This Has To Stop!

It's another day, and sadly it's another mass shooting. This time at least 14 people are dead in California. I'm saddened by more loss of life but I'm also finding myself getting more and more desensitized.

There has been more mass shootings this year than we've had days. Too much violence, too much death, and a lot of these shootings aren't caused by people who seem to be terrorists. But instead lots of white men who have a variety of issues.

I want to be outraged when something like this happens, but it is just happening too much that it just feels like a deadened weight is pulling me down. Something must be done.

While many gun advocates are quick to say that guns don't kill people, but people kill people, the guns sure help up the death count. So yeah, I'm in favor of taking guns, at least the semi-automatic ones, away from people.

I've honestly never been a fan of guns, but being from Michigan, I have no issues with rifles for hunting. But mass shootings, for the most part, aren't caused by rifles or pistols. And other people having guns doesn't seem to be stopping this madness.

As a mom and a wife, and a human being on this planet, I wish there was something I can do. Beyond voting for people who won't make things worse and possibly be able to reign in the bloodshed there isn't much I can do.

My hearts are with the victims and their families tonight.

Guns and School Shootings

Image: fox4kc.com

I don't often voice any views on here about hot button topics. Something that may change as we go into an election year. But I wanted to get something off my chest.

Yesterday, there was yet another school shooting. I got the news late because I was at choir practice - I sing in the women's choir at my church. As we were singing praises to the Lord, more people lost their lives to guns.

As a mom, I'm not terribly rational on this subject. I truly want my kid and everyone else's kid in America to be safe. So yes, even though this may not be a popular opinion, I want to take your guns.

Even before I was a parent, I've never liked guns. They make me feel extremely uncomfortable. I've fired a gun exactly once in my life. When I was in college, friends and I went to my roommate's house for the weekend. We went hunting and I was given the opportunity to shoot the hunting rifle. Firing that gun once solidified my intense dislike of guns.

My husband has guns, he's gone hunting quite a bit in his youth as many males growing up in Michigan too. All of his guns are at his parent's house currently which makes me happy. If they were here, they would be under lock and key that Emily would not have access too.

Even Todd, who is not uncomfortable with guns, thinks that we need stricter gun control laws in this country. He also thinks that nothing will be done because the NRA is such a loud voice in Washington, and it makes my heart sick to think he is right.

Yes, I know people will think 'guns don't kill people, people kill people.' They have a bit of a point, but guns make it so much easier to kill so many more people at once. It's sickening how easily you can kill with a gun.

While I do think that gun control laws would help quite a bit with this epidemic of shootings in our country, we also have to consider the people doing the shooting. Honestly you have to be pretty screwed up to even consider walking into a high school, college or movie theater and decide to shoot the place up.

The stigma of mental health issues has to get better. People with depression and other mental health issues need to be able to get the help they need. I suffer from depression, and without my anti-depressants, I'm a whole different person. I don't think even then I would want to kill anyone, except perhaps myself. But everyone's brains are different.

It's a sad state of affairs when we have mass shooting after mass shooting after mass shooting. All the while, much of the government is more concerned about governing what a woman does with her own body.

I pray that things will be able to change. I'm trying to do as much as I can by getting me the help I need and being close to my daughter so she doesn't end up following a darker path. But it's time for more to be done.

Videos Games Don't Cause Violence!

One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone blames a tragedy on video games. When I was in college, Columbine happened. There was a lot of talk about how violent video games were a large part of why Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold committed this heinous act of violence. I was broadcasting major at the time and I spoke at length in my classes how video games were not to blame.

I’m an avid video gamer and I like games that can be a little on the violent side. My husband, who wouldn't hurt a fly, loves the first person shooter games. We've both been gamers since we were kids, like a lot of people in our generation. Since Columbine, every time that there is a shooting someone in the media tries to blame it on videos games which I think is ridiculous. Especially since neither of us has felt the urge to go shoot up anywhere despite hundreds of hours shooting things in video games.

More and more people play video games now than they did in the late 90’s, so if video games were to blame, there should be a lot more of these violent attacks. The blame should be put squarely on the shoulders of the person responsible – the person who did the shooting.

Banning videos games or monitoring who buys them isn't going to do anything. Now I do think parents should be active in their kids’ lives and make sure they are monitoring what kinds of games they play. Emily is nearly five and she’s already a big games. But she plays things like Kinect Disneyland Adventures or the Toy Story 3 game. We also limit her time that she can play video games because she’s like her parents and could sit playing all day.

The tragedy a few days ago was horrific and it made me very sad for the loss of life. I know that videos games didn’t play any part because it sounds like the shooter, despite playing video games, was a very disturbed person. Fox News used this opportunity to call for a registry to track video game purchases since they think that playing video games are so obviously the problem.

So I will repeat the rant that I’ve said for nearly 15 years. Video games don’t cause violence, people do!