INNOCENCE. This word was on my mind last night, having watched the Panorama documentary on guns and the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. I found it painful to watch and to listen, but compelled at the same time. Of course, I watched it on the news in December, the programme last night had interviews with parents, reliving the utter heartbreaking and unimaginable devastation that has happened to those families and that town, because of a boy with a mental health issue and access to guns.
Little children, 6 and 7 year olds – a total picture of absolute Innocence, in the safety of their school classrooms, this is every parents worst nightmare to imagine, in fact, not just parents, but all people. You don’t need to be a parent to understand and feel the horror, despair and pain that that day has brought. As a result, the National Rifle Association held a lobby-day in the US yesterday to consider gun controls and legislation.
And so what about the mental health issues? Is changing the law going to help that?
nada.
As in this case any mental health problems the killer may have had were undiagnosed and hence remained untreated I doubt very much whether a law banning gun licences for people with mental health problems could have prevented this crime.
Thank you for reading and responding. And I agree with you…..
Alas! If only it were so simple to prevent another crime as tragic.