OPINION:
Once again, Americans are recoiling in horror and disgust over yet more mass shootings — this time two within 24 hours — at the hands of evil, despicable and yes, demented perpetrators who kill indiscriminately for a variety of reasons, all of which are cowardly. It’s a grotesque thing that is repeated all too often. And Americans want to see it stopped. Unfortunately, there’s no consensus among our political leaders beyond “we must do something.”
But in many cases what people are proposing as that “something” — particularly anti-firearm Democrats — are no more than policy placebos that, while advertised as effective in stopping gun violence, are no more effective in abating mass murder than an umbrella is in shielding a person in a hurricane.
Consider what the Democrats are offering as their sugar pills to stop mass shootings:
1) Banning “assault weapons.” Unless Democrats are willing to confiscate every one of them in America — an impossibility — a person intent on acquiring one will find a way to acquire it or resort to semi-automatic pistols, which are more than capable of killing many people in the hands of a maniac.
2) Banning certain types of magazines. Deprived of a 20-round magazine, a determined mass murderer will opt to bring two 10-rounds clips to do his awful deed.
3) Universal background checks. The sad truth is virtually every person who has committed a mass murder in recent history not only acquired their firearms legally, but had no record that would have prevented a gun purchase.
Yet, Democrats recite these placebos unhesitatingly as necessary components to solving mass murders. They won’t. What’s worse is Democrats know they won’t. Like a snake oil salesman selling empty promises of miracle cures, Democrats want bills to make Americans feel they are “doing something” when in reality they’re doing nothing. Nevertheless, there are things that might be helpful, like threat assessment teams.
Threat assessment is a widely recognized process throughout government, education and the private sector to stop violent attacks. With input from the Secret Service, the FBI and the Department of Education this methodology has been refined and used for more than 25 years and is currently in place to protect Congress, the executive and the judiciary at both the national and state level.
Moreover, Virginia, Connecticut, Illinois, Texas, Maryland, Tennessee and many other states have moved to ensure our schools are protected by employing this approach. It works because we now know that individuals who carry out these vile attacks don’t just simply “snap.” They conceive the idea, plan it and acquire the lethal means to execute the plan before they become active shooters.
They also talk about it to others. The research reveals what the 5,000-member Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP) terms the “path to violence,” and the research is incontrovertible. Just one leaked piece of information reported by someone to properly trained authorities can stop a mass shooting. The process focuses on behavior and does not profile, which potentially misses violent individuals who don’t fit a particular profile.
Here’s a genuine prescription. Congressman Brian Babin, Texas Republican, has developed HR 838, The Threat Assessment Protection and Safety Act, a bill that provides incentive grants to communities that develop Community Threat Assessment teams in their neighborhoods, exactly where this sort of approach will best be accomplished, at the state and local level.
Unfortunately, politics is preventing the passage of the bill with Democrats galvanized to gun restrictions and Republicans wedded to mental health funding as the ultimate solution. There are currently 114 members of Congress who are co-patrons, 57 Democrats and 57 Republicans. It’s now time for congressional leadership to stop bickering and rally to this legislation.
But even this will not stop all mass murders. For that, we must recognize something more profound. In his 18th century classic “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” Sir Edward Gibbon listed among the reasons Rome fell “the injuries of time.” The injuries to their culture, virtue, morality and the rule of law took their toll on Rome just as they have in America today.
And nowhere is that more evident than the fall of the American family, particularly the absence of fathers in the lives of their sons. The one common denominator among mass murderers, beyond their youth, is the absence of a father to define boundaries, impose discipline and model the adult behaviors of a civilized man. If there were ever a time to repair fatherhood in America, it’s now. No law will suit that purpose.
But a nation committed to fatherhood, where families raise their children in love and teach them the values that make us a better people, will also make us a nation of less violence. Without a doubt, dedicated paternity will work where empty placebos and policy bromides don’t.
• L. Scott Lingamfelter is a retied U.S. Army colonel and former chairman of the Militia, Police, and Public Safety Committee of the Virginia General Assembly’s House of Delegates.
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