Yesterday brought us yet another story about a person who kills several people at random, flees from police and then ends the drama by killing himself. This time the episode unfolded in rural Alabama. Unsurprisingly, the Reuters release (see link below) included the following perspective:

“Mass shootings have become more frequent in recent years in the United States, where guns are widely available for purchase and the right to own weapons for self defense and hunting is defended by many.”

Of course, this only fuels the motivation of many to severely limit or even ban the private ownership of firearms. To the uninformed, this might even seem to be a logical solution to the problem of firearm violence. However, is it really the availability of guns that is causing the problem?

I hardly think so. As much as we want an easy solution to this senseless violence, banning private ownership of firearms is not it, and unfortunately, I don’t believe the solution will be easy to implement. The real problem is our self-centered culture where people see the entire world as revolving around them. When they feel they have been wronged by society, they lash out by inflicting harm, often deadly and randomly, on that same society. They act out against that nameless, faceless society they feel wronged them. And at the end of their rampage, these people engage in the ultimate act of cowardice; rather than face the consequences of their actions, they commit suicide.

To implement a solution to this problem would be to radically change our values as a culture. To do that, however, we need to understand the root cause of the problem. That root cause can be blamed on many things, but what it ultimately comes down to is a lack of consistent moral values. Over the past forty years, values which were deeply ingrained in American culture since its founding began to get watered down.

Moral values are seen by many today not as absolute, but as relative to the situation at hand for each person. People focus not on what is right, but what is perceived by them to be fair or unfair.  They need to learn that life isn’t fair, but rather that truth is consistent and unwavering. 

One last thought: Joshua Myers, an Alabama deputy sheriff who was involved in the effort to stop the shooting spree lost his wife and 18-month old daughter in that same shooting spree. Unbeknownst to him as he was performing his duty, his wife and daughter had just been killed by the same coward he was pursuing. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your other children, Joshua; thanks for your service to your community.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52A01D20090312