Hopeless?

On February 17, A columnist for the Chicago Sun Times, Mary Mitchell published her opinion about the situation at Northern Illinois University. Steven Kazmierczak, a former grad student, killed 5 and injured 20 others in a shooting rampage on Valentine’s Day.

As a parent I am horrified at all these recent incidents of gunmen gone mad on campuses. My prayers are with those who are the victims of these attacks. My real outrage is with individuals who would seize upon them to further a political agenda. Mitchell's column in the Sun Times is a case in point. Typically she does much hand wringing about the causative factors in the incident. Included in the piece, although not clearly identified as such, are strong hints of the real factors in the incident, none of which she clearly identifies.

She demonstrates abject ignorance of the people she serves and America at large when she asks, “How is it that we live in a country where a young man can get his hands on four weapons including a shotgun?” (Italics mine) It is widely acknowledged that there are in excess of 300,000,000 legally owned firearms in this country, a large percentage of which are shotguns. They exist in the hands of hunters, collectors, aficionados, and citizens concerned with self-defense. By the sheer mass of numbers, they are also available to nut cases with mayhem on their mind. This was not a “young man,” he was a twenty-seven year old adult. Had he lived he would have been old enough to vote in his second presidential election this fall. The actual answer to the question posed requires that we read the second amendment to the Constitution and its closing words: “… the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

“Why are people walking around armed to the teeth?” Despite having our liberties seriously limited over the last few decades, we are a free people and have agency to do that which we will. Assuming Mitchell meant the killer, he simply chose to. He might have, just as easily, elected to drive his car across a crowded sidewalk into a busy café. As we all do, he had the option to inflict pain on others in any way he chose. Years ago, people would have had an easy answer for his abhorrent behavior; “He came from a ‘broken’ home.”

Mitchell poses: “we still don’t know the motive for the shooter’s rampage.” In the next paragraph she offers that which may or may not be a factor: “… had apparently gone off his medications.” A quick bit of research reveals clearly stated withdrawal symptoms from the antidepressant Prozac: anxiety, dizziness, fatigue, restlessness, tremors, visual hallucinations, diarrhea, blurred vision, headache, insomnia, vomiting, muscle and joint pain, jolting electric zaps, tingling sensations, vertigo, anorexia, gait disturbances, sweating, fever, abdominal discomfort, irritability, aggression, lethargy, weakness, myalgia, crying spells, suicidal thoughts, nightmares, confusion and memory and concentration difficulties.

Well, that’s certainly a relief. What could possibly go wrong here? Keep in mind that Prozac and other anti-depressants are commonly physician prescribed for Mr. Kazmierczak’s condition with explicit warnings about abrupt withdrawal. If you choose to ignore the warnings you will probably follow up with equally bad additional choices. I’m sorry but any mystery here escapes me.

Mitchell then states that law enforcement claims there was little they could have done differently to prevent the tragedy. She then likens it to the Virginia Tech massacre without singling out the obvious culprit. In these two cases, and many, many others, the perpetrator had the presence of mind to launch these assaults in a “gun free zone.” This is not an accident. These locations are intentionally chosen by the virtue (?) of having guaranteed unarmed victims upon which to prey. I am sympathetic to law enforcement’s claim of having little influence in the prevention of crimes of this type. Like it or not, they cannot be everywhere at once. The best they can hope for, short of citizen assistance, is to come in and clean up in the aftermath. The only possible result of “gun free zone” policies is to turn our malls, schools, and churches into shooting galleries for the mentally deranged with no fear of reprisal. Declaring citizens be defenseless simply verifies an “open season” on them.

“Since Virginia Tech, many parents of college aged students have had to turn to their faith.” “…had to turn to their faith” implies being coerced by circumstance to practice that which should be routine but has sadly become last resort. This suggests a previous callous disregard for faith on the part of millions of parents of youngsters now gone from the nest. I recognize many varieties of faith in our society but as a parent I know that few are not concerned to the point of prayer for the well being of their young. As Christians, we pray earnestly for God’s protection for our offspring realizing the multitude of hazards which they face. If one waits for a insane attack to reach out to God, the delay may prove painful.

The final insult in this piece is the promotion of a presidential candidate as the answer to the problem. It is not his fault that she chooses to proffer him as the “hope of the world.” Obviously swayed by his messianic, rock star appeal, she sees him as a solution. Sorry, but fainting fans at frenzied political rallies are not indicative of the effectiveness of policies and programs which will be required to keep the ship of state afloat in the coming perilous years. I can easily understand his popularity, especially in Illinois, but let’s be realistic. No person in the White House can or should be expected to diffuse the mania in the mind of isolated lunatics.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon