an opinion
december25
2012
An Opinion: What Are We
Going To Do About Gun Violence?
By Scott Laird
As I write this, exactly one week
has passed since the tragic shooting
deaths of twenty children and six adults
took place in Newtown Connecticut. By
the time you read this another week will
have passed. The debates are raging
throughout our country, and all over the
internet, about what we can do to try to
curb the random gun violence that has
become almost epidemic.
Albert Einstein once said “The
definition of insanity is doing the same
thing over and over again and expecting
different results.” That is how I feel ev-
ery time I hear about another tragedy in
our country involving guns. It appears
that it is no longer safe to go to the mov-
ies, to a place of worship, a political ral-
ly, holiday shopping at the mall, onto a
college or high school campus or even to
send your children to elementary school
without fear that your family might be
randomly attacked by someone wielding
a firearm. The fact, that as Americans,
we have continued to sit back and allow
nothing to be done in response to these
continued tragedies is, to me, insane.
The fact that it took the death
of twenty innocent children to wake this
country up is heartbreaking.
The rules we currently have in
place around this country are not work-
ing. The two most recent random, vio-
lent and murderous attacks, one of them
right here in the Portland area, have
once again exposed this tenuous situa-
tion and started a real debate about how
to try to eliminate random gun violence.
Our eyes have finally been opened to the
need for some real dialog and discussion
about potential solutions to this issue.
It’s time for all of us to say, “Enough is
enough!”
We need to recognize that,
through our inaction in the past, we have
condoned these types of attacks for far
too long. We need to really listen to each
other as we debate this issue and work
towards real change.
I have been reading about, lis-
tening to and participating in many
debates since December 13 th . I have
learned a lot—from both sides of the dis-
cussion. Finding solutions to this issue
will require us to lower our defenses and
put aside partisanship. It will require us
to allow others to express their thoughts
and opinions freely. It will require us
to take in new information. It might re-
quire us to change our minds.
I believe we all want the same
thing at the end of the day-no more trag-
edies like Newtown. But when we all
start from a rigid stance about how we
get there, we end up with gridlock and
nothing changes.
We need to open up to ALL the
possibilities that are being discussed; that
we may need to arm several staff mem-
bers in our schools in order to assure that
our children are safe. We may need to
ban assault style rifles. We may need to
expand access to mental health services.
We may need to provide more resources
for families of people who have exhib-
ited violent tendencies. We may need
to regulate firearms more strictly in this
country and change the way people ac-
quire guns and ammunition. We may
need to adjust our school budgets to pay
for armed security guards. We may need
to change the laws that make schools
a “Gun Free Zone.” We may need to
demand that the media change the way
they report and talk about these violent
attacks and those that commit them
when they occur. We may need to con-
sider that violent video games might be
desensitizing our youth to the impact of
violent actions and that these may need
more regulations. We may need to stop
calling the perpetrators of these attacks
“evil” and start recognizing that they
are sick. We may need to require that
students receive sensitivity training and
that parents be required to take parenting
classes. We may need to allow prayer
back into our schools. We may need
to require all schools to hold monthly
or even weekly “active shooter drills.”
We may need to get more involved as a
community in order to provide a secure
and safe place for all of us to live, work,
learn and play. We may have to institute
laws that punish irresponsible gun own-
ers. We may need to amend the Consti-
tution. We may need to take the politics
out of this debate and work together to
find real solutions to this issue for the
good of everyone in our country.
What we are talking about is a
change in culture. We have created a
culture that values gun rights and which
therefore tolerates a certain level of
violence perpetrated by firearms. Any
changes we make will not completely
eliminate the possibility of random gun
violence and we won’t see immedi-
ate impacts. But eventually we can see
changes and a limit to gun violence.
When I was growing up we had
a culture that accepted drinking and
driving as the norm. The sudden and
violent loss of life finally became intol-
erable in the 1980’s and people finally
said, enough is enough. Over the last
thirty years we have seen campaigns
that have raised awareness and increased
safety. We have seen increased law en-
forcement surrounding this issue. We
have seen changes in what is considered
irresponsible behavior. We have seen
changes in our culture.
Bullying has become a national
issue over the last few years and we are
seeing changes in how it is dealt with in
our schools, how it is viewed by the pub-
lic, how it is discussed in the media and
how it is no longer accepted by students
and parents. We are also changing the
culture in our country around this issue.
“Guns don’t kill people, people
kill people.” Just like cars don’t kill peo-
ple, people driving cars kill people. But,
if you want to drive an automobile in this
country we require you to pass an opera-
tors test and have a license. You have to
be a certain age. We have speed limits
and seat belt laws that help create a safe
environment and help save lives. We
have installed airbags in newer vehicles
to provide protection. We have created
a culture that does not accept drinking
and driving. If you fail to obey the laws
that regulate driving you can lose your
privilege to operate a motor vehicle.
Many people in this country be-
lieve owning a gun is a right. But it is
also a privilege. Convicted felons are
not allowed to legally own a firearm.
The mentally ill can not legally purchase
a gun. We can restrict rights and we can
regulate privileges. We can create safety
measures that allow responsible people
to continue to enjoy their rights while
providing protections for the rest of so-
ciety.
Change is never immediate and
takes time. The cost of freedom can be
high and all of us need to consider that
we will probably have to give up some-
thing if we are ever going to see any real
change to the level of gun violence we
are currently experiencing in this coun-
try. Change is already starting. But if
we wish to see real change enacted it will
require us to continue to really listen to
each other with an open mind. Each of
us needs to consider what we are willing
to do to stop this insanity.
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
503-367-0098
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Contributors
Mark Brown
Savannah Brown
Chip Bubl
Mackenzie Carr
Jeri Cropp
Ms. Luna
Jennifer Moloney
Sonia Spackman
Photography
Scott Laird
Mckenzie Titus
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