"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...


Some questions have no easy answers.

In China there have been a series of mass killings of children using
knives. What is the psychological appeal to killing a room full of
children? How do we make the schools safe short of posting an armed
guard in every class room? How do we detect and isolate the mentally
disturbed amongst us who are capable of such acts, without giving up
our basic freedoms? Has something changed in our society which
inspired these crimes - media, culture, video games, etc. ?

Like I said, some questions have no easy answers.

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So true. Like most I am sure, I was horrified and deeply saddened by
the events of last Friday in Connecticut. The shear insanity of this
20 year old's actions are unfathomable. Also like most, I have
watched and listened to the 24 hour a day coverage of the horrific
event, mostly on cable news channels (MSNBC and CNN) and on the
Internet. I was angry, sad, frustrated and depressed, depending on
what specific aspect of the events were being discussed and/or
analyzed.

I tried to remember what our society was like back when I was a
youngster. I came into this world in 1949. I found a website that
provides (for a fee) statistical information on virtually any subject
you are interested in. Since these mass murders seem to always
involve someone who ultimately takes their own life as well, I
searched for: number of suicides in USA since 1950 and the number of
homicides in the USA since 1950. I fully expected to see an upward
trend in these categories over the decades since 1950.

To my surprise, there was not an upward trend. The data was
presented in terms of male and female suicides and homicides per
100,000 in the overall population. Firearms were involved in the
majority for both categories, but at the same relative level
(percentage) for each decade. The number of suicides and homicides
committed per 100,000 in 1950 and then for every decade since was
about the same as those today, give or take a handful. Furthermore,
the numbers were actually considerably higher than today for both
categories in the 1980 - 1990 decades.

I've heard arguments that lay blame on violent, gory video games, easy
access to guns, drugs, poor parenting, mental health, etc.
I am sure all have some level of contribution to violent crime and
steps should be taken to address them. (Having just gone through the
permitting process in Massachusetts for a firearm permit, I am
completely in favor of the overall tightening of gun control laws and
the banning of military type assault rifles. Massachusetts has one
of, if not *the* most restrictive gun laws of all the States in the
USA but I was still amazed at how easy it is to get a permit with very
little training.)

My conclusion is that no suicide or homicide is justified or
acceptable in a society however the numbers are *not* increasing,
contrary to what we may be led to believe or assume. From 1950 to
the 1970/1980 decades we didn't really have the media information
available to us that exists today. MSNBC and CNN have had 24 hour a
day coverage of the horrible events since last Friday. Yahoo News on
the Internet reports every shooting that takes place anywhere in the
country, 15 minutes after it happens. (there's a new one today in
Texas, involving one person).

I am not attempting to trivialize or minimize the horrible events of
Friday or of the mass killings that have occurred in the past few
years.
But statistics indicate that this is *not* a growing epidemic or
upward trend. There were unfortunately more that occurred in the
1980's and 1990's. We just didn't hear as much about them as we hear
today.