Unfortunately, shootings are now so common we tune them out. There are exceptions when the body counts go higher or if there’s something unique about the shooter or the victims.
The aftermath is now also so common that we tune it out. Usually it’s about the guns but I detect that now it’s just people screaming into a vacuum. ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ used to be de rigueur for most but now that’s under attack too, this is adding more screaming into the void.
Doing something: To the left, it is all about guns. To the right, it is all keeping the guns. Oddly, there is still virtually nothing about mental illness, a common thread in most mass killings. Guns are easy, mental illness is hard. So is immigration status, suspect ideology, social ostracism, broken families, and other general maladies of disenfranchisement.
Law enforcement has a part as well. Dropped leads. Most perpetrators show signs that scream probability to everyone around them. There are virtually no total-surprise cases, there are always warnings. Messages not forwarded, lists not maintained, going home for the day, kids not confronted and sat down, a hundred little reasons why someone was not followed up on.
Money. More money needed here, there and everywhere. Money is always why we could not catch them and asking for more money for our school or agency is always were we arrive before all the bodies are even in the ground.
Both sides take to the FB airways to reinforce their staked position with each shooting. Our lawmakers are mostly cowardly. There is no leadership; this is apparent because no one is following a leader to a third way, a solution. Everyone has to give up some cherished part and lose their rhetoric if we’re going to solve this. Everything has to be on the table, not just guns; we’re going to need to visit all the causes to fix this. Everyone is not just our lawmakers, it’s us as well, we’re part of the problem.
Commentary by Lee Jones