Surprised a Degraded Culture Produces Depraved Individuals?

 Last Friday was evidently International Maniac Congruence Day. In Newtown a 20–year–old loser — whose newspaper photo bears a striking resemblance to the SS Totenkoph insignia — shot and killed 20 elementary school students and six adults. While in Chenpeng, China another maniac stabbed 22 children and one adult in an elementary school.

Yet there has been no outcry in China for more cutlery control and CNN International has not been broadcasting remote from outside the Henckels’ knife factory. In fact there has been scant coverage of the Chinese attack.

The obscure, knife–wielding Chinaman proves it’s not a weapon problem — it’s a maniac problem. For where there’s a maniacal will, there’s a maniacal way.

So in the wake of Newtown, I’ll endorse the first politician who designates schools as “maniac–free zones.” You may scoff, but this law will be just as effective as “gun–free zones” and has the added advantage of directly addressing the cause of the problem.

Banning “assault weapons” is a knee–jerk response from ideological jerks. It’s like treating a drunk for difficulties with his equilibrium, rather than talking about alcohol. What’s more, “assault weapons” have been banned in Connecticut since 1993 and a fat lot of good it did at Sandy Hook Elementary. The Bushmaster rifle used there was registered and legal. The only measurable effect discussions of an “assault weapon” ban have is increased gun and ammunition sales.

Another liberal bright idea is establishing a bag limit for mass shootings like we currently have for ducks. Duck hunters are often limited in the number of shells their shotgun magazine can hold. This encourages hunters to obey the law specifying the maximum number of ducks one is allowed to shoot.

The same logic applies to the limit on “high capacity magazines.” Unfortunately, limiting magazine size just means the shooter needs bigger pockets. Many semi–automatic pistols thoughtfully let you know when the magazine is empty by locking the slide back. One simply has to drop the empty and slap a full one in — a process taking under two seconds. Besides, I am unaware of any spree killing that ended prematurely because the gunman ran out of ammunition.

In 2011 there were 32,367 automobile deaths — more than three times the number of firearms murders. Based on gun control logic, we should also ban automobiles that look like racecars, because sleek design encourages drivers to go too fast.

No one bothers to ask why we have a rash of these mass killings now and not in the 60’s when there were no background checks and you could buy a handgun through the mail. As anti–gun legislation has become more pervasive so have spree killings.

An early WaPost article said the motivation for the murders remains a “mystery.” Maybe it’s a “mystery” for liberals, but not for those with common sense. If you’re a disaffected, disturbed loser, who wants the nation to feel his pain, you follow the template written by media vultures and go to the nearest sitting duck zone and start shooting.

The same saturation coverage that validates dollar store teddy bear memorials, validates the violence that inspires misguided bystanders to leave a mylar balloon as close to the bloodstains as the yellow police tape will allow.

An inconvenient element young spree killers have in common is violent, sadistic video games. Only a few years ago video game makers usually had a “gore filter” that a player could engage if he didn’t want to wallow in video dismemberment. Now popular and violent games have no way to turn down the violence or the language.

The only restraint the video game industry displays is a reluctance to design a “Columbine Shootout” game with a “Virginia Tech” add–on.

Bans on guns and magazine size are displacement activity. The Newtown shooter did not want for anything materially, but he was empty inside. These secular, suicide terrorists turn their video game room into a personal murder madrassah.

Liberals say censorship or even societal disapproval of violent video games is unnecessary because the vast majority of players simply use the games for fun and companionship — a justification that equally accurate when applied to the “assault weapon” owning community.

At its base this is a mental health problem and requires a mental health solution. Liberals aren’t afraid of crazy people, as long as they are confined to Occupy camps, but they are afraid of guns. In the 80’s liberals tried to ban the sale of cheap “Saturday night specials.” Now it’s expensive “assault weapons.” This demonization of guns transforms firearms into symbols of power, which only serves to attract the mentally unstable.

We live in a society where it’s now popular to take personal responsibility for carbonating your own beverages, but liberals demonize conservatives who wish to take responsibility for their own defense. If Mrs. Lanza had locked her guns away from her disturbed son, Newtown doesn’t happen.

All the liberals and all their laws can’t force people to exercise common sense.