Tough to spot potential shooter

Tough to spot potential shooter

The horrific mass shooting in Aurora, Colo. has raised many voices clamoring for stricter gun controls in our country. That may be desirable, but almost impossible to eliminate is the copy cat syndrome these shootings have created by making other such similar scenarios probable in the near future.

This syndrome surely has prevailed in these now all-too-numerous school massacres. A similar thread was that all of the shooters were gifted students who lost their touch with reality when they became mentally ill, posing a danger to others by being in self denial of their mental state.

Even worse is that confidentiality laws put individuals in a legal limbo by reporting such persons as being dangerous. A teacher at Virginia Tech had mentioned to her superiors that a student of hers was writing strange and bizarre murder themes in her English class. She was severely reprimanded for doing so and the end result was he went on to put what he intended to be mere fiction to being a reality. Only one person in this latest Colorado shooting spree saw a danger in the alleged shooter. He was a target range operator who told his employees that under no circumstances should he be allowed on the range.

Gun ownership and laws were not much of a problem during the Great Depression as most people could not afford guns resulting in mostly notorious gangsters of the era owning them. Despite today’s poor economy, more and more guns are still being sold every year. Perhaps we should again make guns less affordable as before by having the government put a yearly tax on gun ownership. Strange as it may be ... a court of law may also not agree in today’s world that you had the right to shoot a burglar in your house if he came in unarmed and presented no immediate danger.

Walter Santi

Bloomingdale