Yet another school shooting occurred yesterday. This is a horrific event even once, but in our nation it has occurred 229 times since 1999. In the immediate aftermath there have been the immediate, polarized, and entirely predictable comments. Everyone calls for prayers, or says 'our prayers and thoughts are with the victims' families'. The Left calls for nullifying the second amendment and for stringent gun control. The Right calls for arming teachers and putting guards and metal detectors at schools. All of this is repetitive, rote, tiresome, pointless, and wrong.
I made replies to two friends' posts on the shootings, one liberal, and one conservative. In essence, my point was and is that shootings are a social phenomenon, not a gun issue, and that our societal and family choices are responsible. This was liked on the conservative friend's page. On my liberal friend's page I got blasted. Here are some comments-
-I call bullshit. Firstly, our record of gun ownership over the last 50 years is a national disgrace so citing it is an attempt to obfuscate the problem. Secondly, gun ownership the last 2 years has increased significantly. Guns are the problem.
-this is some of the most bigoted bullshit I've seen in some time and that's saying something
-"not. all. family. units. are. equal." What a breathtakingly arrogant thing to claim. And if the shooters share anything in common, overwhelmingly it's right-wing ideology and a culture blood-soaked in easy access to weapons of war
-Not going to argue with a stranger especially one who doesn’t share the idea that guns are the problem and instead thinks that a ‘broken home’ is the root cause. Get rid of the fucking guns. GOP maga followers : stop being so afraid. You’re more likely to use a gun on yourself or someone you know vs trying to protect your home. The 2nd amendment was not designed for you or for assault rifles.
I didn't think there was any point in replying on my friend's page. I don't want to hijack it, and I don't care for the comments, which are as much ad hominem as ad rationis. But, as I often ask, what is the data? There is an abundance of data. I'll show references, and you can decide for yourself.
First, attacks on gun ownership are a sad example of confusing causation with association. Obviously all gun attacks are by gunmen, but that in no way means gun ownership inclines people to violence. As noted elsewhere in this blog, NRA members are exceptionally law-abiding, and 2/3 of gun deaths are suicides. Only a tiny number are mass shootings, let alone shootings at schools. The idea that gun ownership, or guns themselves, are bad is simply not tenable.
The person who noted that gun ownership has increased in the past two years is correct, but it is not relevant. Here is gun ownership in the US over the past 50 years. As you can see, it has been remarkably stable at about 40% of households. Here, on the other hand, is a graph of school shootings since 1970. As you can see, the stability of gun ownership is not reflected in the exponential increase in school shootings. This alone tells you that something other than ownership is the issue. For those not wanting to read the items, here are the graphs-
Gun ownership-
Gun ownership-
Here is the same data sinced 2007, from Gallup-
Here is a map of gun owneship-
Second, all family units really are not created equal. You can call me an arrogant bigot all you like, but the data is overwhelming, and yet is not acknowledged by anyone, perhaps for fear of the labeling I received. It's neither arrogant nor bigoted to state the truth. Serious, peer-reviewed journal articles all come to the same conclusion- elective single motherhood is terrible for children and the mothers alike. And this is for demographically matched controls- age, education, income. Should you want the many references they are in my blog on single motherhood (7/1/2019). Here is one secondary reference. A father is essential to teach boys about how to handle their aggression and sexuality. Without this kind of teaching, boys do poorly.
Snopes rightly labels the claim that '26 of 27 mass shooters came from fatherless homes' false, but it's a technicality. Of the 39 mass shootings examined, only 9 had fathers. 77% were fatherless. By labeling it 'false' instead of 'misleading', Snopes implies that fatherlessness is not associated with mass shootings, whereas in fact it is powerfully associated.
Third, social dysfunction is the common element in almost all mass shootings. The shooters come from backgrounds of fatherlessness, but also of drug abuse, physical and sexual abuse, and normalized violence. The idea that mass shootings are an expression of white supremacy is simply false. White men are the same proportion of mass shooters as they are of the general population.
The data is, to me, crushing, overwhelming. Social dysfunction, in the form of single motherhood, abuse, and violence, is the driver for violence as an emotional expression. This is not helped by our culture, which in general celebrates violence in movies, books, comics, and even plays.
Sadly, the evidence is distorted and politicized, until what I presume to be rational people make sweeping, irrational statements and ad hominem attacks. Both parties are using the problem as a political football, and the solution, as I see it, is not political or governmental but personal. You know what children do the best? Those that have a male and female parent in the home and have dinner together all or almost all nights. Family means something, and it doesn't mean whatever you want it to mean. It means a father, a mother, an identifiable home space (house, apartment, trailer, etc), and shared activities within a structure without violence.
When we cease our 60 year social experiment into graphic media violence, ready access to pornography, and single motherhood, we will again have the basis for reduction of violence in America. Until that time, everything we are doing is simply shouting and hand waving, and pointless.
Ted
HI Ted, I agree with your analysis unfortunately until we fix some of the problems of what you referred to as "our 60 year social experiment" we need to take some measures to insure that our children (in all walks of life) are valued and taken care of I fear we are in for more school shootings. So far, most of what I have been hearing of on the radio and TV has ventured solutions based on making changes to school security (aka teachers), the police, gun safety legislation, mental illness help but nothing on making the parents parent or take responsibility for their children. I know many parents who are great parents but I also have experienced parents who do not parent as it is a very hard job and they seek to blame others instead of themselves. And, when offered help deny that there is a problem or refuse the help. A very sad situation and for some reason, other countries may have a school tragedy but not like the numbers we have in the US.
ReplyDeleteI just read your blog about the school shooting in Uvalde, TX. I totally agree with everything you said. In the course of getting my B.S. Degree in Child Development, I took 10 courses in Psychology. I read many articles and books about the role of the family unit and its contribution to society, both good and bad. The conclusions in a majority of things I read completely agreed with your views. Those who challenge you are either living in denial or your conclusions do not support their false narrative. I always enjoy your blogs and I agree with pretty much everything you say. I also found the charts and graphs very helpful. I especially found it interesting that while the % of gun ownership has remained stable, the number of school shootings has grown rapidly. This points to a societal problem, not a gun problem. It has been rightly pointed out that a gun is an inanimate object. It is neither good nor bad. It is no different than a knife or a hammer or a crossbow. It is only as harmful as the person using it. It can be used for good or for bad. So let us put the blame where it belongs - on the person committing the crime, not on an inanimate object. And let us also try to focus on the mindset of the person who commits a crime. Why were they predisposed to commit such an act? We need to turn back the cover of society and look at the workings underneath. That is where the problem lies. And to say that it lies anywhere else is just a cop out.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with your post theo. The left wing activists refuse to admit that the incomplete family unit lacks the guidance to limit inappropriate and unacceptable behaviors in their family especially the children. No role model except what’s seen as the norm on tv is a recipe for bad things to come.
ReplyDeleteLeft wing or not, no thinking person would advocate that an "incomplete family unit" has no effect on children's development or behavior. It's silly to blame "the left" for the breakdown of American families; for your amusement, you can count up the number of Republican politicians who have been divorced or dishonored their own families, often multiple times. This is not a "left wing activist" problem.
ReplyDeleteBut it's beside the point. Regardless of how someone grew up, whether someone had 1, 2 or more adults in the home: reducing Americans' easy access to lethal weapons will inevitably reduce casualties. I cheerfully refer you to this report.
Americans are not reluctant to restrict access to other lethal weapons (crossbows, dynamite, etc;); you can't even bring a pair of scissors on a plane. If we wanted, it would be easy, effective, and constitutional to apply the same reasoning to firearms as we do to every other type of "arm" that the 2nd amendment refers to.
I do strongly agree with you about the negative influence of TV and other screen time, though.
If properly enforced, there are enough laws to keep an army of beaureaucrats occupied for years. And in a perfect world the laws would end this. But in our imperfect society, none of them work as intended. We’ll now use the current crisis as an opportunity to institute MORE laws, focused on the LAST tragedy which don’t address the NEXT one. The armed guard and hardened school perimeter concept works. We just need to admit it to ourselves. The shooter is a direct result of the desire of our public school system and unions to focus on lunacy like sexualization and “equity” when they should have been working on education and security.
ReplyDelete