Tragedy in Charleston

I have no clue what would compel someone to commit such an unthinkable act of violence against innocent people.  The nine victims in Charleston were not harming anyone, they were good people, they found comfort in faith and used the power of their faith to give back to their community.  They supported each other, they cared for each other, they were good people.  It’s an absolute tragedy that a young, angry, confused, and most likely mentally disturbed individual stole their lives from them.  This was a racially inspired crime.  Who’s to say how he developed this racist mentality, but I’m sure whatever had occurred was minor and the only explanation for his racist views is simply immaturity.  Mature and rational adults do not identify people by the ethnicity box they check off on for a job application.  They identify people by their actions, how they treat others, and how they live their lives.  I think it’s safe to say that mental state of the gunman is that of a child, even though he is 21 and is legally an adult.  News reports say that he was given the murder weapon for his birthday from a family member.  Shame on them for not seeing the transition to violence this young man seems to have made in his life.      

The nation is still mourning, but at some point there is going to be a legitimate call for action to legislate a solution to prevent events like this from occurring again.  Everyone is hypothesizing on what could be the root cause here.  One of the victims was a member of the SC state legislature and he voted against a bill to allow concealed carry permits.  The NRA shamefully has politicized this event already by saying that if concealed carry was allowed then individuals in the church would have guns and would have prevented the shooter from committing this crime.  This is an incredibly unlikely hypothetical statement, and frankly if the NRA is worried about an assault on the 2^nd amendment they should stop trying to use hyperbole as a legitimate argument.  All they are doing is alienating moderates and pushing them from being impartial on the 2^nd amendment to being against the 2^nd amendment. 

If you look at the mass shootings in the past five years there have been four that have a lot in common.  Tucson, Aurora, Sandy Hook, and now Charleston have been committed by individuals who fit similar profiles.  They were all mentally disturbed young white men with access to weapons. 

There are millions of responsible gun owners in the US.  Millions of Americans that choose to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms.  For all of the millions of responsible gun owners, like any large grouping, there are irresponsible gun owners.  We have triple the amount of gun related homicides than US, Canada, and parts of Europe.  Face value, this is a problem.

Pair those together, we have the most gun related homicides in the industrial world & we have seen a wave of mentally disturbed individuals using guns to commit acts of violence.  Hypothetically speaking, let’s say that the solution here is to ban the ownership of guns in the US.  Would we see the rate of gun related homicides go down?  I’m sure we would see some decrease, but would it be enough to justify such an overreach by the federal government?  I would say that the decrease would not be material enough to justify a ban on firearms.  And I’ve learned that if people want to be violent, they will be violent.  If people want to commit acts of evil, they will find a way.  If it isn’t with a gun then it will be something else. 

Reform in some manner needs to happen, but what should the focus be?  Where is there the most bang for our buck.  I believe that reform should be focused on two components.  First of which should focus on gun violence in low income areas where the majority of gun related homicides occur.  Second would focus on measures to keep guns away from the mentally ill. 

There are many low income urban areas that we have neglected for a long time.  No economic development, no decent paying jobs, poor schools, poor infrastructure.  Young people in these areas have never been given a reason to care about their lives.  Economic disparity knows no specific religion or ethnicity.  A poor white person and a poor black person that live in the same neighborhood have the potential to suffer the same fate.  If there is minimal opportunity to create a legitimate and prosperous life for yourself then people are compelled to search for illegitimate means to find prosperity.  This is the problem.  This would be a long term project, but there needs to be a huge push to develop low income urban areas.  It would encompass better funding for public schools, grants for community centers and community groups, preferential business loans for entrepreneurs with conditions that they must hire local residents, and preferential tax treatment for small businesses.  The solution lies with creating a flourishing and profitable community in which young people realize that they have a better chance of success by focusing on the legitimate route and not the illegitimate. 

The second portion would be more of an overreach by the federal government.  The mentally ill simply cannot have access to guns.  If this means banning families who have a mentally ill child from owning guns, then that is what needs to happen.  As long as the parents are declaring the mentally ill child on their federal tax reform, then they cannot own guns.  The way I see it, if they want the tax relief of claiming him/her on their return then they can deal with the regulation that follows.  Another portion of this reform would focus on providing care for the mentally ill under Medicaid.  A lot of times these people receive medication when they are under their parent’s healthcare or they receive counseling at school.  Once they graduate though, they fall off the radar.  They sometimes lose access to counseling, and quite often they lose access to medication.  This is a raw deal for them, their parents, and anyone who is adversely affected by a mentally ill individual who isn’t receiving the care that he/she needs.  Perhaps this could have prevented Aurora, Tucson, Sandy Hook, and Charleston.   It’s impossible to know, but I do know that providing some level of state sponsored long term care is better what we are doing now which is nothing. 

For the time being though, we are still mourning.  We are angry and confused on how a seemingly normal individual can commit such a crime.  The fact that this was a racially charged crime has brought a lot of attention to race relations in the US.  It’s shocking that in this day and age we have regressed to this point.  Government can’t mandate public opinion to change, so all we can do is effect change on an individual basis.  Try showing compassion to those that are different from you.  Get to know people and don’t jump to conclusions and stereotype people because of how they look, how they dress, or what they do for a living.  I think as a country we should pay attention to the leadership the community of Charleston is showing right now.  As a community they are coming together to comfort each other.  I believe in something called the national community, so as a nation we need to comfort each other and take a step back and reassess where we are at as a country and what each of us can do to improve it for the better.  Gun reform addresses a lot, but it doesn’t address the need for all Americans to show compassion and love for each other.  That is what we are missing, and that is what we need more than anything.