The Gun Didn't Do It -- But The Camera Might Have

     Why is it, when a deadly lunatic shoots up a classroom full of kindergartners, we're inundated with Sorrowful Pontificating about guns -- but not so much about school security, detecting/treating the dangerously unbalanced, or the media's role in producing more of the same kinds of crimes by glorifying mass shooters?

     Ever hear of "suicide clusters?"  It happens at high schools and colleges, among teens and young adults especially: one kid gets seriously troubled and does him- or herself in, followed by entirely normal mourning and questioning; much attention is paid to the circumstances, means and methods of the suicide...and more suicides follow.

     It's also known as the Werther effect, which "not only predicts an increase in suicide, but [that] the majority of the suicides will take place in the same or a similar way as the one publicized. The more similar the person in the publicized suicide is to the people exposed to the information about it, the more likely the age group or demographic is to commit suicide. The increase generally happens only in areas where the suicide story was highly publicized. Upon learning of someone else's suicide, many people decide that action is appropriate for them as well, especially if the publicized suicide was of someone in a similar situation as them."
     For those who have not been keeping track, these mass shootings, which dominate the national news when they happen -- the most recent got an entire day of highly-repetitive coverage by all of the major TV networks -- are nearly all suicides. 

     Tam had already linked to a video in which an Actual Trained Expert says exactly the same thing.

     The anti-gunners, scenting blood, took the bit between their teeth and were off and running the day of the tragedy, blaming guns, blaming gun-owners and casting aspersions at the NRA (which, like the well-intentioned behemoth it is, reacted in bewildered silence yet again, a habit the Association needs to get over and toot sweet, if they want to have any gun-owners left to represent).

     If anyone tells you, "now is not the time to discuss gun right," ignore them.  Now is exactly the time; those who oppose the right to self-defense know it and they are already all over this; their tools and dupes in the media, even more so.

     Hundreds, perhaps thousands of disturbed young men watched yesterday's coverage,coverage which was filled with tears and police en masse, reporters intoning that a "town's spirit has been shattered,"* weeping parents, shaken residents and above all, attention; a ghastly focus on the criminal, his reasons, his weapons, his victims, him, him, him.   It did not fail to give them ideas.

     Inevitably, these dramatic, stupid suicides take aim at a defenseless population -- malls, cinemas, schools, all places where no law-abiding citizen may legally carry a gun.  And the antis of this world want to make more places that way, while the lamestream media goes on and on about the latest shooting-spree suicide.  It is a recipe for more of the same.  It is a prescription for a death-spiral of ever-stricter gun-control that will not prevent tragedy.

     We have to push back, no matter how distasteful the task under these circumstance.  The Bradys and the Bloombergers are already dancing in the blood; we must be the tourniquet.

     The way to deter these shootings is to stop making an all-day Greek tragedy of them, followed by weeks of fame for the miserable loser who committed the crime; the way to get them out of schools is to start arming any willing teacher and school administrator, perhaps via a program similar to the "Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO)" program -- (instead, even it has been hacked way back).

     Deny the crazies fame and an unarmed victim pool and the appeal drops; the Werther effect dissipates.  (Don't believe me? Watch Tam's video.)

     And stand ready to fight gun-banning legislation and regulation.  At the Federal level, the only bulwarks are the House and the Supreme Court; short-term, if the antis can stampede enough Republicans, we're in for a mess.  In the even shorter term, we are liable to see efforts from the President and Justice Department affecting the right to obtain, keep and bear arms, which will have to be fought in the courts (now more than ever, the Second Amendment Foundation needs your support!) and by public opinion.

     The fight is on.  Be in it.
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* Actual line heard on NBC -- Lester Holt, I think.  They all want to be brilliant essayists in the style of Eric Sevareid or Harry Reasoner, only without any of that dull having-to-write stuff.