Stopping Shootings

This is off topic for a business problem solving blog. The shooting at schools like Umpqua Community College is a problem not being solved. Look at cities that have shootings every weekend.

Lets not make light of this. Any shooting is a tragedy to someone. Am praying for the victims and their family & friends. No one knows the pain they are feeling.

This is a good example of how people react versus thinking. Lets make a law. Has anyone ever checked if laws work? One of the cities with the strictest laws is Chicago. 2,332 shooting victims by October 2^nd. Detroit is another disaster with strict gun ownership laws. Neither city is a place would want to live.

How about the safest city in the US? No guns right? Wrong. Plano has high gun ownership with liberal carry laws. Challenges the ban all guns assumption in some proposed laws.

Lived in Texas when the new permits were being issued. Predictions were blood in the street with hundreds of shootings. What happened? Crime went down 10% each of the first 3 years. In the 3^rd year there was a shooting involving an owner with a permit. A classic case of self-defense where the permit holder tried to back away from someone intending to harm them.

What is missing here? The pundits were sure more guns meant more deaths. Reality is the problems are complicated, not straightforward, and causes not well understood. Proposing solutions without research does not work.

Look at potential causes: Disaffected males, gangs, drug money, mental health, lack of male role models, recruiting by terrorists, and suicide.  

Suicide is one of the major causes of gun deaths, and often used to inflate gun violence statistics. One thought is some public attacks may be males who want to commit Suicide by Cop.

Disaffected males are probably the main cause of violence. They may be unsuccessful with jobs and relationships. Mental health issues may be a cause or result of isolation.

Isolated or disaffected males are vulnerable to recruiting by gangs and terrorists. The lack of adults, particularly men, in their lives have them looking for alternative families. Predators will recruit them to support their cults.  Lone wolves are the hardest for law enforcement to stop.

The financial element cannot be ignored for these organizations. The incentive of big money and power draw young men into crime cartels.

What can be done to prevent violence?

First care about and talk with people. Get involved with young adults. The most difficult and unlovable person probably needs someone to talk with the most.

Evil can be prevented by letting people know their ideas are not healthy. They should not consider making people pay for their sins. Most criminals slowly graduate from small crimes until they graduate to major crimes. Interventions do stop misbehaviors from growing to crimes committed.

Mental health care has to lose its stigma. Stressed out people do not make good decisions. Have seen estimates 20% to 25% of adults experience mental illness. That makes it normal. First responders have to be trained how to keep mentally ill calm and get them into treatment.

Start by greeting everyone you can today, and being a role model for others. Talk with people different than you - age, color, dress, hair, politics and religion.  Anyone you meet. Kindness, listening, and caring have to be our calling card.

If someone is a danger to themselves or others, don’t hope it will go away. Intervene and notify authorities if necessary. It is up to us to make this world safe.