This started as a piece about flags, free speech and our community’s ability to rise above the divisive.
Then came the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, which likely prompted more than a few safety check texts to West Coast family and friends. Saturday brought news of the shooting of 20 persons and maiming of many more at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. We woke on Sunday to hear of the early morning shooting of nine persons at a Dayton, Ohio nightspot.
We moved on from flags. We want to remind all of our readers that mass shootings should not fuel stigma about mental illness. And the power to prevent these tragedies starts with family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. See something, say something, and follow up.
This is confirmed in a well-time piece published in the Los Angeles Times by criminologists Jillian Peterson and James Densley of the Violence Project who summarized their conclusions and recommendations having completed an analysis of U.S. mass shooter data since 1966 funded by the National Institute of Justice. Read their entire piece here.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-08-04/el-paso-dayton-gilroy-mass-shooters-data
Peterson and Densley identified common traits among most mass shooters studied: exposed to trauma and violence as a child; experienced an identifiable life crisis leading up to shooting; emulated prior shooters and fed off their notoriety and public fear created; and had the means to carry out the act.
Peterson and Densley noted that most mass shooters have reached a point of having lost everything and are likely suicidal. Sadly, these persons don’t slide so far without missing the notice of someone—a family member, friend, neighbor.
Among their recommendations was the reminder we need to be proactive, not just in time of crisis, but when the trauma is first experienced. These events are a sad reminder that we owe to each other to build trust, demonstrate empathy and keep lines of communications open, particularly in times of crisis. You never know the crisis you may avert or the community you will strengthen.
John Fischer says
How refreshing to read a thoughtful piece honestly seeking to address this distressing national problem without resorting to simple-minded political, racial or gender blame.
Suzanne Todd says
Thinking about all the children in the detention centers and the trauma they are experiencing. How will all of that end for them?
Frederick Smyth says
This article is right on. We must assume responsibility for much of the shootings. Often we cannot recognize the symptoms of mental illness and even sometimes don’t recognize our own part in the cause. The majority of the school students were tormented , bullied and abused by fellow students who then want to blame guns. NOT MY FAULT has been allowed too long.
In our own families we bury our heads, especially when it comes to our children. We must see our complicity or suffer the consequences.