Jared Lee Loughner--troubled young man, high school and college dropout, casual drug user and now mass murderer. I'm not here to tell you how awful such a thing is. We already know that. I'm not here to tell you that these tragedies happen despite our best efforts, but that because of it, efforts will increase. That's the standard response by the authorities. I thought it best to propose some ways in which this type of thing could be prevented in the future.
First off, gun control. It's no secret, I'm not a fan of the whole 'right to bare arms' thing. But I realize there are many who would cling to the Constitutional right until it were pried from their cold, dead hands, right Charleton? How about not having guns like a Glock 9mm available to 22 year olds who have had rather aggressive disciplinary action taken against them by several educational institutions for the cost of a summers worth of lawn mowing jobs? How about we start requiring not only a cursory background legal check, but also a complete psychiatric profile done before handing over deadly weapons to complete strangers. I realize this would probably render 1/2 of the guntoters in the South unable to procure their precious weapons, but think of the lives that could be saved. Seriously, it's 2011. We don't need to hunt--it's going bad at the grocers. Go buy some. If you are that desperate to get your hunt on, use the bow. It's safer, more challenging, and a lot harder to take out 6 people outside of a supermarket with than a Glock.
Next, perhaps the government could try keeping tabs on the folks that they reject from military service. I won't make a sweeping statement like 'everyone who joins or tries to join the military is completely nuts'. That wouldn't be fair. However, since the draft has been done away with, I would have to say there are not too many level-headed, intelligent, peaceable and well-adjusted people drawn to the military. This is just my experience. Maybe it isn't just the ex-military who are bigoted, homophobic, gun-worshippers with anger management issues. Perhaps they come from all walks of life. I am in the South. Digression aside, you may want to know what these armed forces rejects are doing with their time and money, Uncle Sam.
Here is the one everyone is thinking, so I will just come out and say it. The kid kept using marijuana. We all know how dangerous a gateway drug that is, how it riles people up, gets them bloodthirsty, makes them want to commit atrocious acts of violence. Have I employed enough sarcasm yet? Leave the pot alone, Mr. Media. Loughner is deranged. Pot played no more a part of it than the color of shirt he was wearing that day. If it did, and everyone who currently engages in pot smoking in this country went on a similar killing spree, there probably wouldn't be anyone left to read or write your articles.
Finally, everyone saw it coming. He was into goth before he left high school. I say put back into effect the laws which allowed us to round up the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. Just get some cops in some trucks and hunt them down, behind pharmacies, under football bleachers, inside drainage pipes, in their rich parents' pads, wherever they cluster. Lock them up and throw away the key. At least until the the psychiatric profiles come in.
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