Address root causes of gun violence

Parkland, I am sorry. There is a shortage of adjectives. Sad, shocking, sick, evil, horrible, incomprehensible; they have all been used so much that they feel empty and devoid of sufficient meaning.

There are tears on my face and the words to describe my feelings are failing. I desperately pray for new and effective words. Mass shootings are not shocking anymore. They have happened way too many times. About every month there is another one. They have created a numbness, like being hit in the same spot so many times that you no longer feel the pain and you just expect it.

What has happened to us? Kids have to go to schools with locked doors, metal detectors, police officers, random searches with drug dogs, constant suspicion, shooting drills, worry about graduating before being killed; schools have become like prisons. I cannot imagine what it is like.

Schools were not like that in my day. The problem isn't guns. The problem is mental illness that seems to be increasing at a rapid pace and is becoming predominant.

What is going on in our society? Is it caused by increasing pressures of survival? I wish I knew. What can we do about it? Attacking the symptoms does nothing about the cause. There are plenty of other ways to kill than guns. If we cannot address the cause, killings will continue and our children will keep dying.

All I can do is pray. Not just for the souls and families of those who have been killed, but for our entire society. Please God, give us an answer.

Rich Lorimer

Streamwood