What is the World Coming To?

Well, everyone seems to be talking about the Sandy Hook Elementary school tragedy. It was truly heartbreaking. It hit close to home for me having a school aged child and also having a nephew who is in first grade and turned 7 in October and having so many of my family members who are teachers, plus many of my friends have kids that same age. It was horrific. As a parent our worst fears is that something will happen to our children, but to have something like what happened last Friday happen is unimaginable. It's gut-wrenching. The next day I sort of went into a  depression state. Saturday I could barely get out of bed, I napped off and on all day and just had crying spells. It has gotten better though, and my heart breaks for all of those families who will have a bleak Christmas this year. I say a prayer every night for those poor children and adults whose lives were sensesessly taken. Seeing everyone come together afterwards though makes me realize the good in the world really does outweigh the bad. I have to remember that!

With this comes all this talk about gun control. I really don't have that big of an opinion on it, but I do think that assault rifles should be banned from being sold to the general public. They should only be available to those in the military, police force, and secret service...people of that nature. We can't control guns. It's our right to bear arms and I truly feel that that is important as a citizen. One of my friends Sarah summed up what I think best and I will quote her here:

"I don't feel like people should be able to own a military-grade weapon. Its sole purpose is to kill as many people as possible in as little amount of time as possible. It doesn't discriminate between innocent children and menacing adults, in cross-fire or directly. I understand that a gun doesn't discharge on its own. I'm not ignorant. There must be a finger on the trigger. But sometimes, the finger on the trigger is not the law-abiding citizen's who passed that background check and bought it at Wal-Mart. Sometimes it is the extremely mentally ill child's finger on the trigger who just killed his law-abiding mother. Or maybe it's the burglar that robbed your house and hit the jackpot when he saw your AR-15. So, good intentions aside, you just armed a criminal.

I don't have the answers. These horrible situations have been going through my head since the shooting in Tuscon. They come up louder and stronger with every innocent life taken. Something has to change and I don't believe that the answer is or will ever be to arm our teachers.

The idea of bringing in veterans to be guards at the schools has been floating around. That's a noble idea, but there are still a lot of factors that would have to be addressed: PTSD, TBI, honorable/dishonorable discharge and the circumstances for both, background checks, and pretty rigorous mental screening. There are more things that would have to be looked at, and I'll get back to you, but it's early.

As for gun shows, there have to be background checks at every single one. The fact that people can walk in to a gun show and walk out with a gun, law-abiding citizen or felon, is not okay. I have no problem with a law-abiding citizen having a gun. By all means, carry on.

Gun safes have to be in any home with a gun. Even gun-educated children get antsy and accidents happen. Lock them up.

Our second amendment calls for a well-regulated militia. I don't want your guns. And no one is going to come take your guns. If you bought a gun when it was legal to do so, you own that gun. It is yours. No one can take it. These new laws being proposed would make the process longer to buy one. I can find no flaw in that. Again, no one is coming to take our guns. Please repeat that over and over in your head. It is true. They cannot take what we legally purchased. They have no intentions of even trying. Why would they? We're armed."

To that I will add that not even the military is exempt from "going crazy" and shooting people. Take the Fort Hood incident where an army psychiatrist, one who is supposed to help people with their mental issues, is an actual M.D. (unlike a psychologist who has a Ph.D., people tend to get them confused and there is a huge difference), went bat-shit crazy and shot up an army post.

The only thing we can learn from this is to watch for warning signs. As a psychology student this is all repeated to us over and over and over. What is it about mental health? Why do so many people not seek the help they need? Why are mental issues overlooked so often? What can we do to change this? As an aspiring psychologist who's ultimate dream is to earn my Ph.D. in school psychology (big dreams right there!) I hope to work towards finding answers and solutions to these burning questions. As a parent, it is up to us to guide our children and to get them the help they need before its too late. Don't ignore the warning signs! It could save your child's life!