Dear editor,

There have been numerous school shootings over the past few years and, unfortunately, one is too many. The question we all ask when this happens is “Why?’ There is probably no one answer, as this took many years of society pollution to develop.

For example, in the 1940s if you saw someone get shot in a movie, the person shot grabbed his chest and fell down. There was no blood, no hole in his suit, or nothing gory about it. Now, movies show heads being blown off, someone getting killed every couple of minutes and nothing but violent action throughout the movie. Is our society developing an appetite for violence by the influence of such movies?

Another example is the violent video games our young people are playing. Probably 99 percent of those who play them view them as just a video game. However, some don’t. How about the two 12-year-old girls in Waukesha, WI, that stabbed their friend 19 times because of a video they saw which they said “Slender Man” told them to do it?

Well, nothing much is going to change in the area of these negative influences because it’s all about money. People won’t go to the movies if you don’t give them what they wantto see. There’s a lot of revenue in iPad and iPod that our young people purchase which aid in viewing these types of video games.

Another factor is that there are far too many dysfunctional families that exist and as a result the children within those families are not getting the proper direction in life. Unfortunately, the media must report the news of these tragic occurrences. Although thousands of people will sympathize with the
community it happens in, there are always a few disturbed individuals who may see this as their motivation to copycat a similar act.

In conclusion, in relation to where our society is now, “It is what it is”, and we just have to deal with it. We can start by caring and respecting the “rights” of others not just our own. Everyone has hardships and bad breaks in life. If you know of anybody that can’t cope with their angry emotions, encourage that person to get professional help. Then make sure that individual gets the therapy needed so this aggression is not taken out on innocent people.

Another major factor that can be done to prevent mass shooting tragedies is to outlaw fully automatic guns. Why would anyone want to own one? It is illegal to use them for hunting. If a person claims self-protection, well, 30 intruders at a time are not going to break into a household; a regular hand gun will be more than adequate.

Some say they want one for target practice. “What” or “Who” is the target that they need to shoot dozens of bullets in a matter of seconds?

Those of you who agree that fully automatic guns should be outlawed do not depend on our government to do it. They are too busy fighting each other. If one party proposes a solution to an issue that is in the best interests of all the people, the other party votes it down because their party was not the one that came up with that idea. It’s a war. Republican versus Democrat and vice versa.

Recently there has been a threat of government shut down. What’s the difference? In a sense, haven’t a fair amount of them already been shut down for a number of years?

Respectfully,
Darrell Laschen
Loyal, WI