Fixing our violent culture begins with us

   It was shocking, even to a nation that has grown numb to school shootings and acts of senseless public violence. Three days before the Newtown, Conn., shootings, a lone gunman walked through a shopping mall, killing two people and then himself, but that hardly caused a ripple in the public consciousness compared to the Newtown massacre that occurred just days later. Newtown stood out, even in a violence-soaked culture that has seen similar shootings at places as diverse as Columbine, Pearl, Miss., and Virginia Tech. Maybe it was the sheer number of casualties -- 27 dead, including 20 children. More likely, it was because of the age of the victims. They were elementary-aged children, some as young as kindergarten. Whatever the cause, the tragedy in Newtown caught this nation's attention, and it has kept it.
   In response to the shooting, President Barack Obama vowed to take "meaningful action" to make sure tragedies like this never happen again, although what that means is yet to be determined. On the other side of the aisle, the National Rifle Association has come forth with a proposal to turn every school in America into an armed fortress under the mistaken assumption that "the best solution to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."
   It seems clear that America is finally ready to take a hard look at our violent culture. It's a discussion that is long overdue. But as the initial shock wears off, the question remains: What's the best way to reduce the violence in our society, to put an end to these random bloodbaths?
   Whatever path we take, I think it's clear that the solution has to begin by taking a look at our current gun laws. Let me be clear. I am not suggesting that we go door to door confiscating people's weapons. But it's clear that even though we are the most armed nation on earth, we still have a violence problem. When we have 11 mass shootings in our nation over a two-year span, we have a problem. When it remains easier for criminals to get their hands on weapons -- even through legal means -- than law-abiding citizens, it's clear that we have a problem and that the status-quo is no longer working. So what should we do about it?
   I would start by establishing a national database for the mentally ill. I know. This isn't as easy as it sounds, thanks to medical privacy laws. So why not make it easy? Start with the names of those people already in prison who have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness. That information should be available through public records. How about inserting an exemption in existing medical privacy laws allowing mental health professionals to submit to the database the names of those they believe to be a danger to themselves or others? We're not talking about your everyday, garden-variety mental illness such as depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder. We're talking about people with schizophrenia or borderline personality disorder, those illnesses where a person's view of reality is compromised, or where they could conceivably become violent. Establishing this database might seem like an unforgivable invasion of personal privacy, but think about how many lives could have been saved at Virginia Tech if the shooter, who had a long history of serious mental illness, had been flagged and kept from getting his hands on a gun. Think about all the lives that might have been saved over the past 20 years if such a database had existed to help keep guns out of the wrong hands. We have already established a database for convicted sex offenders. Why not do the same for the seriously mentally ill?
   Along the same lines, I believe it is time we took a serious look at our mental health care system in this country. We need to look at how easy and affordable it is to screen for mental illness. And we need to look at what it costs to treat, both in terms of therapy and in terms of medication. President Obama already has taken an important step in his health care reform law that prohibits people from being denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions. Now, we need to look at capping the prices that can be charged for medications, especially psychiatric drugs. After all, what's the point of having an easy, affordable diagnosis if you can't afford the medicines to treat the illness?
   In terms of new gun laws, I don't believe many changes need to be made, although we DO need to do a better job in enforcing the existing laws. Two changes I WOULD like to see, though, are the return of the Clinton-era ban on assault weapons and the closing of the "gun show loophole." That loophole allows the ownership of a weapon to be transferred without the benefit of a background check. Given recent events, and the number of mass shootings over the past couple of years, that just seems like common sense.
   Perhaps the biggest change we can make in changing our violent culture doesn't lie in any piece of legislation. It lies with each of us. Specifically, it lies with how today's children are being raised. To put it bluntly, we have raised a generation of heathens. We have abdicated our responsibility as parents and as a society in making sure our children are equipped with the basics, what my parents used to call "home training." A majority of kids today aren't being raised with a sense of respect, or even basic manners. Many parents (but certainly not all) are so interested in being their child's "friend," that they forget to instill in that child a sense of right and wrong, a basic moral compass. Many parents today are so busy chasing after money and possessions that they don't have time to spend with their kids. Instead, they turn them over to the "electronic babysitter" -- TV, computers and video games -- and go on their merry way. And without proper parental supervision, what are our children gravitating toward? Shows like "Jersey Shore. " Violent games like "Need for Speed" and "Call of Duty," which glorify killing. And who knows what on the largely unregulated Wild West frontier of the Internet. We allow our children to be exposed to these violent influences unsupervised for hours each day. We fail to teach them basic respect or manners. We fail to instill in them a sense of basic right and wrong, and then we wonder why we have raised a selfish, self-centered generation with no conscience?
   Tragedies like Newtown are horrific, and I sincerely hope that some good does come out of the tragedy in the form of a much-needed national dialogue about our violent culture. I hope our gun laws are tweaked in ways that get assault weapons off the streets and make it harder for the mentally ill and the criminal to get guns. But if we really want to change our culture, talking isn't enough. New laws aren't enough. Change will only happen when we take an honest look at ourselves and how we're raising the next generation. Only by changing ourselves, by returning to the basic standards of decency and morality, can we have hope of making our culture less violent.