Exploiting a Tragedy

Living in the Tri-State area it is impossible to escape the media's bombardment of the tragedy that occurred in Connecticut. After about an hour of it this morning I made the wise choice and turned off the television.

At the risk of sounding completely unsympathetic, what good is it going to do to listen to this? As they interview parents and even children who survived this massacre all I am left with is a sense of disgust.

Yes this was a horrific event that has left many of us sad and in shock but at the end of the day watching the coverage of this has me asking "what more can they say about it?".

The act is over, children and adults are dead and the grieving process has begun. The news coverage of this only glamorizes the act and encourages copy-cat sickos to make their claim for "fame".

The right to bear arms activists are having a field day and they should be keeping their mouths shut. The mother of this killer was a gun advocate who collected the guns that were used to kill her and massacre others. She even went so far as to teach her son how to shoot.

Meanwhile according to various reports, she worried about the state of her son's mental health. Did it never occur to her that being that her son was mentally imbalanced keeping guns in her home was not such a good idea?

Maybe it sounds like I am blaming the victim for the crime but I am not.

I just cannot understand it.

I am a mother of a child who has a mood disorder. I have struggled to find adequate mental health care for her. I know firsthand how hard it can be. If this mother tried as hard as I have to get care for her son I can relate. But unlike this mother there are no guns in my home. Not that my child is in danger of becoming violent but I see no reason to arm myself.

I grew up in a home with an alcoholic father who is a gun advocate/collector. Yes the guns are locked up securely but there always could have been an opportunity to gain access to these guns had I wanted to.

Do gun owners not think about the danger of having guns in their home? Why do they assume because they keep their guns locked up that no one in their own home might still seek access to them? I am sure that this mother was not guarding her guns 24/7 (obviously since her son did get access to them). No one who keeps guns in their home can be sure that someone else may not gain access to them.

We do not live in the Wild Wild West where we need guns for protection. We do not live in a time where we need guns to hunt animals in order to feed our families.

Still some people act as if we do and live that way.

Yes there is a problem when parents (and others) look the other way when it is obvious to them that someone in their life is mentally unstable. If someone truly tried to get help for this person (which many do) and the system failed (as it is the case many times) then their conscience is clear.

If you KNOW (and believe me- you KNOW) that your child,spouse, significant other or family member is just not RIGHT and you choose to do nothing to try and get them help, although it sounds harsh, you have enabled their violent behavior.

I still do not believe in my heart that anyone outside of law enforcement or military NEEDS to have a small arsenal at their disposal. Guns don't kill people, people kill people- I get that but without the access to a deadly weapon an unstable person cannot act out violently.

As far as the media goes, their "coverage" of this tragedy is only an exploitation of it. We know what happened. Let these people move forward and heal. Leave them alone.

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