Guns-- Symptoms, Not Cause

Banning any kid of gun in and of itself is a band aid. Guns, used in tragedies such as in Connecticut and Colorado are present by the thousands with more being sold every day as consumers fear they will disappear.

The real culprit is attitude. With movies, video games and many other genres promoting shoot em up blow em up plots, if that's what you want to call them, has desensitized young people about violent death.

I remember back a few years ago when a mother was looking at one of the worst ones, marked with warnings, I pointed out to her the age advisory. She went straight to an assistant manager who counseled me quickly. While I thought the corporation was sensitive regarding corrupting youth, instead I was told that I was there to sell stuff, not to moralize. (there's a moral of the story for you)

There are other causes, such as mental illness not treated, broken homes and single parenting the rule rather than the exception. I am 74 years old. During my youth in the 1940's and '50's, families stayed together.Generally the wife and mother stayed home with their kids.

Now we have working mothers, admittedly necessary in this day and age of inflation of costs without relative gains in wages, children being raised by other kids in the neighborhood.

These are the primary ills in our society, not guns. When I grew up most of our families including mine had guns. Parents taught their children not to touch them. We didn't. We didn't have the urge to grab one or more and go out to shoot up a school or shopping mall either. We considered death a tragedy, not fun.

Attitudes and training, or lack thereof are the root causes and until we correct those things that are correctable, this insanity will continue.