October 2015

When will the local media start asking the real questions about gun control and violence?

l3wis October 1, 2015 37Comments

I usually don’t blog about crimes on my blog, I have said before I believe everyone deserves their day in court and until the verdict drops, people deserve due process. Mason Buhl deserves this. But there are some interesting side stories here that the local media isn’t digging into. Obviously, the first question the media needs to be asking, how and why did a 16 year old have a handgun, and what were his parents role in this. His father said this to AP;

Buhl’s father told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he doesn’t know what led his son to the shooting. He said his ex-wife, with whom his son lives, called to tell him that their son had been arrested following the shooting. He said his son’s been quiet over the past year.

“Something’s just going on inside of him and he’s just mad at everybody, I think,” Rodney Buhl said. “I don’t know what would’ve made him do something like this.”

He didn’t say where his son got the handgun, but said that he and his son would regularly target shoot outside and that his son had taken gun safety courses. Wollman would not say where the student got the gun.

While I think it is perfectly fine to go hunting with your father, under supervision, or practice shooting, the bigger question is was Mason allowed to keep a handgun without the supervision of his parents. I think this will come up in court. There is absolutely NO REASON a parent should allow their teenage children to own a handgun and have access to it on their own.

I also see another story here, the irony of a peace rally in Sioux Falls just a few days ago;

Lauren Townsend was one of 12 students killed in the columbine massacre 16 years ago.

Since her passing, her mother, Dawn Anna, has traveled across the country speaking at events about keeping children safe from guns.

“I seriously thought that Columbine was going to be it. It had to be it. There were 13 murdered in columbine – 12 students and a teacher. The world was brought to its knees,” says Anna.

She believed that a senseless act of violence like that would bring about some bigger changes – and put gun violence further in the spotlight.

“If this isn’t going to promote discussion, what is?”

Who would have imagined just 4 days later this would happen in Harrisburg? I have to be truthful with you, I wasn’t shocked or surprised when I heard the news, but grateful no one got seriously hurt or killed.

Until we address how easily it is for people to obtain guns in this country, this story will continue to play out in every nook and cranny of our country. Let’s face it, easy access to guns isn’t making us more safe, and if you believe that, you truly are an ignorant human being.