HERE WE GO AGAIN

Here we go again. More really bad behavior. Another mass murder followed by the same old questions. How did he get all those guns into the hotel? Where was hotel security? How did he get all those guns in the first place? Why don’t we have stricter gun control? And the same thing is going to happen as happened after previous mass murders. Nothing!

There are three elements to murder – means, opportunity and motive (MOM); and all we ever talk about are means and opportunity – stricter gun control and tighter security. That is unfortunate because stricter gun control and tighter security are not going to solve the problem. The problem is motive. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Until we address why people behave this way, we aren’t going to stop this kind of horrific behavior.

The single most common reason people act violently is anger and the single most common reason people get angry is pain. They’ve been hurt and they lash out, usually at the people who hurt them, but if they can’t get to those people, at someone or something they associate with those people. Sometimes they just lash out at whoever happens to be close by. The only way to stop this kind of violent response to anger is to stop the pain that caused the anger in the first place. Eliminate motive and we don’t have to worry about means and opportunity. Eliminate the pain and we don’t have to worry about guns and security.

Violence is not the problem. It’s a symptom of the problem. This isn’t about access to guns. It’s about the lack of access to mental health care. This isn’t about inadequate security. It’s about insufficient concern and compassion for the needs of our fellow human beings. Mass murderers, like international terrorists, aren’t going to stop killing people until we find a way to stop their pain.