My 5-year-old daughter was less than six weeks into kindergarten when she experienced a lockdown for the first time. A cop had initiated a traffic stop nearby and the suspect fled toward campus. As my daughter’s teacher huddled the class in the back corner of the room, having drawn the blinds and locked the doors, one of the kids wondered aloud if a bear had gotten onto campus. My daughter and her classmates agreed — that being the most dangerous scenario most could imagine.
Down the hall at the same school, my wife tried to keep her first grade class calm and quiet as students hid under tables in her room, which was dark from the pulled curtains. One of her students began crying hysterically, saying she didn’t want to be shot, as my wife assured her she was there to protect her.
In the aftermath of the incident — which thankfully ended with an uneventful “all clear” — we reflected on the fact that school shootings have now essentially become part of the school curriculum, something students learn, evidently sometime between their fifth and sixth birthdays. And that’s important because school shootings have become a fact of life in this country. As I write this, there have been eight school shootings so far in 2018, an average of about one a week. By the time this newspaper leaves newsstands, chances are there will have been another.
And chances are it will have been carried out by a white male with a military-style assault rifle. The suspect will likely have a history of violent, abusive or controlling behavior toward the women in his life. And chances are politicians and pundits will turn red in the face talking about missed signs, mental health services and the Second Amendment.
All those conversations are important. Our systems always need to be evaluated and retooled in an effort to head off crises before they explode. Mental health services in the United States are horribly underfunded and underutilized. And military grade weapons have no place on our streets or in our homes.
While it’s not the point of this editorial and I won’t dwell on it, that last sentence seems to cause people to freak out, so let me be clear: You have a right to bear arms. But just as your right to swing your fists wildly ends when one of them connects with my nose, or your free speech rights end when you say something slanderous or dangerous, like shouting “fire” in a crowded movie theater, the right to bear arms isn’t limitless. As a society, we’ve already decided it doesn’t extend to chemical weapons, grenade launchers or nuclear bombs, so we can decide it doesn’t extend to assault rifles, either.
But what is so often missing from all these conversations is an examination of the underlying phenomenon — our uniquely American version, anyway — that has left boys and men feeling so alienated and angry that they want to indiscriminately hurt as many people as possible.
In the aftermaths of these shootings, an almost startlingly uniform picture emerges of a suspect feeling aggrieved and owed — whether it’s because he was passed over for a job, saw romantic aspirations rebuffed or simply isn’t living the life he feels entitled to.
Just as the predatory sexual behavior being exposed through the #MeToo movement is about power and control, American mass shootings are about men and boys feeling entitled but powerless to the point they feel they must do something drastically “masculine” to reclaim their pride.
More than whether to ban some guns or bolster mental health services (yes and yes), the most important question we should all be grappling with is how we can create a healthier cultural trope for boys to follow. How do we get them to see healing instead of killing, nurturing instead of hurting, caring instead of cruelty as the embodiments of masculinity? How do we teach them women are to be celebrated and supported rather than hurt and exploited?
If we can answer that, maybe there will be a day in the future when a bear on campus is the scariest thing our first graders can think of.
Thadeus Greenson is the Journal’s news editor. Reach him at 442-1400, extension 321, or thad@northcoastjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @thadeusgreenson.
This article appears in ‘Queen City of the Ultimate West’.
In my life time I have seen highly feminine women and highly masculine men hurt others. But their behavior never had anything to do with the concentration of their feminine/masculine traits, it was predicated on their character and why it was eroded. To make such sweeping statements about men and masculinity being innately driven to abusive control and entitlement to commit violence is absolutely wrong. A person who commits malevolent acts, such as a mass shooting, is because their life has gone very wrong. Without a healthy family structure, guidance from a mentor or sense of purpose the cosmic injustices of life we all have to face will drive a person to deep bitterness – and kids are especially vulnerable to this. If left unchecked this bitterness becomes a hatred for life itself. Anybody who has lived at rock bottom and lost everything can relate to these feelings. This is how guns and violence become romanticized and used as a pernicious form of power to take revenge on the world for having wronged them. This is not about masculinity and at it’s current definition innately entitled to control and abuse, this is about mental health and we need to have an honest conversation about intercepting and helping those whom are diving into chaos.
Sarah- While I agree I’ve seen members of both genders inflict an assortment of pain on others, it does seem to me there’s an inherently gendered aspect to this very American phenomenon. How else do you explain that of the 153 mass shooters in the United States since 1966, 150 were male? And please don’t mistake what I’m saying: It’s not that men or masculinity are inherently driven to violence. It’s that there’s something in our culture that uniquely impacts men and drives them to behave this way. After all, mental illness affects both sexes in every country on the planet. But it’s almost solely American men and boys that carry out these horrific mass shootings.
Wish you would not print letters about guns that are and it it is plain to see that the people writing are giving untrue material . These are nothing short of propaganda. If You tell a lie long enough it will become true. Patrick Carr stated that automatic weapons are the problem. No legal guns sold are automatic rifles. Untrue. People do not like the looks of the AR rifle but it does nothing more that thousands of rifles sold will not do. There are many other guns sold that will do the same thing and I will not say what they are as enough people have enough bad ideas. Many people believe that the letters AR mean automatic rifle. Not true. It is the company that invented the rifle. Armalite. It was around even before Vietnam. Buzz Webb Being a veteran should know that the American military never issued AK 47s . They were used by some American troops that were picked up on the battle field because they worked better in jungle environment and the enemy could not pick up on the should as coming from American troops. I have never seen one for sale as they were a full auto weapon. Mr Webb miss stated that NRA members do not hunt or target with with rapid fifing assault weapons. I lead one to believe that NRA members or the other millions of gun owners do not use AR to hunt or target shoot . That is not just mis leading but a LIE. the AR is an excellent hunting weapon It is an excellent deer , wild pig ao other smaller mammal gun. Millions use this gun to target shoot as it is very cheap to buy ammo for and has little recoil so it if great for women o children to learn to shoot with. Where did he get the ‘fact’ that most people protect their home with a pistol? May be true but he best weapon is a shoot gun. That is because most people are not really good shots when scared in the dark with a handgun. Also shotguns don’t shoot far or through houses. Also Mr Webb belongs to planned Parenthood that kills more children that guns ever have. But hell thats ok .They really aren’t alive. Guns owns down do the crime. Karen Shepard lost all credibility the she starts off quoting Micheal Moore. Really he is a gun expert? Yes we did away with drunk driving but did we do away with cars. Right now today millions of Doctors write prescriptions for drugs one is not supposed to drive on but millions of people drive on the everyday. If that was fully enforced few people would be driving at all. Repealing the Second Amendment will only happen in her dreams. Get real. Mental health and a way to enforce it is what is needed. The kind of talk these people do only hurts the debate. Even the families of the school shooting in Florida did not ask for new gun laws , they wanted mental health. People read these letters and so will believe. Look at how much disinformation was believe under hitter, Stalin Mao and others and see what that got us. I know this will never see the light of day as that is the way it is to day. But think about what you print. Opinion is one thing but to state ” FACTS” is another . there was little in the e letter that was a fact but they were print as if they were. The world is flat .That was a fact for thousands of years. Truth will prevail. Emotion gets nothing but more bad results. John Mitchell, Kneeland Ca