Murder of the Innocents

                              Murder of the Innocents

    I watched the news a few days back and was stunned that another mass shooting had occurred. This time, only eight adults were shot to death. Friends and family of the victims were predictably in shock at their loss. The shooter, a mentally disturbed person, had brought an automatic weapon to work and casually murdered eight of his colleagues. Valiant defenders of the law had responded immediately and brought the shooter down, permanently. Bless them for their courage and quick actions.

   The incident brought to minds the hundreds of other mass shootings of the past few years. Children, as young as eight and nine years old, have been murdered in their schools. Church goers and high school students have been slain by other disturbed  individuals, who had access to automatic weapons. In Buffalo, ten unassuming adults had been murdered in a grocery store, by a delusional, disturbed individual who had some bizarre grievance against people of color.

    In the halls of Congress and the state capitols, there is a decided reluctance to deal with the problem. Oh, the politicians are the first to step before the cameras and wish peace and sympathy to the families of the murdered ones. But, do something? Not a chance. They are all scared to death of practical solutions to the problem, that have been proposed. The ideologues have injected political venom into the argument. And solutions are viewed as antithetical to our constitution, and its right, under the second amendment, for all Americans, to “have the right to bear arms.”

     In light of this, I had to take a hard look at the issue in terms of what I know and have experienced. I was born and raised in the democratic enclave of South Buffalo, New York. It was and is a dyed in the wool democratic strong hold, possessed of working class and blue-collar ethics, grounded in the conservative values of the Catholic Church.

   Most of the lads I grew up with were avid hunters. Each year, they would go out on pheasant and deer hinting forays with their pals. The success of bringing home a deer, that would be dressed and its meat distributed to friends and families, was not far removed from that of our colonial roots, when a good rifle man was needed to feed his pioneer family.

    Later, when these lads got older and started businesses, like bars and pizzerias, most of them got pistol permits. They carried hand guns for the protection of their businesses and their families. By any construction of the language, these fine lads were ardent supporters of the second amendment.

   And in the interim between hunting trips and establishing businesses, many of these fine, courageous and patriotic teenagers were drafted by their government and sent into the jungles of Southeast Asia. Their government trained them in the use of automatic weapons and charged them with killing as many Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regulars as they ran into. These wonderful lads did as their government asked of them. For fourteen months, they walked through these jungle hell holes and engaged a determined enemy in any number of deadly encounters.  They knew well what automatic weapons are for, the killing of large numbers of people.

     Those who made it back, and many did not, were plagued by the trauma of killing enemy combatants for years afterwards. They know what physical damage an automatic weapon could inflict. Some of the lads never fully recovered, including one of my own brothers. The traumatic damage had been too great to their psyche.

     But, when these gallant and courageous lads retuned to the world, not one of them to my knowledge ever again owned an automatic weapon. Not one of them, to my knowledge, ever publicly advocated the open possession of these weapons of mass destruction for any disturbed person who wanted to step up and buy one. Why? Because they knew first-hand what these weapons are designed for and the horrific effects of what damage they could accomplish. Still, every one of them to a man, is an ardent supporter of the second amendment to the United States Constitution. They firmly believe and support the notion that Americans are entitled to own weapons. They still hunt for pheasant and deer and protect their businesses and homes with licensed hand guns.

       Given all of this, why do we find such reluctance to tackle practical solutions to the problem of mass murder by automatic weapons, crimes usually committed by disturbed individuals who envision some wild delusions of glory resulting from their murderous achievement.

      You hear the Pablum speakers in government talk about “more money for mental health.” That is a great sound bite, but meaningless. In the first place, none of these talkers ever  comes across with that additional money, to address mental health issues. Secondly, most counselors in the field will tell you that the really disturbed people, who commit these crimes, would never seek out such counseling. They don’t think they are disturbed to begin with.

    So, what do we do? First, we have to negate the rhetoric of the blowhards who are injecting political rhetoric into the problem. Then, we have to realize that any solutions that we reach, on either the federal or state level, will not be wildly liked or supported  by either side of the political aisle. Compromises, that achieve small steps, have to lead the path to meaningful solutions. The country is so avidly split right now that few solutions will be reached that please any group. Still, the issue has to be dealt with. The shock of a parent. who has just viewed the destroyed remains of an eight-year-old child, should motivate us to open the dialogue,  in hopes of finding some solutions to the problem. It will not go away by itself.

      Even mentioning this subject will no doubt draw the political ire of many who hold decided opinions on the matter. But, as divisive s as these comments  might be, it hopefully will at least ignite a conversation that will lead to some small solutions. The longest journey always begins with the first step.

                                               -30-

                                        (1,029 words)

                                     Joseph Xavier Martin