HOW TO SLOW, AND STOP, RANDOM VIOLENCE IN AMERICA

To deal with the contagion of gun violence in America, and it is really a contagion showing many of the same signs of a spreading disease, all levels of American society need to get involved. Proactive, an overused word, applies. Since the problem is acute among young men between the ages of 16 and 25, educational institutions, and the military, are the most likely places where the descent into serious illness would be noticed. Far too many people are schooled, even drilled, in what they cannot do, rather than what they must do to help some and protect their communities.

With no particular reference to Tucson where citizens have shown great courage, we are becoming a nation of cowards in these matters. Pass along the problem to someone else and hope the person goes away from our location. We have to do the opposite. We have to intervene and do everything possible to get a person evaluated, as a first measure, and into custody where required.

I think we have become confused about where individual rights end and the rights of the larger society take precedence. Searching random, peaceful citizens at the airports, which does no good in catching terrorists, is okay with most people. Searching mentally disturbed people who might be carrying weapons because of specific threats is not alright to many. We are wasting billions at airports while this problem only gets worse every year.

I am fully aware that we have a horrid past in regard to incarcerating, many times for life, people with mental illness. I am also aware that the old Soviet Union used mental illness as a catch all excuse to throw millions behind bars and forget them. Just because mistakes have been made in our own society does not mean we need to be fearful of doing the same thing again. Let's learn from the mistakes, past and present, and do a better job in the future.

We act as though random violence is something strange and unknown to humans. In the past, whatever psychological need there exists in humans to kill others has largely been covered over by warfare. The current contagion of violence has been in play for about 45 years and we need a CDC type approach to deal with it. By reducing the number of events, we can reduce the psychological impact on troubled minds of random gun violence. By building a more caring society where young men don't feel so lost and threatened, we can reduce stress that comes on top of mental disorder. By assisting people in getting mental health care, we can do our entire society a positive service toward peacefulness.

Doug Terry 1.13.11