Finding A Way Forward

There really is no easy way to swallow the news of innocent people, children no less, being gunned down. The horrifying reality that there could be someone, indeed multiple people, who can feel the need to take the life of another in such a horrendous manor is a depressing reality that we are forced to be a part of. As a youth pastor, I know first hand the devastation, loss and pain of a student losing their life. The consequences of a single person who is no longer a daily part of a family, school and community are far reaching and last years, if not lifetimes. However what I have no experience in is the devastation of a single event where the loss of life is on such scale as we've seen in recent events over the years. Surely the impact of these lives ought to draw us closer as people, seeking out the good to dispel the fear and darkness that so easily ensnares in times like these. I own multiple video game consoles and among the games I have are several war based titles. The object of these games is almost exclusively to kill the enemy force in order to accomplish your objective. In super simplified terms, you are talking about pretend killing hundreds of people in the completion of a single game. Add in multiplayer games where phrases such as 'I just killed 12 guys in a row' and 'sniped him right between the eyes' are common place, you end up with games who's main objective (and perhaps main appeal) is killing other people. And year after year, these are best sellers; brought into millions of homes in.  

But games like that, or those who are even worse, immersing our children and young adults (primarily) in the act and satisfaction of killing, aren't talked about in relation to mass shooting events. When my daughter was born, one big unexpected change in my everyday routine was what TV shows I'll watch. No longer could I throw on an exciting thriller of a show where the agents need to shoot their way to the end of the episode.  I was surprised that I hadn't realized before just how violent even the 'uplighting' shows are; that just because the cops come out victorious doesn't mean the audience wasn't exposed to escalating levels of creative ways to kill and torture the shows victims. But media regularly showing and instilling ideas of horrific crimes or a 'shoot-to-the-truth' way of problem solving aren't talked about in relation to mass shootings. I find it important having friends that sit on both sides of the aisle when I comes to political issues. If nothing else, it certainly makes social media more interesting. One point I've often seen following mass shootings, particularly in schools, is how folks in the 60s and 70s often went to school with their rifles and shotguns in their vehicles. And during this time, mass shootings, particularly school shootings, were extremely rare. I'm glad that's the case! And while I think there is something we can learn from that and we should certainly ask questions about how things have changed, it's naïve to think, as we've seen in previous events, that someone of that generation and way of raising is incapable of causing mass casualties using a firearm. The other side of my social media feed contains some folks who hold very strongly to the idea that if we could ban firearms completely, similar to the way that Australia has, then we would never see these events take place. This idea can certainly be an attractive one, especially with such pain, loss, and horrifying pictures of the victims fresh in our minds. However it's naïve and potentially dangerous to argue for the abolishment of explicit constitutional rights. Bottom line: let's please start with the assumption that one who views the questions surrounding firearms differently than you still want the same things. We all want people to be safe. We all want our schools to be a place for students, teachers and parents can feel is safe. 

So let's start there. Hear ideas other than yours. Understand why they might view the issue so strongly. There are many factors playing into the rise of mass shootings, all as important as the other. Options that focus on one neglect the importance of the other and fail to serve the common good for those who obey laws. Take a big picture approach. Question the role of violence and the desensitization to it within culture. The question of why these things happen is a complicated one. Don't complicate it further by being unwilling to work at making it better. At the end of the day, we are after the same result and we can get there a lot faster if we listen to each other instead of shouting at each other. 

By Mitchell Moyer