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Letter: Wrong question to ask after school shooting

After the Florida school shooting, cries of “we must do something” fill the airwaves, along with blaming the NRA and calls to end gun violence with stricter gun control. Liberals ask, “Do we love our guns more than our children?”

Unfortunately, that isn’t the right question. A generation ago, semi-automatic weapons existed, but nobody worried about a shooting at their kid’s school. Gun laws are stricter today vs. 25 years ago, so the more meaningful question is what has changed in the culture that results in placing so little value on life? This focuses our attention not on the “how” 17 people were massacred (with guns) but rather on the bigger picture.

1-Hollywood has glorified violence, especially gun violence in TV shows, movies, games and music videos. There is so much more violence in the media compared to a generation ago, and we’ve become desensitized to it. It’s become normalized. Yet, celebrities are the first to lecture us about how guns are the problem. Liberals scoff at old time TV as too “white”, unrealistic and not dealing with the issues of the day. I argue that no one ever became violent from watching too much “Leave it to Beaver”. Viewing large quantities of violent media may not be a direct cause for school shootings, but I can guarantee that it isn’t helping.



2-The break down of the traditional family has led to dysfunction in many areas, especially instilling discipline, values and respect for life. Absent fathers can be traced to many bad decisions by young people, including crimes with violent behavior. A tight knit family has value, yet sadly, this is becoming less of the norm.

3-The breakdown of real relationships. Social media and the internet has brought out a meanness in people not seen before. Sometimes this disrespect of people and life morphs from cyber space into reality. This meanness is getting worse, not better, and we see it all over the internet. Loneliness, depression and cyber bullying is on the rise, and yet for all our connections to the internet, we are as disconnected as ever.



4-The secular politically correct culture has removed God from schools and many parts of our lives. When people of faith are easily mocked, it is no wonder that societal behavior gets worse, not more virtuous.

These four trends have been increasing over the years, so it is really no surprise that school shootings continue. All the gun control laws won’t solve this problem.

John DiGirolamo, Granby


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