I am sitting in the same living room that I watched on TV as the Columbine shooting unfolded in 1999. Today it is the mass shooting in the Aurora movie theater. Flash backs to that day in 1999 were superimposed on today’s horror covered by both national and local news TV coverage. My feelings reflect my Denver daughter’s text just before 5 am this morning: “ Seriously, now we will not be able to go to the movies in peace. Ummmm, it is not the foreigners we need to be frightened of….”
Tom Costello, former TV reporter with KUSA TV in Denver, now with NBC, was interviewed on MSNBC, and he asked “What is wrong with Colorado” and he talked about covering the Chuck E Cheese massacre in Aurora in 1993. I, too, wondered myself.
Looking on an Associated Press site that provided a list of mass shootings, similar incidents have happened world wide, from the recent ones in Scandinavia, some in China and points in between. World wide, too, this is known as the “Columbine Effect”. Some of the countries have good mental health support systems in place. The US mental health services are woefully lacking, but thanks to Columbine, our emergency responders have become well prepared for repeat incidents. Unlike the US, not all of the countries have our freedom to bear arms. Costello asked…is it the gun mentality or something else in our state? One thing is sure, Colorado will be doing some self examination in the days to come.
My daughter has reason to be particularly attuned to the events. She is a school teacher in an elementary school that feeds into Columbine. Jefferson County and her school are constantly drilling should a copy cat event like that happens. She is a frequent movie goer and the mother of three teens. There are many around the world, as the President himself just commented on TV speaking from Florida, who can imagine themselves and their children being victims, including his two daughters.
Even we in the Granby, Colorado area have had our own dose of an angry, revenge seeking member of our community who carried out his emotions in 2004 in a converted bulldozer outfitted like a tank. Marvin Heemeyer set about destroying property owned by the objects of his disaffection and ended the rampage by taking his own life. Fortunately, it was only property that was victimized, there were those who sympathized with his motivation, and he served as their proxy. Credit him at least for respecting human life; the shooter today had none. Regardless of our feelings about Heemeyer, we have had our own experience with human beings unloading their rage on innocent people. This, too made news throughout the world…not because of the numbers killed (Heemeyer himself was the only loss of life), but because his methods of venting were unique.
A brief Google Search and posting by others of psychiatric profiles of those who commit mass shootings, I learned that the motivations and states of mind vary greatly. One about serial murders, which also applied to mass killings(socialscience.slow.ac.uk/criminology_notes) got my attention: “They are driven by selfish, powerful and uncontrolled desires…the origins of the personality type may be numerous and sometimes disputed. Certain commentators believe a person is born with the possibility of acquiring such a personality. Note, however, that all accept that upbringing, especially relationships and parents and the amount exposure to violence as a child, has a major impact on their development.”
Perhaps the permeation of violence in our modern societies exposed to so many through modern media may be part of the picture. Another is the ability of modern armaments permits one shooter to do so much damage.
It is still is early in our digestion of the Aurora events, but from interviews with witnesses in the theater say that the shooter fired during a fighting scene in the preview beginning of the Batman movie. Whether the violence of such films provided some motivation for the shooter acting out a fantasy or was a cover to give the shooter a better chance to get off more rounds, we do not yet know. Nonetheless, it is time for us in Colorado to do some serious reflection as we ask “why”.
The (alleged) shooter was a PhD student at CU Denver Medical School - a very bright individual. While the planning and care that went into this unspeakable event proves his intellect - he is most likely a sociopath. Why this event happened is a very good question but we need to remember in the mind of a sociopath there is no empathy for his fellow man - allowing for these actions.
ReplyDeleteIt is no fault of Colorado or its governments, health care professionals, or residents that this event happened here. To identify a sociopath who has not harmed anyone yet is a very difficult task. It is suggested that some of the richest business men who have no problem with corporate takeovers, firing, layoffs, and outsourcing to other countries also carry sociopathic tendencies. We can not just start screening everyone for these types of tendencies and apply pretreatment.
Would gun control help? Outlawing semi-automatic weapons like the AR 15 could have helped. Who hunts with a semi-automatic? Only those who hunt their fellow man in war time - a legitimate purpose for a AR 15 - but not a medical student. Glocks and shotguns are certainly realistic weapons for realistic purposes. Glocks for self protection and law enforcement, shotguns for pheasants, ducks and geese. While not my own selection of activities - still probable and legal. Sensible gun control might help - but how is it policed? It is policed as a cost to government to keep us safe. Would we pay for the extra policing - today's economic environment suggests that the Republicans would not.
This event could have happened in California, we were just unfortunate he was here.
Heemeyer had a psychotic break, and it went unnoticed. This is not a reason it happened here - it happened just by chance.
As we struggle to find out why - we should not blame ourselves - we should love our family every day. Never go to bed angry because your friends or family may not be there tomorrow. Life is temporary - make every day count!