What more could be done to prevent mass shootings?

Eric Ringham November 9, 2009, 6:00 AM Nov 9, 2009

Gunmen opened fire last week in Orlando and at Fort Hood, Texas. More than a dozen were killed and dozens more were wounded. What more could be done to prevent mass shootings?

About the blogger

Eric Ringham

eringham@mpr.org

Jeremy

Gun control.

jane

I agree: Gun control.

Michelle Berg

Regarding the Fort Hood incident: I think it may be beneficial for the United States military to consider the kind of inner turmoil that the shooter must have experienced as a Muslim who may have believed that he was going to have to combat people that were, possibly in his view, on religious high ground. His parents had both died and his own questions about mortality as it related to eternal life as a righteous Muslim trying to attain a higher level of eternal righteousness may have caused him to take the actions he did (risking his own earthly life) rather than to be shipped over seas and risk his own eternal life. It is a complicated but very real dilemma for those Muslims who beieve in that particular line of doctrine. AND IF THIS IS SO: wouldn’t it make sense as a line of defense to carefully evaluate who may ascribe to these particular views?

Sanna Towns

There are numerous persons in this country suffering from mental illness, especially members of the military who have been to Iraq and Afghanistan. While the Ft. Hood psychiatrist had not been deployed yet to war, he certainly has been exposed to the traumas of war. Read the Los Angeles Times article (11/9), “Fort Hood tragedy rocks military as it grapples with mental health issues.” The subtitle states, “Psychological problems are rampant, leaders admit. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been long, and repeat deployments are highly stressful. Doctors, too, fall prey to mental illness.” The mix of guns and mental illness is always a sure path to disaster.

Mike in St Paul

Unfortunately, there will always be mentally unstable people in this country, and for good or ill, there will be guns. When these two intersect, tragic things happen.

Issues such as these are best handled at the societal level. One: Better evaluations of one’s mental status. Two: Less stigma accorded to mental disorders. Three: Better gun control.

Jenn

I don’t see any coorelation to gun control here. The armed forces are so desperate for soldiers that they have ignored the countless soldiers who are fighting PTSD. There is such a stigma, they are terrified to confess that they are suffering from this to their superiors. Will the government recognize and address this problen NOW that it has hit home. This is one of the saddest events yet in this “war on terror”. Clearly there were warning signs. We need clear channels for reporting concerns and immediate action and help for those soldiers who are in pain.

Kelly

In regard to the posts by Sanna, Mike and Jenn:

I very much agree with your comments! There’s help coming! Check out the following link and spread the word! New website will be up on Wednesday.

http://www.prevailhs.com
Xopher

Why don’t you have reporters find out, instead of wasting airtime asking for what is essentially a non-scientific blank poll, and then wasting more airtime broadcasting the ramblings of whoever is bored enough to respond?
Steven

We all need to do a better job of identifying disgruntled people and help each other get regruntled.
Susie

Simple, ban guns.
Gary F

You mean besides being so hyper sensitive to politcal correctness that you don’t boot this guy out years ago?

You mean besides being so hyper sensitive to political correctness that you won’t let trained military personal carry a handgun on base?

How about some Military Police on base? Oh, yah, and make sure they are armed.
Tom R Dooley

If the U.S. military stopped killing Muslims and other people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan it would remove 99% of the reasons “they” would have to harm us.

KILL ONE IT’S MURDER,

KILL 10,000 IT’S U.S. FOREIGN POLICY.
stu klipper

More?!

What, please someone tell me, is being done?!

And really, what can be done?

Short of just pulling up stakes and moving to New Zealand or Sweden or Antarctica.
Alison

For this particular situation it is too soon to know if the motivation was religious extremism, mental illness, or another factor.

However, the cause of many mass shootings in this country has been mental illness. Our society does little to identify and adequately treat people with mental illness. In addition to mass shootings, mental illness is responsible for a large share of long term homelessness. As a society, we need to rethink our approach to mental illness.

As much as I dislike guns, gun control won’t solve this problem.
Michael Ireland

(1) Teach non-violence from an early age; (2) Gun control and restriction of ownership or possession to trained military and law enforcement who have been psychologically-vetted; (3) Treat mental illness as a ‘no-fault’ disease (no stigma for admitting the disorder and seeking treatment): there is hope with new medications and counseling for those who need it; (4) Promote self-control, and teach problem solving that does not include revenge or violent behavior in response to stress;(5) Live out Judeo-Christian ‘faith-based’ values of developing meaningful relationships based on mutual respect for those who differ from you.
Steve Pellinen

I think that just saying that there should be more gun control is a cop out. There should be a distinction between banning guns, and controlling certain types. A distinction should be made between firearms used for hunting, and those designed to wage war or for self defence. One wouldn’t use a small concealed sub-machine gun to go hunting with, in the same terms that they wouldn’t use a single-shot bolt action to fight a war…

For example, I am an avid hunter. I use everything from a mussel-loading rifle to high power rifles, to shotguns. I take very good care of these firearms, both in use, and in storage. It doesn’t mean that I am going to go on a shooting rampage.

To mitigate the times they do happen, I would say there should be a more comprehensive effort to promote gun safety, and proper handling of firearms.

As an outdoorsman, I sometimes ask the question: If someone went on a rampage wipping people with a fishing rod, would they outlaw them?

Firearms in the most part are used as tools by a majority of the US population to hunt with, and to provide some food for themselves and families. Sure, there are those that are in it for the trophy hunting, but even then…they take care of the way they do things.

To let incidents like this, however terrible they are to dictate how guns should be thought of is a discredit to the many people who are law-abiding and rational with their firearms.
Mike R

My informal observation is that the number of these crimes spikes during recessions. Although it was not the case in the Ft. Hood shootings, a majority of these incidents seem to result from a workplace termination or lay-off.

Since it is apparent we cannot eliminate the boom and bust cycle from the economy, I’d suggest improved counseling, retraining and other outreach programs for laid off and unemployed workers.
Chris Shea

Maybe making it harder to acquire a gun would help but the price we pay for our freedom is that people are free to do bad things.

It is a price I am willing to pay. Perhaps, as our society evolves, we will become a country where no one will want to do these things. That should be our goal.
Kissinger

Will the US Government support real Military Screening reform that recognizes the high incidence of Mental Illness among the strained military forces, as well as their families?

Not to mention Mental Health Care reform available to the general public, fiscally strained by recession, layoffs, real income declines, deficit spending, falling dollar value, rising gas and heating fuel prices, with two wars going on?

Until they do, here’s advice from the NYT:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/making-the-most-of-mental-health-benefits/
georgia

Because of the historical significance of citizen revolt and the glorification of military superiority rooted in our society, senseless violence- the only true threat to individual security- perversely finds protection within the symbol of American masculinity, patriotism and liberty, the firearm that “guarantees” it. The merging of this cultural icon with our other perversion of liberty- unrestrained capitalism- has become the sacred master the judiciary recognizes with political “rights.” So blankly “armed” and shielded behind the 1st amendment, the real enemy within, the financiers of Constitution reconstruction- such as the NRA, not only operate in plain sight, but with the vowed martyrdom of patriots willing to take up arms to defend it.
ryan

I think we need to remember we are all responsible for each other and live in a community,
Gerald L. Myking

The gun rights activist’s have brought up some very good points. All of the mass killings in the last 25 years were committed in gun free zones. Criminals and the insane to not follow the law, if they did they wouldn’t be criminals or insane. In Chicago there is a protest about the 38th child being killed in one school district. Chicago has some of the strongest gun control measures in the country. Washington D.C. experienced more gun violence with their strict gun control laws. The facts are what they are. This comparing us to other countries is meaningless, there is no other country like us. The closest one’s to us I believe would be Australia. Two countries that were created by a flood of immigrants and refugees. Two Nations created by violence. The difference between us and the Aussies is they did not fight a war with Great Briton or each other aka. Civil War. We can not undo history, we are what we are. In Minnesota we had the county wars, Indian wars, prohbition gang wars, drug wars, Civil war, WWI, WWII, Korean, Viet Nam, Middle East, and numerous other military skirmishes all of which Minnesotans have been a part of. We are not very old. We have never had Peace and Security. With all that we have experienced how can anyone expect us to renounce violence. You may not like what I say but there is no denying the truth.
Erik Riese

One idea I’ve heard would be simple and effective. Place a high tax on ammunition.

Hunting ammo less, “cop killer” ammo much more. Blanks or other “practice” ammo the least expensive but, all ammo should be highly taxed.