Once again, the nation is mourning the death of innocent Americans in a senseless shooting rampage. On Monday, at the Washington Naval Yard, IT contractor Aaron Alexis killed 12 people during his attack. Eventually he was killed by police officers, but not before adding to our nation’s history of horrific mass violence.
Alexis was obviously a very mentally disturbed individual with a record of violence. He had several incidents of improperly using a firearm. According to this friends and family, Alexis was angry because of supposed mistreatment. He was a walking time bomb who should have never received a security clearance into a military facility. He suffered from paranoia and reportedly was taking medication to deal with “voices” he was hearing.
Alexis was reportedly addicted to violent video games, spending 16 hours at a time playing online. He obviously had a loose grip on reality, and turned his anger against innocent people.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Hollywood star Henry Winkler, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and CNN host Piers Morgan made news. These staunch liberals used the tragedy to rail about gun violence. These “celebrities” and many others in the public eye continually make the case that our country needs European style gun control.
At first, reporters claimed that Alexis used an AR-15 rifle to kill his victims. This just fed the liberal narrative that the AR-15 and other types of “assault weapons” are dangerous and need to be permanently banned in this country.
Not surprisingly, they did not do their homework for Alexis used a shotgun, not an AR-15 rifle. While he also lifted a handgun from a victim, there is no evidence that any "assault weapon" was used in the incident. Unfortunately, for liberals, the facts do not matter and this new information will not stop the lamebrain calls for more gun control.
Liberals will use any tragedy, whether it occurs in Columbine or Sandy Hook, to promote their political agenda.
In this case, before the victims were even identified, liberals were pushing for more gun control legislation. This is hopelessly idealistic for any new gun control initiatives will have very little impact on criminals who do not follow the law. If enacted, new legislation will compel law abiding citizens to comply, leaving criminals with a full range of weapons to commit crime with less fear of retaliation.
In our country today, there are just not enough police officers on the streets to provide security for everyone. The answer is not fewer guns, but more guns in the hands of responsible citizens. In the case of Alexis, if the naval yard was not a “gun free zone” there would have been a chance for an armed individual to stop the massacre.
In this case, the solution is not more gun control. Alexis was a very troubled person who should have been institutionalized. This case exposes severe holes in our mental health system.
Americans should also be concerned that a person with mental health issues with a history of violence was given security clearance to gain admittance to a military facility and work as a contractor. Clearly, more enhanced security is necessary at our military installations.
This tragedy should also lead Americans to seriously examine the impact of violent video games. Along with violence in movies, music videos, websites, and TV shows, Americans are being inundated with disturbing images. This results in people becoming desensitized about violence and could spur violent behavior from disturbed individuals like Alexis.
In the wake of this event, Americans should come together with the goal of trying to prevent these massacres in the future. It is a time for serious reflection, not political grandstanding.
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