Ken Haggard’s opinion piece from July 28 titled, “Growing up with guns,” like so many others, misses the point, although he does brush up against it. He says, “It never crossed our minds to actually point these weapons at anyone, much less load and shoot at a person.” It is not the change in guns, as Mr. Haggard asserts, that has caused this heartbreaking plague of violence, but the change in personal responsibility and accountability that allows a person to load, point, and shoot a gun at another person. Like Mr. Haggard I grew up around guns. My home and every home I was aware of had guns, but there was never a single incident of someone taking a gun to a school, a church, or a workplace and shooting anyone. Not a single incident! Why? The guns were there, easily accessible, just as easy to load and shoot as today.
If you have taught your children that everybody gets a trophy, nobody fails, your bad decisions aren’t your fault, and there is no punishment or consequences for bad behavior, then you should look closer to home to understand what has changed that has allowed this tragedy to happen.
Don Clutter
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Aug 4-14, 2022.
Well stated. Guns used to be much more readily available, including military surplus high-powered semi-automatic rifles, yet the nihilistic, fame-seeking violence we are experiencing did not exist. We are now experiencing a generation which has never learned impulse control, and which finds itself living in a world which frustrates them because it doesn’t share the reverence for their “specialness” than their parents and teachers have instilled in them. Relentless indulgence has resulted in self-absorption, and an inability to show empathy for others. A failing school system hasn’t given them the skills needed to succeed, and they seek public recognition by spectacular acts of violence.
So, Mr. Donegan, I guess we’re doing it all wrong here in the U.S., right? Because in other first world nations in Europe and Asia they have almost no gun violence. Are they just better parents and teachers with a more fulfilling society in those places? Because that’s basically what you’re saying.
Well, Mr. Smith, you tell me how well you think we’re doing. Consider not only the mass shooters, but the growing number of drug-addled homeless youth, or the unemployable graduates saddled with immense debt for worthless degrees, who lack even the basic skills and literacy which our public schools should have given them. Consider the kids with disabling emotional issues. Although the cause is disputed, I think most of us agree that something has gone very wrong.