If only I had a gun....

I often teach my theatre students, when they're playing a villain, that no one does something they believe to be morally and ethically wrong without a reason. Either they don't believe that it's wrong, and the trick as an actor is to imagine their justification for it; or they believe it is wrong, and under some extreme circumstance, they believe it is necessary. The real "morals" or "ethics" of that are a topic for another blog.

The point is, the person whose name I refuse to acknowledge; you know, the one who shot up Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT; didn't go into that building armed for bear believing it was wrong. Somehow, in his deranged state of mind, he felt very strongly that this was the right thing to do. Something, and I don't dare speculate, but something happened to this guy to set him off, and he had a thought: "If Only I had a Gun, Then I could take care of this." He then went to his mother's house, killed her, stole her guns, and then proceeded to the school.

After the incident, we all were shocked by the event, and we all tried to figure out how to deal with it. To acknowledge that it's an isolated incident and do nothing seems disrespectful. Not to mention it breeds fear in the hearts of other students in other schools, and we as caregivers need to alleviate their fears. Our attempts to recover from the loss spawned a lot of creative solutions, many of which are now memes travelling virally throughout Facebook, twitter, and finally, the news cycle.

To counter the call for more gun control legislation, the pro-gun advocates are calling for MORE citizens to be armed, for their own protection. Many of them cite specific incidents where a person with a gun, even an assault weapon, stopped a crime in progress, or thank God, stopped it before it ever started. There's a growing faction out there that actually believe that security guards, teachers and principals should be armed in our schools. They imply that a gun toting teacher or principal could have immediately silenced the attacker and possibly saved lives. In other words, "If Only they had a Gun, Then they could've taken care of this."

Now before I go on, I should tell you that I come from a family of gun owners. My father, brother, uncles, grandfather, GREAT grandfather were all licenced gun owners and collectors. Growing up, I was surrounded by hunting rifles, handguns, assault weapons, and high-caliber shotguns. NEVER in my family's history have we been harmed by any of these weapons. No one in my family has ever gone on a spree. In fact, my uncle's buddies have been sent home from camping trips for doing nothing more than pointing the gun in the wrong direction. The NRA's assertion that the rights of law abiding gun owners and collectors should be protected is ABSOLUTELY true, and I firmly believe that.

But the whole idea is that we separate the violent, impulsive, dangerous people for whom having a gun is a bad idea, from the law abiding peaceful people who pray every day that they never have to use this weapon. So it doesn't help our cause for Wayne LaPierre, the president of the NRA, to propose as a solution to our violence problem, "If Only They Had A Gun, Then they could've taken care of this." It NEEDS to be acknowledged that this is the exact same thought process that the aggressor in every school shooting in history had when they decided to commit mass murder.

So what is the solution? Everyone is trying to figure out the one thing that will prevent anything bad from happening anywhere ever. And I'm sorry, but that's impossible.

Gun Control? Sure, controlling, to the best of our ability, who is allowed to have access to guns and assault weapons and who is not is a great idea. But remember; the jack offs from Columbine took their parent's guns, and this nimrod in Newtown stole the guns and ammo he used. They were purchased and obtained legally, then illegally taken and used for harm. If these people have no problem committing a crime like murder, then the fact that the means to commit that crime are illegal won't stop them. Banning ALL guns is not the solution either.

I think we need to come to terms with the fact that there's nothing we could have done to prevent this tragedy. I know that makes us feel powerless, but in this situation, we were powerless. The staff of Sandy Hook did what they were supposed to do in such a situation: they protected the children. They didn't get to save them all, but they kept the situation from becoming worse. The teachers and administration in every school in America will do their best to train their staff and student body to prepare for emergency situations. That's really all we can do. That and mourn.

The discussion is geared towards "Guns for ALL" or "Guns for Nobody;" when what we should be talking about it how to fear the power of guns, and use them safely; as well as how to safeguard these guns from getting into the wrong hands.

God bless the families of the victims, and God bless US as we recover from the shock of this tragedy. Help to guide our leaders towards a logical, intelligent solution to our problems. Amen.