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Advocate Editorial Board opinion: Scramble for solution will not fix problem

  • By the Advocate Editorial Board
  • Originally published December 22, 2012 at 4:06 p.m., updated December 22, 2012 at 4:06 p.m.

The shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was a tragedy. We were shocked by the horror of such actions and send our deepest condolences to the families of the victims.

In the wake of this horrible action, there is a national uproar, as there should be. The brutality of the shooter's actions are incomprehensible, and a national conversation needs to take place to examine why this happened and what can be done to prevent future shootings. However, we are disappointed by the current tone of the "conversation" playing out in the national media.

Something must be done, we agree, but what should be done? The President and much of the national media are calling for some vague, unspecified, yet "meaningful" change. One could argue that the vagueness is exactly why it is so easy to support this position, but we think it only serves to water down the issue. On the other hand, we are also worried about the unintended consequences of well-intentioned action when we, as a society, are confronted with a tragedy.

We are worried that the proposed solution, such as the cry for more gun control, often treats the symptom rather than the cause. What causes people to be so emotionally disturbed that they decide to go on a mass killing spree? What causes a person to have such hatred for a group of people that they kill themselves in order to kill others? Many chalk these issues up to being "crazy" or that some group is just a bunch of bloodthirsty killers that hate our way of life, but we believe it goes much deeper than that. Our society is obsessed with "good" versus "evil." We see it in our books, movies and TV shows constantly. The truth is everyone thinks they are the good guy. Even some of the most notorious villains and dictators of our times believed what they did was for the best.

What did Adam Lanza believe he was doing that day in Connecticut? What made him believe that? What led him to have that belief structure? What behaviors and actions of other people contributed to that belief structure? In what ways did our society fail a person like Adam Lanza, to put him in the state he was in that day? What warning signs were there for others to see that this person desperately needed help and/or intervention? Those are the types of questions that need to be asked and answered before any action is contemplated.

This is a complicated problem, and it will require a lot of diligent work to solve. Many would chalk this notion up to "kicking the can down the road," but we believe there are no easy answers to problems of this magnitude and America must have the resolve to work toward addressing the cause, not the symptoms. If "meaningful change" means that, then we are 100 percent behind it. If it means ramrodding more legislation and restrictions through on a wave of emotion, we have trouble supporting that.

It's a very unfortunate trait of humanity - we have carried out these horrible acts since before recorded history. But the wonderful part of humanity is that for every one of these "crazed" killers, there are hundreds of thousands more who perform selfless acts of kindness, rushing to help others in need and even sacrificing their own lives for total strangers. That is the part of humanity we need to focus on. That is what can help us to carry on in tragic times like this.

The truth is this is a complicated issue with no easy answers, and it's OK for our government to admit they don't have all the answers.

This editorial reflects the views of the Victoria Advocate's editorial board.