With the recent acts of violence in Connecticut a young man whose mentality was that of a child, killed his mother, and then went to an elementary school, continuing his killing spree. He killed twenty people and later committed suicide as a law enforcement was arriving.
As a parent and former law enforcement officer, I am deeply troubled by these acts. My heart goes out to everyone whose lives were drastically changed on that day by the acts of a killer bent on revenge against his community.
The media has begun calling for more gun control. Their requests for more gun control have been latched onto by liberal political leaders who travel with personal body guards provided by our tax dollars, trying to further their own agendas. Most of these politicians come from communities in states that have some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation. These same communities also suffer from the highest crime rates in the nation. I would like to know if any of these politicians would walk through their own communities without those unarmed guards. I would be surprised if they would!
Law enforcement is calling along with the NRA, for preparing for violent attacks, training for teachers, parents, law enforcement and those who would be responding to incidents so we can recognize the warning signs before the event.
“On December 17th, 2012. San Antonio Texas, a man opened fire in a restaurant, then ran into a movie theater parking lot shooting one person, going on to enter the movie theater firing one shot missing everyone. An off-duty Sheriff’s Deputy working security then shot the gunman stopping him.” (SOURCE)
Knee jerk reactions ignore the real issues!
These killers all have similar patterns of anti-social behavior, obsessions with paying back the community for wronging them, and a large number of these killers suffer from mental illness!
Why do killers select places like gun free zones to carry out their acts of violence? Fueled by their perceived suffering from wrongs that have been done to them by society, they want us to all pay for these perceived wrong doings. Yet they feel these gun free zones are a safe haven for them to carry out their brand of revenge.
Has our society created this anomaly? The creation of gun free zones, zero tolerance for any violence, only gives these killers a place to act out their murderous revenge on our communities, without fear of force being used to stop them immediately! Does a school reinforce the mentality there is no violence in a gun free zone by removing students who act out from the school. The simple acts of making threats of violence or a fight between student’s schools will expel them temporarily if not permanently in some cases.
The belief is these safe havens will be a safe place for our children to learn and grow in. Those administrators and politicians, who first envisioned a gun free zone creating a safe place, may have never considered this same safe haven could attract a killer bent on personal revenge. The policies and laws creating a gun free zone may cause people at the scene to suffer from indecisiveness due to the mindset instilled by the system designed to protect them. We know in the past some of these people have acted bravely putting themselves between the killer and others during their last acts. It is interesting because this person may have chosen to become mentally prepared, properly trained and equipped if they had been given the option. Instead of being given the false hope a gun-free zone alone would keep them safe. Having unarmed teachers and volunteers watch for suspicious persons coming onto school grounds are nothing more than the first victims to greet a killer when they arrive at your school.
The Proper Reaction to Active Violence
It is common knowledge by those who train our military, law enforcement, and private trainers in personal protection training, when responding to active violence the only reaction capable of stopping the violent person is by responding with an equal or greater use of force.
However even those who could act as volunteer security will be not effective, unless this system has the proper development, training and equipment for the volunteer(s). A system like this could work with the proper support, development, training and equipment overseen by law enforcement.
“Law Enforcement Officers will Respond”
When we talk about your local law enforcement, they are the response to “the killer embarking on their murder spree, making society pay”. Not every community will be able to afford a paid law enforcement officer stationed in their schools. In some communities, responding officers may be on scene in minutes. In rural areas response times could be as long as a half hour or more depending on where the State Highway Patrol Trooper(s), Sheriff, and Deputies are responding from. In some cases these officers might be the furthest they could be from the scene when they are dispatched to the call. In other parts of our nation they may only have one or two officers for their community. These officers could be at home sleeping after working a night shift only to be awoken by a phone call to come and help.
More gun laws will have limited effects on stopping this type of violence, as criminals do not abide by our current gun laws. If stricter laws were enacted these killers would only find other ways to get firearms, cutting instruments, blunt force weapons, motor vehicles, and so on. These “killers” will still be attracted to places where they expect little to no resistance when they set out to take revenge on our communities.
The real solution is changing the system that uses policies and laws that are ineffectual in deterring and stopping these killers who are bent on taking revenge in our communities.
The only effective way of stopping a violent act or a killer in progress is to use force effectively, quickly, bringing the killer to a stop.
