The Connecticut school massacre has left the nation in shock. Yes, we’ve suffered through tragedies before and yes, we will unfortunately and undoubtedly face future tragedies however guns are not the problem. Parents are the problem.
President Obama visited Newtown, Connecticut to support the community in an interfaith service in the aftermath of the Connecticut school massacre
In a touching speech, he recited the names of all that perished at the hands of Adam Lanza, the troubled, messed up 20 year old, who killed his mother and 25 others; 20 of those children. You could hear many crying during the ceremony when the names of their loved ones were read. Heartbreaking.
In light of this most recent tragedy, there are some people that are saying that guns are the problem.
Guns are not the problem. Parents are the problem NOT guns.
We’ve seen it in the Columbine shootings, we’ve seen it in the mass shootings at the Aurora movie theater and unfortunately, the same issue is present in the Connecticut school massacre. The problem is the parents.
In the Columbine shootings, the parents of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were just not as involved in their kids lives as they like to portray themselves. How could you not know that you child had all kinds of explosives in the house? How?
Growing up in New York, most of the homes had basements and even if we tried to sneak in alcohol, we got caught due to the involvement of our parents.
We certainly couldn’t have stayed down there for hours on end making explosives and the infamous basement tapes they made because we’d get caught since our parents were very involved in our lives.
Look at the Colorado shooter. Another wacko! As cold as that may seem, it’s true.
His parents seemed relieved that he moved out and fostered his “weirdness” by ensuring that he had plenty of money to assemble his arsenal. He spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on his arsenal yet he didn’t work. As long as he was out of their hair!
Adam Lanza was a messed up kid. He’s been described as very strange, perhaps even autistic, some say a personality disorder, but Mommy was wealthy and a gun collector and taught her messed up child all about guns. She allegedly even purchased guns for him. Not the brightest thing to do and in this case, it cost 26 other people their lives.
Of course none of these parents really imagined that their kid would grow up to be a mass killer but they all, each and every one of them, had clear cut indicators that something was wrong with their child.
Some decided that their could protect their child under the blanket of their wealth and others simply didn’t know what their kid was doing because they were not involved in their lives.
In the case of parents really not knowing, it just shows you how detached they were from their children’s day-to-day lives, because others that were around them immediately noticed that they had problems. Even people that were only around them for short periods of time knew that something was wrong.
Look, we are know that, for the most part, the June Cleaver days of motherhood are gone. Society is different. More evolved. Some parents think that because their kid is holed up in their room on the computer that they can’t get into any real trouble because they are home.
Having a kid that is either simply born bad, or has gone bad is no easy pill for a parent to swallow but it does happen.
Other children have mental health issues that are evident but again, the parents either ignore it or sweep it under the rug.
Some children are completely left to their own devices, lacking adequate parental involvement and supervision and turn to other peers that are in the same boat, often resulting in a deadly combination.
Plenty of kids survive through bad parenting and don’t grow up to become mass killers, however those are not the kids we are talking about.
We’re talking about the kids who are born bad or have developed mental issues. They need parental attention and involvement to help them.
Guns are not the problem. Parents are.
The foundation starts at home and home is where the problems should be first recognized and addressed, not denied and hidden.