Another School Shooting - What’s to Be Done?
America is reeling in shock from the recent tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus, where a single gunman – known to be a recluse with a strong interest in violence – took the lives of 32 innocent people before committing suicide.
The tragedy has also become political, with different factions coming up with ways to avoid similar slaughters in the future. Everything from banning violent computer games to tighter gun control laws has been suggested and debated.
What few politicians seem to be promoting is the most obvious answer: that a multi-pronged approach is needed to fight these incidences in the future.
Tighter gun control is a clear and obvious step, though one distasteful to many Americans, as well as to the incredibly rich and powerful pro-gun lobby. Taking guns off the street, and making it far more difficult for young people to obtain such weapons, will be a barrier to crimes like this one. More guns on school campuses is definitely not what American universities need. And while it’s true that criminals will have an easier time getting guns in the short term, a scarcity of weapons will have a long-term effect on them as well.
But gun control is not the only answer. There also needs to be a better program in place to identify depressed young people and to give them the help that they need. Teachers were warning the school about Cho Seung-hui’s alarming behaviour long before the shootings – but no one could, or would, do anything about it.
The single unifying factor behind these sorts of crimes is that the gunmen feel useless, hopeless, futureless. They cannot see any way to making a name for themselves other than becoming mass murderers. And that is both horrifying and sad.
If we want to stop another Columbine, another Virginia Tech, we need to focus on how we are treating the loners in school. The ones who are picked on, the ones who are left out, the ones who are bullied – the ones who need help. And we need to get them that help, before they reach for a gun.