Mothers had kissed their children goodbye for the day a few hours beforehand. While just a few yards away, an emotionally outraged 18 year old boy had crashed a truck nearby the elementary school with two AR platform rifles in hand, ready to fire.
Hopefully, everyone knows the answer to the last one or has an answer.
But how in the world can we know beforehand? How can we find out who is mentally unstable before they purchase a gun? And how can we differentiate that between those who are mentally stable but happen to have the same mental illnesses as somebody who would possibly start a mass shooting?
As I grew up and went into high school, I went into a school which was kind of nicknamed "mini BYU" due to the competitiveness in sports, grades, musical groups and anything else that you could think of. Everything was a competition. With this, unfortunately also came a lot of depressed peers and classmates who never felt like they could compete with the high standards that were placed before them.
Something that's triggering though is that even though suicide is linked to possibly starting a mass shooting, there are many other factors that play into this role such as schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, undiagnosed and diagnosed mental health disorders, outbursts of anger and violence.
So, why don't we put a restriction order onto those who have schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, mental health disorders, suicide attempts and a history of anger or violence?
Famous publisher D. Victor from the New York Times has wisely stated, "...there is no one-size-fits-all profile of who carriers out a mass shooting in the United States" Schildkraut, Elsass, Stafford and Sheingold in their Understanding More than 50 Years of Mass Public Shootings as a Function of Routine Activities include, "policy responses that are narrowly focused on the perpetrators are likely to fail."
Not only would this be unwise, but it would also be very restricting and seen as an act of discrimination towards those who are suffering with those related mental health issues.
Plus, not every mass shooter is going to have all of those related issues.
But like what has been stated above, there isn't a one-size-fits all solution for governmental purposes. But what if there's a better solution?
Because of John's simple act of kindness for being there for his friend, showing up everyday and showing interest and love for his friend, Troy was able through lots of pain and suffering on his part still, to forgive himself for his son's loss but also to be able to really live again.
Because of the love that came from his friend John, he was able to get through those hoops and was able to eventually forgive himself and be able to provide for his family emotionally again.
Hopefully, before they even get there, there are a few different things that we can do.
1. Love. Love, love, love. Too often aggressiveness and unkindness is seen as a "mature" way to handle things when often this is not the case.
Truly those who are more satified with their lives have spent it in the service of others. Those who are older and near the end of their lives, if haven't helped those who are younger will often see their lives as being a loss and a
2. Love does not mean agreeing with everything that the person is doing or saying. Often those who shut you out the quickest need somebody the most.
Those who are most likely to start a mass shooting were often disliked or unpopular in the community.
3. There is no such thing as unconditional love. There is such thing as putting a condition on your love.
But maybe there is a general one-size-fits-all when it comes to loving one another and truly caring for those in need. Those you don't want to talk to and those you do.
-Julienne Bringhurst
Julienne has been writing on Julienne's Blog since her Sophmore year of High School at Lone Peak High School. She is now a Junior attending Brigham Young University - Idaho studying Marriage and Family Studies.
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