And now Newtown

Comments.  Considerations.  Questions.

                       And now, Newtown.

                      By Kenneth Bagnell

 

     I hoped my commentary in the months of Christmas and Hanukkah could somehow temper the horror in Newtown, the small community of 20,000 in Connecticut where just days ago a troubled young man shot his mother, then six adults and 20 children, mostly six or seven years old. Then he killed himself. It was to us all deeply tragic. I sensed however that in its immediate aftermath some regarded it even more as a “pre-Christmas downer,” a depressing intrusion on holiday festivity. That attitude, so self centered, fortunately quickly abated. In the following days, I followed the change.

    The day after the tragedy a man wrote a one sentence letter to the New York Times. He spoke for millions: “I suggest that the president of the National Rifle Association be required to appear at these shootings and explain to the parents of the dead children his opposition to gun control.” His point is taken. But: we should be mindful that the US National Rifle Association is a reflection of the broad social culture in which it thrives. Americans (yes, obviously not all, but far too many) feel, given their constitution and culture, a right to a weapon or a dozen of them. Many, sadly, regard a gun as almost as sacred as a Bible. (In general you can pick up a gun in Texas as easily as you can buy a coffee.)

A few statistics: in a country with a population of roughly 311 million, there are,the FBI states, 200 million civilian guns. Guns, often revolvers, kill 30,000 Americans a year. Around 18,000 guns are used yearly by someone committing suicide. In the past 20 years there’ve been over 20 mass killings; they actually go back as far as 1927, when 45 were killed in Michigan, also at a school. That’s enough for now. So, given the Newtown tragedy, gun control is properly no longer a point of discussion but, as New York’s great Mayor Michael Bloomberg, insisted it be: at the top of Washington’s Presidential agenda.

But pause a moment: gun control isn’t everything. A gun never pulls the trigger; a person does. So while we’re grateful for the public outpouring favoring strict US gun control   – silence by the way from the National Rifle Association — we should be grateful for another development: by Sunday morning, the public conversation began to change. It didn’t drop the absolute need for adequate gun control, but began also to show concern over those who use the guns, people who use them to kill, in most cases, children.

There were many and complex dimensions to this discussion, but mainly, it came down to this: should society, (mostly American, but given our own horror in 1989 in Montreal also Canadian) develop a system to detect, monitor and deal with young males (it’s always males) who are sufficiently troubled they must be dealt with, either by treatment or, failing that, confinement for the safety of others. It grew stronger through the day on Sunday’s talk programs, best of all CBC Radio’s phone-in, “Cross Country Check Up,”) with insights that were very helpful, including those of psychologists and sociologists, either scheduled or phoning on their own.

In the main all the callers were thoughtful, reflective and mostly Canadian. (One only was a gun zealot, suggesting that if the Newtown teachers had been armed the murders might not have happened, a bizarre idea floated before by NRA members.) Obviously the social scientists brought insights that give a focus to our thinking. One, when asked why schools were so often the target replied: “Because the shooter is after notoriety. And in a small town the school is the public stage – the only one in town.” A major US sociologist and author, said that, without exception, those who commit these acts are always “highly troubled” illustrating our need for more and better psychological services that are available to students: “There are many, many people out there,” she said, “ who need help and aren’t getting it.” Bullying came up several times, as the cause of profound anger and brooding resentment that can eventually set off the bombshell. (Only one reservation comes to my mind: that the legitimate desire to search out potential mass murderers, may endanger youths who are simply “different,” perhaps a bit eccentric in manner and style, but only that).

By late Sunday afternoon a small measure of calm seemed to descend on Newtown. Many volunteers (including funeral directors from other states) came to help in the days immediately ahead. A dozen or more white crosses were erected not far from a building where that evening, an interfaith Vigil was to take place. It was conducted by local clergy and lay people and widely broadcast. President Obama himself came to speak, assuring mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, that their anger and sorrow had a deep affect on him and on Washington. His feelings were obvious in his face and his words: “We cannot tolerate this. These tragedies must end.” He promised that in the next month, he will use all his Presidential power to do just that. That’s his hope. It’s also ours as we wish each other, beneath the festival of lights of Hanukkah and Christmas, 2012, “peace on earth and good will to all.”