St. Johns Return
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The Grotto’s
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1ortTaub ©bserucr 43
Volum eXXX XI
‘City ^/Roses’
Number 48
www.portlandobserver.com
f l i f l ItS
Wednesday • December 19. 2012
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•'community service
Unfathomable Acts
Tragedies spark
discussion of gun
laws, prevention
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
Unfathomable acts of violence last week
which began at the quick pull of a trigger and
ended in the death of countless innocent
people has stirred emotion among Portland
residents.
The first shooting fell close to home Tues
day when 22-year-old Jacob Roberts of south
east Portland rushed into the food court at
the Clackamas Town Center mall around 3:30
p.m. wearing a hockey-style facemask and
opened fire on a crowd of holiday shoppers.
Armed with a stolen AR-15 rifle and sev
eral fully-loaded magazines, witnesses heard
Roberts fire close to 60 shots. Two were dead
and several injured, including a 15-year-old
girl still in recovery, before the gunman shot
and killed himself, authorities said.
The tragic rampage in Portland was fol
lowed by another senseless killing spree
Thursday in Newtown, Conn. Adam Lanza,
20, killed his mother before driving her car to
Sandy Hook Elementary School. Wielding
two semi-automatic handguns and an as
sault rifle, Lanza shot 20 first graders multiple
times at close range inside their classroom
along with six school staff members before
committing suicide.
“We can’t tolerate this anymore,” said
President Obama at a candlelight vigil for
Newtown’s victims. “These tragedies must
end. And to end them we must change.”
Solving gun violence is complex, he admit
ted. No single law or set of laws can eliminate
evil from the world or prevent every sense
less act of violence in our society.
“But we can do better,” he said. The
question is how? “To save another child,
another parent, another town, we surely have
an obligation to try,” said the President.
Northeast Portland resident Edith Smith
was surprised and deeply saddened by both
shootings. Her opinion has always been the
same. “I don’t own a gun,” she said. “I think
they should ban them. They are killing too
many kids with them.”
Berkeley Moore, 23, has never been a
supporter of guns and thinks there should be
by
A young mourner attends a candlelight vigil to remember the 20 children and 6
adult educators killed in a school shooting Friday in Newtown, Conn. (AP photo)
stronger guards on those who can obtain
guns. “I’m surprised that people would as
sume that it is all safe in the first place,” said
the Portland Community College student at
north Portland’s Cascade campus.
“This isn’t the first shooting,” she said.
“It seems we should have taken a closer look
the first time it happened.”
“I’ve always thought there should be a lot
more gun control,” said Marti Lituczy, an
other local resident.
Lituczy says she’s owned a gun before,
but she threw it out when her husband and
his children moved in. She believes people
with guns should have them locked up bet
ter. “If you get one, you need to keep it safe.”
Laura, last name anonymous, 38, says
there needs to be more enforcement on the
distribution and availability of guns. “They
should extensively check someone’s back
ground and hold liability to that person for
keeping it safe and secured,” she said.
As Obama said, the issue is complex.
Congress reported more than 310 million
privately-owned firearms in our country in
2012, the highest gun ownership rate in the
world. While many people believe we need
stricter gun control and regulations, others
believe the root of the problem is a less
material condition, the human psyche.
“I really think that every one of these
individuals had some kind of psychotic
break,” said Tom Martin, 43. "And that’s not
abnormal.” Both shooters were young men
emerging into adulthood, he said, and needed
to have a support network that validates
them. “Every single guy has been through
that,” said Martin.
The issue of gun violence goes far be
yond the sales and regulation of guns, says
Martin in considering the reasons why nei
ther young adult got help. He argues indi
viduals need better access to social and
mental health services.
“If we saw a person crawling around on
bloody stumps, most of us would do any
thing to get that person a wheelchair,” said
Martin. Why should helping a person heal
their mental pain be any different? “Just
because we don’t see it, we ignore it,” he
said. “It’s sickening.”
Martin mentions a friend currently under
going a mental health crisis who is attempt
ing to get the help, but says she still must pay
continued
on page 5