Melissa,
I couldn’t agree with you more.
Perhaps the saddest irony of the whole NIU tragedy is that the shooter, Steven Kazmierczak, purchased his gun magazines and holster from the same online gun dealer as Seung-*** Cho, the Virginia Tech killer. The fact that two people with deep histories of mental illness could easily purchase weapons should be a reminder to our nation that immediate gun reform is necessary. I’m not suggesting an all-out ban against guns --I am equally uncomfortable with the idea of a completely unarmed American citizenry-- but a radical restructuring of the process.
Of course, gun legislation isn’t the only influential factor in school shootings. As Second Amendment zealots are quick to point out, the rising culture of violence in the media, the decline of counseling resources, and the ugly example of our warmongering foreign policy all contribute to the recent spike in gun violence. While this is true, none of these social problems would be as costly if people didn’t have such easy access to deadly weapons.
Unfortunately, there remains a hugely influential segment of our population that believes the solution to school based gun violence is to increase the presence of guns. Instead of cracking down on internet gun sales and straw purchases, they want armed police in our classrooms. Rather than demanding psychological evaluations and gun proficiency examinations, they want students and teachers to carry concealed weapons in school in order to dissuade potential killers. In addition to being dangerous and largely ineffective, these approaches intensify the very fears that they aim to eliminate. Until we defeat this logic and take seriously the idea of gun control, there will be many more tragedies in the near future.
