What can be done to stop large-scale shootings?
 
Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, New Jersey)
March 2, 2008
 
We asked members of our Camden, Burlington and Gloucester county community editorial boards what they think can be done to prevent shooting sprees such as the one that happened last month at Northern Illinois University and the one last spring at Virginia Tech. To read all the responses from board members, visit www.courierpostonline.com/opinion.

BOB HOLT of Mantua: I believe the cure for school shootings begins at home. There must be better communication between the parents and the child, and the parents need to take note of developments in their children’s lives.
Parents and friends have to notice disturbing signs in a potential shooter. The young man who killed five people at Northern Illinois University last month had his arms covered with violent images, like the doll from the horror movie “Saw,” and he had a history of mental illness. Red flags should go up here.
Many of the other students who have been responsible for shootings have had histories of taking psychiatric medications. They must have the proper medication, and should continue to take it. The student in Illinois stopped taking his medication two weeks before the shooting.
Many of these students imitated something they saw on television or in movies, while others thought killing would make them famous. We may never get inside the head of this kind of demented thinking, but if it saves one life we must continue to try.<JOSEPHINE NORWARD of Cherry Hill: Recent shootings in malls, universities and elsewhere have taken everyone by surprise. Accounts on television leave us mesmerized as neighbors and close associates of victims and perpetrators who are interviewed often suggest that theirs are quiet neighborhood and that such acts are not expected to happen in their midst. Whenever I hear these comments, I wonder where exactly are such acts of violence supposed to occur. Years ago, they came from disgruntled post office employees.
What is needed is for mental health to be elevated to the top of our government’s priorities with a proactive approach. Piecemeal, reactive approaches to mental-health services allow many to fall through the cracks.
Sadly, this is the tip of the iceberg. There are soldiers presently in war zones who, at some point, will have to return home. Transitional challenges associated with post-traumatic stress syndrome will come at a price to families and communities if the mental health and the entire health system remains inaccessible to many who need it.
JESS LEVALLY of Mantua: Unfortunately, in today’s environment, the person who suffers from depression is often dangerously influenced by media, which encourage a sense of self-entitlement, immorality, detachment, anger, hatred, revenge and violence. The Internet, videos, films, music — all can create an unreal world in which there are neither rules, nor consequences to actions.
How to catch the mentally unstable before they become violent? Society, parents, friends and classmates; “no man is an island.” There are always a few people at least who saw the warning signs but didn’t know what the signs were pointing to. Now I think we are all more aware. Prevention is all about early detection and intervention. Anyone can do it. We all can do it.
DONNA CONNELLY of Runnemede: What can you do about someone who is intent on mass murder? Nothing, I would think. That is the horror of these incidents.
It is futile after the event to look back and discover that the killer, at some point in his or her life, may have had moments of confusion or mental distress and maybe even some psychiatric treatment. We presume that if someone would have known about this, a tragic incident could have been prevented.
There are millions of people who suffer brief periods of mental distress and never become mass murderers. Some tragedies cannot be prevented. Politicians are right out front with claims that more gun control would prevent the shootings. Please! The recent incidents within the last year involved shooters who purchased the guns legally. And in reality, if a person is determined to kill, that person will find the means.
Though the last few incidents happened on college campuses, shootings where several people are killed can occur anywhere, in schools, malls or even sporting events.
In my experience, security seems visible in most crowded places. But it crosses my mind that a killer could be lurking, and I find myself scanning the faces in the crowd. Maybe the answer is that everyone should be aware of their surroundings when in a crowded situation and think of how to react if such a terrible thing should occur.
MARK WILKINS of Somerdale: Guns do not cause violence, but they make it so much easier. Guns are called “the great equalizer” for a reason.
The answer to gun violence is obvious: Control the access to guns. I challenge the news media to start identifying the source of guns used in these crimes. Were the guns used stolen from law-abiding National Rifle Association members who failed to report the theft or failed to keep the guns locked up? They should be charged.
Realizing that an argument about gun control will just bring finger-pointing and no results, I propose the creation and strict enforcement of laws that have severe penalties for failure to control and keep possession of weapons a person owns. If you lose or have your weapon used in a crime or have multiple thefts of your guns, you lose gun-ownership rights, just like any other criminal.
MARIO DEVITA of Lumberton: The sanctity of human life has been compromised by the abortion holocaust in this nation. It is no wonder that many youngsters have so little regard for human life that they lash out in such violent and senseless killings.
When America decided to abolish the atrocity of slavery, this nation began its assent to becoming the greatest and most prosperous nation in world history. Clearly God has blessed this nation beyond our imagination. However, since the 1970s, our nation has been in steady decline. All the statistics on crime, and other social ills took a dramatic turn for the worse since we decided that innocent life in the womb is expendable.
We now need to repent as a nation for the crime of infanticide, and then we might be able to move back to the times when school problems were minor infractions, and not murder and mayhem.
MARIE TENCER of Marlton: Let’s face it, if a disturbed individual masterminds a massacre, he has a good chance of success. Revamping existing gun laws and security measures will not remedy these tragic outbursts.
“There are no atheists in foxholes,” is thrown into conversations concerning war. Is it accurate? I don’t know. Is religion a fail-safe against violence? Not necessarily. But I cannot help thinking about the kid who cannot see the light at the end of his or her dark tunnel — the kid who grows into the young adult who snaps.
In the education arena, we have unceremoniously excused God from the building, and, in so doing, possibly denied our youth an important counterbalance to the violent, cyber-bully laden, superficial, shame-lacking world of excess that threatens to assault them at every turn.
We’re only human. It’s time to call on a higher power. We have to arm ourselves. It’s time to bring in the really big guns.
JULIE BAKER of Cherry Hill: Regarding the recent public violence occurring in our communities on a frighteningly frequent basis, I suppose the easy answer would point to gun control. That would be nothing more than applying a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. Society’s problems are bigger than just gun control. It seems too many people are drinking from a well that’s been steeped in narcissism. Couple that with the technological bubble they exist in, and you brew a very toxic tonic.
The more people become electronically connected, the more disconnected from humanity they become. How do we “back the truck up” to a kinder, gentler time? Putting the truck in reverse seems simple but negative. Getting people together to push it in the right direction might be a more unifying, positive course of action.
THOMAS LICISYN of Washington Township: The recent shootings in schools and other places such as malls are a sign of the times. This is certainly news when it happens, and it does cause us all to take note of the precautions we have in place. No matter, we can never have too much in the way of precautions. But, by the same token, we cannot be living in constant fear.
The time has come for us all to be our neighbors’ keepers, not as a busybody meddling into their affairs but by being mindful of any changes around them in our neighborhood or groups that we have an interest in.
After news of the shootings, we always hear from those who knew the person. Some say, in looking back, that the shooter did show odd or different behavior traits. Other times, no one suspects it. Sometimes there were no noticeable changes in that person.
The answer is that we must start being concerned with those around us. Take notice of people who you may not know personally but whom you see and think he or she may be in need of just a friendly smile. Do it as you pass by that person.
I do not see how we can be 100 percent sure of anyone not going off the deep end, but if everyone of us just paid a little more attention to those around us perhaps we could make a difference and help a desperate person stay on the safe side of life.
DAMIEN WOODS of Cherry Hill: The shootings at Northern Illinois University were another cold reminder that something needs to be done to maintain the safety of students in this country. In order to prevent future shootings, we must begin to regulate the weaponry that is available to civilians.
Whether guns are being purchased legally or illegally, there are several steps that can be taken to prevent these types of incidents in the future. We must establish a system where university officials are notified when a current student purchases a gun from a registered gun dealer; have strict enforcement of the existing federal ban on importing foreign-made assault weapons; and possibly limit the sale of high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
Unfortunately, these are only steps that can help to make it more difficult to purchase guns or make proper officials aware of a purchase. These steps don’t take into account the premeditated approach taken by these mass murders. Communication lines need to be open for students with parents, professors, peers and counselors to help curb these actions before they take place.
ROBIN MOLLENHAUER of Pitman: If even a few bystanders in these shooting rampages were armed, there almost certainly would be fewer victims. These killers may be reluctant to act in this manner if they could not be so sure of the results. At the very least, these killers would not have time to “calmly reload.”
The police cannot respond in time to prevent these tragedies. An armed citizenry would provide an option. There should be federal regulations (not state) to sell, purchase and carry guns. There should be strict requirements, better background checks and mandatory training. If you are not competent enough to carry a gun, you should not be allowed to purchase one.
This June, the U.S. Supreme Court may decide what the Constitution means by “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”
DAVID PATTERSON of Berlin: No matter how hard schools try to prevent the shooting tragedies, it is impossible. In high schools, it is easier to control entrances, but even there, if someone really wants to get in with a weapon, it can happen.
College campuses are more difficult to control. The very nature of a campus is open and vast. To install electronic monitoring in all campus buildings is not only costly, but takes away from the freedom one expects at a college. Even then it isn’t foolproof.
One argument that has been advanced is to arm students. That would only create more chaos and shootings. Of course the National Rifle Association, using the Second Amendment, often stifles effective gun control in many states. And while gun control certainly helps with waiting periods, background checks and limits on purchases, guns can still be bought or acquired if a person really wants one.
The sad truth is that while security measures certainly may help to minimize these occurrences, they can still happen.
JOSEPH CURRY of Deptford: I think children should learn from an early age that we are all in this together and it is everyone’s duty and responsibility to look out for the safety of all. They should learn that when their friends make threats, they should be taken seriously and reported to a parent or school official.
School officials should do more to look for and identify aberrant behavior. In most of the past school-shooting incidents, there were indications of problems and people were aware of peculiarities and eccentricities but no one did anything to examine these situations.
We have already started putting armed police officers in the high schools. Apparently we must now make armed camps out of colleges and universities, malls, post offices and doctor’s offices. Shooting also occur on the streets of our cities.
Perhaps we should return to the beginning of this letter and deal from an early age with education. We need to teach our young ones conflict resolution and the value of life. Whatever we try to teach them is subverted by the opposing forces they are subjected to from television, movies and their video games. We must, as parents, be parents and teach our children values as opposed to putting them in front of a TV from an early age. We must teach them rather than leave them alone to fend for themselves or be influenced by their peers.
LUANNE KELLY of Sewell: I guess the simple answer to this major problem in our country is to get the guns off the streets. In South Jersey, a lot of the shootings are done with guns from Pennsylvania. Our neighbor has some of the most lax guns laws in the nation. The National Rifle Association cries “foul” whenever someone brings up changing the guns laws in this country.
The hunters, sure they should be allowed to hunt; and they do it legally. But go to a gun show or shop and it’s filled with every kind of gun imaginable. Who or what are they trying to kill out there. Do you need an assault weapon to kill a deer? Yet these weapons are available to anyone.
The gun is bought, it’s robbed from a home and ends up killing a7-year-old who is playing on the front porch. It boggles the mind!
The gun lobby is huge and politicians are greedy. We need a group such as MADD that has made a huge difference in the law to keep us safer. It saddens me deeply to look around and see the very violent world we live in today. Our children are bombarded with it everywhere and, unfortunately, it has almost created a subculture of desensitized youth who have little or no regard for life.
Things have to change in many ways in our society, beginning with stricter gun laws.
Take the remote away from the viewer and there’s no TV; get it?
DONALD FLASSING of Sewell: To eliminate violence, idealists would like to deport all guns. Like deporting all illegal immigrants, there are just too many. And you couldn’t find them all. A plan to employ both legally makes sense.
The gun problem in the United States is huge. Some 4,000 soldiers have died in Iraq during the long war. Virtually none of these were killed by handguns, but by improvised explosive devices, rockets and, on occasion, AK-47s. During the same period, in the United States, 200,000 people have been murdered, the vast majority with handguns.
It is decidedly safer to be a solder in Iraq than to simply walk in areas of our cities. More people are killed annually by handguns in the tri-state area alone than all the soldiers killed by handguns in Iraq, ever. The difference? Soldiers are armed to the teeth, and trained to use their weapons. “Bad guys” don’t want to mess with someone who is armed.
As a citizen of New Jersey, I have no right to carry a concealed weapon to protect myself.
For hundreds of years, our forefathers armed themselves. They almost never shot each other. Their children, from birth, were taught not to play with guns, and didn’t shoot themselves. The son of a peace officer, I was trained as our forefathers, but I am not allowed to protect myself, or my family, by carrying a weapon. Crooks and idiots carry guns, but I can’t. States allowing the concealed carrying of guns have the lowest crime and murder rates in the country.
Lest someone think I am a “gun-nik,” in addition to allowing concealed weapons, we should ban assault and similar weapons. (In New Jersey there aren’t many places to hunt anymore, anyway.)
Even in Iraq, households are legally allowed to own and carry one firearm for protection. A major benefit of allowing permitted, concealed weapons is that police would be legally entitled to “stop and frisk.” This would put the fear of God in crooks on every drug corner.
Philadelphia is looking to implement this policy, but if a gun is found, the police will have to prove the firearm is not registered, and the defendant will immediately make bail.
The law should be that if you are stopped and have an unpermitted gun, you are jailed, without bond, until trial. Minimum-term for conviction is 20 years without parole.
Allowing concealed carry permits, banning assault type weapons, “stop and frisk” with minimum, non-bondable 20-year sentences, will reduce the number of murders in this country by two-thirds; I guarantee it.
WINNIE POWEL of Washington Township: The recent shooting incident at Northern Illinois University is yet another tragedy that was probably a young person venting anger, wanting attention by going out in “a blaze of glory” or simply not having the ability to rationally solve a problem. The basic psychology is that humans have fundamental needs for survival: food, clothing, shelter, love/belonging, power and freedom. The perpetrators of the now too numerous shooting rampages across the country seem to be lacking love, belonging or power in their lives and seek to become famous by becoming infamous. The need for attention or for an avenue for their rage wins out over reason.
We obviously are not providing enough quality mental-health assistance in our nation. On a personal level, we need to notice the needs in others.
Mary Kay Ash said, “Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from his neck saying, “Make me feel important!’ Never forget that message when dealing with people.”
We are so wrapped up in our own lives that we fail to notice or have time for people who are struggling mentally, socially or emotionally. Finally, because the human brain is innately social and curious, vividness and repetition of visual images can change the brain in a short amount of time. Constant replay of images or settings of violent or outrageous acts on TV and the Internet will continue to encourage those whose needs are not met to seek the attention they crave.
As long as we are bombarded with incessant doses of reality TV and Internet video of the worst role models, we will continue to get a new reality of inappropriate or violent behavior in our society. We need more suitable role models in the media.
DALE GLADING of Barrington: In light of the recent shooting at Northern Illinois University, the immediate need is to provide more campus security. However, such measures only address a symptom, not the cause.
In my opinion, the underlying cause of this tragedy and other college shootings is the dual breakdown of the family and societal mores. An increasing number of teens and those in their early 20s feel emotionally disconnected from their families. Divorce, rampant materialism and an unending quest for personal satisfaction at the expense of the greater good are all contributing factors. So is the removal of moral absolutes from our society. When our education system teaches our children that everything is relative, what are we to expect?
Let’s start teaching right from wrong at the earliest possible age and begin taking steps to reinforce the family, which for 232 years has been the cornerstone of American society.
SAM PODIETZ of Lumberton: First off, the laws must be changed for all purchases of weapons/ammunition. All weapons, guns, rifles, pistols, slingshots, knives and ammunition should have to be purchased in person at an authorized retail store. No one should be able to buy any type of weapon via the Internet, catalog, telephone, mail order, etc. The retail store should have to complete a thorough, detail purchase form at the time of purchase.
There must be a minimum of five business days for the retailer to do a background check and the local police department should have to sign off on the purchase.
Lastly, all purchases for this merchandise should have to be made with a national approved credit card such as MasterCard, Visa, Discover, etc. — no debit cards or cash.
With the credit card, we have a way of double-checking the purchaser. People who pay cash for large purchases such as firearms need to be carefully screened. After the five-day period, the retailer should be notified that the person may purchase the product and the retailer should then call the customer to come into the store with appropriate ID and a credit card. The salespeople in these stores should also be approved buy the proper agencies to handle this type of transaction.
In the end, the retailer must be responsible for performing the sale in the exact, proper manner as required, or the retailer should lose their license to sell this type of merchandise and be fined.
As long as people can acquire these types of weapons without stringent rules, there will always be someone creeping through the cracks, and then it’ll be too late.
Make it extremely difficult to purchase a firearm, weapon, etc.
I spent 32 years in the retail business and at one time, years ago, I sold firearms in the sporting goods department. We were disciplined and instructed to follow the rules.
CHRISTOPHER SCHUBERTH of Marlton: When the Virginia Tech shooting occurred last spring, the campus was unprepared. Such a tragedy and with such deliberation and forethought had not occurred before.
Virginia Tech was unprepared because a university campus is an island of academic studies, academic freedom, thoughtful deliberations, cordiality and courtesy and respect for the intellectual integrity that defines higher education. Campuses are open and welcoming, often horticulturally a delight, not fenced to keep out the negative “outside” influences. There’s a free exchange of personal interactions at all levels.
Therefore, the college campus is vulnerable to perpetrations of the kind of violence experienced at Virginia Tech.
Northern Illinois University immediately improved its internal security once the assault at Virginia Tech took place. NIU security responded within minutes to the recent shooting and quickly and efficiently brought the entire matter under control. Could NIU have prevented the deaths? Of course not. Could NIU have done otherwise? I don’t think so.
I truly regret the day coming when a university campus will become a barbed-wire facility in which everyone coming and going — faculty, students, administrators, clerical and support personnel — must go through a security checkpoint upon entering campus. That is what we do at an airport.
JEFFREY SMITH of Lindewold: As someone in college, it’s really tragic to see these school rampages that have taken place recently. College is a place where people go to seriously further their education for a better future, not a place where students should have to worry about surviving a violent massacre. In the end, I’m afraid there is nothing that can be done to prevent these events from happening. If someone wants to kill, they will. These shooters are like suicide bombers — it’s completely unexpected but well thought out.