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Kentucky Governor Is Right – School Shootings In The US Is A Cultural Problem!

Kentucky Governor Is Right – School Shootings In The US Is A Cultural Problem!
Kentucky Governor Is Right – School Shootings In The US Is A Cultural Problem!

In a video that has now gone viral with over 16 million views, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin is right when he says that we need to look at everything to solve the problem of school shootings in the US.

For example, there are less guns in US households than in 1975 but more mass school shootings.

What has changed?

The culture!

Governor Bevin says that we need to review our entire culture which is resulting in young people killing other young people, and he refers to graphically violent video games and TV shows, desensitization to death, desensitization to the value of life, celebration of “death through music lyrics and video games”, pharmaceutical drugs, and the breakdown of the family unit.

There is not one factor alone that results in mass shootings.

Our culture has also changed in its views towards violence and guns with extremely graphic violence in media, music, and video games.

Governor Bevin also makes a valid point that someone could just as easily run kids over while they are waiting in line to get on the school bus than shoot them, but that isn’t what happens.

Why is a gun always the weapon of choice for mass killings?

The gun represents something greater than a truck, knife or other weapon, and a semi-automatic weapon creates the opportunity to kill a lot more people than a single-shot weapon.

James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58 in a cinema in a Colorado with an AR-15 rifle, not a car, truck or a bomb. Do guns boost masculinity and significance? Does wielding a gun or a semi-automatic rifle suddenly transform a powerless, depressed, isolated, rejected or bullied boy into a powerful man? Is a gun perceived, promoted or glorified as the best way to get revenge on other people for perceived wrongdoing? Are school shooters influenced by media coverage of other shootings?

“I’m going to be a professional school shooter” – post on YouTube by Nikolas Cruz – who killed 17 people on Valentine’s Day, 2018!

Governor Bevin is the first politician that I know of who has the courage, intestinal fortitude and integrity to raise the issue of medication and gun violence.

Every mass shooter was on some form of medication or psychiatric drug!

Medication leads to violence, murder, deaths, and suicide!

The US is now the most medicated nation in the world; almost 60 percent of Americans are now taking prescription drugs – the highest ever; 3.2 billion drug prescriptions were filled in 2014.

A US study in 2010 revealed that medication can cause violent behavior in children and adults, singling out 11 antidepressants, 6 sedative/hypnotics and 3 drugs for ADHD.

I have studied the profile of a mass murderer and identified 20 common traits. Look at these top 6 and you will see clearly there is a cultural problem:

1. Male age 16-25 (no females have been involved in mass shootings)
2. Medication – psychiatric drugs
3. Depression, social withdrawal, psychosis, psychopathy
4. Long standing fascination with violence and weapons
5. Poor, unhealthy or non-existent relationship with dad
6. Access to semi-automatic weapons with the intention to kill as many people as possible in public and in daylight

Finally, people often refer to Australia’s ban on semi-automatic guns as the solution in the US. I grew up in Australia, and we have two very different cultures; Australia does not have first and second amendment rights, is not medicated like the US, and Australia has the strictest censorship of video games and the internet in the western world.

I agree with Governor Bevin: “There will never be a perfect solution for keeping evil in a box.” Let’s look at everything, and let’s do it now!

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