This is Steve. Steve Kazmierczak. He shot 17 people at Northern Illinois University, killing several before taking his own life. The killings took place after the VT shootings, (which I ranted about here.) I didn’t know much about what had happened at UNI at the time, but after reading this Esquire article last week, I do now. It’s one of the most in-depth looks at the life and times of a troubled mass murderer I’ve seen. Then I saw this new Modernista! work on the same issue, along with David’s solid take. What’s infuriating after taking this all isn’t just that people never seem to learn from the last tragic event and still continue to ignore warning signs—but how easily he could always buy guns. What’s even more infuriating is how the media will cover every angle of something like this immediately after it happens, trying to find out what went wrong, all so that it will never happen again.Monday, August 25, 2008
So that it never happens again.
This is Steve. Steve Kazmierczak. He shot 17 people at Northern Illinois University, killing several before taking his own life. The killings took place after the VT shootings, (which I ranted about here.) I didn’t know much about what had happened at UNI at the time, but after reading this Esquire article last week, I do now. It’s one of the most in-depth looks at the life and times of a troubled mass murderer I’ve seen. Then I saw this new Modernista! work on the same issue, along with David’s solid take. What’s infuriating after taking this all isn’t just that people never seem to learn from the last tragic event and still continue to ignore warning signs—but how easily he could always buy guns. What’s even more infuriating is how the media will cover every angle of something like this immediately after it happens, trying to find out what went wrong, all so that it will never happen again.
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5 comments:
That whole Esquire article made me nauseas.
Sadly, making it harder to buy guns won't prevent these types of events. It might change the timeline, but that's about it. People who want guns will get guns. We've had a War on Drugs for almost three decades, and drugs are cheaper, better and more plentiful now than they were before it started. Whatever you want, it can be had in under an hour. And it will be the same with guns. As with anything, demand drives supply.
@pbb–Thing is, when you read the article, this wasn‘t just one time where he slipped through the cracks and was able to buy a gun at a local shop. He was able to buy them over and over.
And, while someone bent on hurting others or themselves will always find a way to do so, in this case, having some system in place warning of his past would’ve made it a lot harder.
It may not have offered foolproof protection, but it’s a layer of protection like a gun safe or trigger lock. I mean, if the military caught him lying about his past, that should’ve been a red flag right there that stays with you for a long time.
We have a system in place that monitors your credit history forever. You can’t buy a washer without them knowing you were late on a car payment 10 years ago.
So we can’t have a little warning next to someone's name when they want to buy a Glock that says: May be unstable due to history of mental illness?
Makes no sense.
Ironically, after the Virginia Tech tragedy, Illinois changed it's laws regarding mental illness and firearm ownership, but those changes had not yet taken effect.
On the whole I agree with you, and we do need safeguards in place to make it harder for people who shouldn't have guns to get them. Good idea. But, if that's all we do?
The problem is it really doesn't address the problem. Saying that greatly restricting gun sales will make us safer is as much a panacea as the gun nuts' "more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens will reduce violence" argument.
The real danger is that it gives the illusion of safety, and that allows us to go on and continue to ignore the underlying problems that are at the heart of the problem.
Is making getting guns harder for the mentally a good place to start? Sho `nuff, MtLB, but this is America, and we're not very good at things like introspection and agonizing reappraisal, so we won't get past that starting point.
So, maybe next time it will happen with stolen or illegally purchased weapons, but it will still happen. Sadly, it will happen again and again.
To me, the infuriating thing is that whenever something like this happens, we say we want to do something about it, but we really don't.
And that’s why I bring it up now, between events. I’m not looking at it like tighter restrictions is some blanket solution we need in general.
The focus in my post was specifically about the mentally ill. More warnings makes sense. (The kids playing with his father’s gun or the drive-by crowd is a whole other demo.) There’s no halfway measures to try—you either get all the guns or you don’t. Unrealistic, I know.
It’s not just that though, but also recognizing the behavioral warning signs and acting on them sooner. How many students talk about suicide and are ignored? In this case, that goes on anyone who didn’t take him seriously.
Black market availability will always be there, but this guy seemed to be able to get whatever he wanted whenever he needed it.
As it relates to reappraisal, I agree: We're real good in this country at figuring out what and how something happened—after the fact. When it comes to recognizing the warning signs ahead of time? We suck.
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