There is no easy answer to senseless violence
As I brace myself yet again for the 24-hour, sensational blanket
news coverage of a (seemingly biannual) horrific crime involving a mass
shooting by a mentally ill lone gunman ("Four Dead in Fitness Center Shooting,"
Aug. 5), I'd like everyone to try to keep in mind the words of
Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt: "He did what he
set out to do, and I think nobody could have stopped him, to be honest."
We will pore over his blog, looking to blame someone who should have
been reading and keeping tabs on the written words of a man who had no
friends and very little social life. Anti-gun proponents will again say
that he shouldn't have been able to obtain his legally purchased,
licensed and registered firearms, while the pro-gun message boards and
National Rifle Association boards are already lit up with angry gun
owners blaming the shooter and not the guns, ready to fight for their
rights in spite of another series of murders that, let's face it, the
instruments of which were incredibly easy to obtain.
Sociologists will no doubt appear nightly on cable news shouting
their opinions on what exactly it is about our American culture that
caused this crime to happen (again). But there's no point in trying to
make sense of a senseless act; we've had this argument as a nation too
many times now. Mourn for the victims and their families, be thankful
that you were fortunate enough to escape such a senseless fate, and
let's stop looking to blame anyone but George Sodini.
JOSEPH V. MADIA
Canonsburg