To the editor:

This letter is in response to Eric Hauber’s letter “Handguns made killing possible.”

It never fails to amaze me that when a violent tragedy involving guns occurs, many people put the blame other than where it belongs.

I will agree with the fact that having access to a hand gun gave that 6-year-old boy the opportunity to commit this violent act.

However, doesn’t the fact that he actually had the opportunity and was able to commit the act, hint at a deeper problem?

Gun control doesn’t work. The fact that these crimes are still being committed proves that.

The question I would like to ask is, why was this 6-year-old boy able to gain access to a hand gun? Also, why did he consider it appropriate to shoot and kill someone?

I will concede that a 6-year-old, when in an emotional state may not be able, or have trouble, discerning right from wrong, so I will take back my second question.

But what about the first question? I think the answer can be found in the parents. This little boy was in an environment where he had direct access to a gun. It was also obvious he had some emotional problems.

It was this combination that led to this. You can’t say that because a hand gun existed that he killed people. When is society going to try to get to the root of the violent acts that people do rather than try to regulate the medium through which they choose to express this violent feelings?

It’s real easy to say guns are bad when something like this happens. But what about the times when guns save lives. Most people didn’t hear about the woman in Cleveland, Ohio, who was home alone with her two daughters when a convicted rapist, who was out of prison on parole, broke into her house to attack her.

She was a gun owner and was able to protect her and her two daughters by killing the perpetrator.

Stuff like this happens everyday, yet the press doesn’t widely publish those stories. We only hear about guns when something bad happens.

I am not a gun owner, nor do I plan on owning a gun. But a gun is just a thing. It’s the people who use them that need to be looked at in order to solve this problem.

All of the gun control in the world is not going to suppress violent feelings whether the person is 6 years old and isn’t mature enough to understand, or an adult who may have emotional problems and has trouble controlling their impulses.

Let’s put the blame where it really belongs. We live in a such a high-paced society that it is exceedingly difficult for parents to spend a lot of time with their children like they used to years ago.

Instead, they rely on society to raise their children for them. When you are bombarded with violence on a daily basis and don’t have someone there to explain such things. Is it any wonder why some people do what they do?

Shawn Beard

Alumnus

Oskaloosa