are planted.
Community is easy to take for granted. Most of us have strong family connections and healthy friendships. Most feel as though they’re part of a group, be it community, religious, or work related. But it’s increasingly easy for people on the edges to withdraw and it’s easy for us to forget them.
No, it’s comfortable to forget them. It’s preferred to forget them. It’s highly desired to forget them. And we have to change that.
Holding a sign isn’t going to do anything. And writing your congressman will do even less. But you can do something today, this week, this month. The people you engage may not become life-long friends, and they don’t need to be, but it could be enough to keep someone away from the darkness and isolation needed to eventually think lashing out is an effective strategy for dealing with their pain.
If you’re conflicted at all about the subject, I can’t encourage you enough to read this post by Sam Harris on the subject immediately following Newtown, CT, that I’ve written about before.
* Edit: Fully auto weapons are legal, but only under the strictest of conditions and at a price that makes them nigh affordable for the vast majority. For all intents and purposes, let’s just call them banned. The AR-15 is not a fully auto weapon, but is confused for one based on appearance.
The problem is, only men could reasonably be expected to “reach out” and attempt to “connect with” the isolated geeks and lonely weirdos on the fringe of society, ...
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The ace American sniper, Kyle, and his buddy tried doing that with another former military man and he killed them both in gratitude.
There are some people who need medical monitoring and mental health, talking isn’t going to do any good unless Police can take them off the street.
This article is moronic. It claims that mass killers are not mentally ill and cites an intentionally deceptive anti gun article to “prove” it. The article starts out by claiming that mass killers are usually not mentally ill, but then uses the profile of garden variety murderers to “prove” it.
Every mass shooter in recent history has been committed by an obvious lunatic. 40 or 50 years ago these people would have been committed to mmental institutions instead of being unleashed on society.
Friendship does not cure paranoid schizophrenia and other dangerous mental illnesses.
The solution is to humanely confine as many of these dangerous nut cases as possible and to have law abiding citizens carrying guns in what are now “gun free” zones to stop these maniacs when they strike.
Bzzzzzzztttt. Wrong answer. Why do murderers kill people?
Look in your Bible. Cain murdering Abel is the oldest murder
in recorded history. Cain did not have a right relationship
with God. I think if you look at every one of the mass
murders that have taken place you will find that the murderer
did not have a right relationship with their creator God.
Mass murderers are God-less lunatics.
Reaching out is a nice thing to do. But it’s not going to keep psychotics from becoming psychotic. In those situations, loneliness is a product of their illness, not the cause thereof.
I see where you are going with that, but there some people who should not handle anything with moving parts.
Please do not be offended,
Cris Kyle tried to befriend his murderer who was lonely and disturbed.
God bless you for trying and god bless Kris Kyle for looking after us all.
I agree with yosemitest.
Some people are just evil.
The author assumes that social isolation is the only cause of these shootings. There are many other including:
Bullying
Rejection by women
Racial hatred
Medications
Certain forms of Autism
Desire for media attention
Revenge
Sudden Jihad disorder
You cant fix these with a hug.
Sometimes you can't fix evil, you just have to kill it and everyone associated with it.
What this IDIOT completely missed is the simple fact of WHY?
WHY do we have this mass shooting problem today while we did not back before the 70’s?
I will assure you that it was not due to the fact that school nerd did not receive loving affection by the rest of the class.
There is a very obvious common thread in this matter and it is called Political Correctness.
We don’t punish bad behavior with punishment for now everyone is not held responsible for their own infractions, you are. Laws are meant to be broken. Every problem we have today is caused by social pressures and the need “to fit in.’
The list goes on and on and on. The only way to correct these problems is to revert back to the lifestyles that we enjoyed back then and the only way back is to make each individual (not society) solely responsible for their own actions.
Many of you reading this can’t even imagine that back in the days of our American way of life back then that you could leave hour house unlocked all day long and not worry about it. You used to park your car with the windows rolled down to keep it cool while you shopped or went to work, little children played up and down the block with no worries about being kidnapped or molested, and a whole host of good things that came about due to the very fact that WE ENFORCED THE LAW WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTIONS!
Now, no one is to blame personally and it’s nearly impossible to convict anyone of the original crime they committed...and if so, they are back on the street in a very short period of time doing the same thing again.
Israel has armed teachers.
In Hillsdale Michigan schools are not gun free zones.
Why not just follow suit?
Amen to that, brother. It is an old technique: Talk to everybody. Talk to the weird, bug-eyed kid. Talk to the hulking psychopath. Greet them by name and chit chat. Just a little love will blunt the evil. This is what I did during the 20 years I lived in the Negro ghettos of New Haven. I only got jumped one time.
"And writing your congressman will do even less"
I think engaging them is part of it, with a caveat — engage them just enough to get a better impression of them. The other biggest, surest, most effective “thing” we can do is be ready, *WILLING* and able to confront evil/violence/criminals with force when the situation demands it.
We have been conditioned for decades by the liberals in govt & education that “violence is never the answer”. That is pure, unadulterated bull-mess. Overwhelming violence is quite often the appropriate answer to *many* situations and we need to start educating the morality and ethics of our *SOCIAL & PERSONAL OBLIGATION* to confront evil/violence/criminals with force (up to and including deadly force) as a defensive measure when the situation demands it.
The only reason to engage a loner is to find out why they want to be alone. A person who doesn’t trust anyone may not tell you! Remember that sometimes there are those who need a hand up from that dark hole they are in especially if depression and suicidal thoughts are at work.
I had a co-worker who did this with Joel Rifkin. He had tbe fotune of working with the guy. All the other people who worked with Joel thought he was too weird and wouldn’t give him the time of day. My co-worker said good morning, asked him how he was doing, etc. They became good friends (at least in Joel’s head). To make.a long story short, when the police finally nailed Joel they promptly payed my friend a visit. Turns out Joel had his name, address and phone number in his little black book. The police were very interested to know if my friend was a partner to the killings.
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