In times of tragedy, people need answers. We look to our pundits, politicians, and press to put the pieces together. We try to explain the horrifyingly inexplicable, to pinpoint where the horror began and the person or people who started it. We need someone or something to blame, because it helps create a story that makes sense of the chaos we find right outside our door. But the coverage of the Safeway Massacre in Tuscon has so far been instigating an irrational fear of political rhetoric and gun-slinging conservative right-wingers the way Columbine begot fears of video games, goths, and antidepressants. In tragic times like these, it is important to reflect on the true culprits of inhumanity: people with dangerous mental illnesses and relative ease with which they obtain deadly weapons.
[pagebreak]
In 1999, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17 procured guns through three friends who had purchased the weapons legally. Around the same time, the boys were detained and sent to rehabilitation for anger management and were being treated with antidepressants. Harris had operated a website about homemade explosives where he also published threats against his former friend Brooks Brown and plans to murder a list of people who annoyed him. Brown’s mother contacted the Jefferson Country Sheriff’s office over and over again regarding the threats. In response, Investigator Michael Guerra wrote a draft affidavit for a search warrant of Harris’ house, but he never filed it. Harris and Klebold went on to shoot and kill 12 students and a teacher before committing suicide.
[pagebreak]
In 2007, Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech before he killed himself. This was the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in United States history. Because of privacy laws, Virginia Tech was not informed of Cho’s mental health diagnoses. In 2005, he was accused of stalking two female students and ordered to get treatment. He was able to legally purchase a number of weapons after a court order for psychological help.
[pagebreak]
These are only two recent, widely known examples. We have all experienced personal tragedy in our lives. In 2009, a sophomore at my university committed suicide. My best friend discovered his body and called the police. At an emergency meeting for the friends and family of the deceased, the first thing any of the social workers said to us was, ‘Look out for each other. Take care of each other.’ It says something that we need to be reminded to do that.
People don’t like to take on the role of parenting their friends. College students have enough to worry about as it is. But how else can tragedy be prevented? What’s keeping NYC safe? ‘If you see something, say something.’ People can’t be afraid to speak out and raise concerns, and authorities must not be afraid to respond to those concerns to the fullest extent of the law.
[pagebreak]
What is the fullest extent of the law? People who have not committed crimes cannot be forced into mental institutions involuntarily. How much evidence is enough evidence to step in and take control of another person’s life? I’m reminded of another incident from my high school days. I had a friend with a serious cocaine problem, a
