Last Friday morning I wrote, and KARE-11 posted, a McNiff’s Riff titled “There is no safe place in America. Nowhere. Now what?”
The opinion piece was about the most recent mass shooting in America at a California bar, where a former U.S. Marine shot and killed 12 bar employees and patrons, and then himself.
The column was posted on the KARE-11 home and Facebook pages, and we did a Facebook Live on Friday morning where I asked for feedback from readers. From my first written word to my sign-off from the Facebook Live, my goal was to be fully transparent about my intentions and my objective, to start a conversation about solving America's problem with gun violence. For those who may have missed it, please allow me to repeat myself.
I do not know why these incidents keep happening, but I feel like we have to do something as a society to try and prevent the next mass shooting. If I don’t make a sincere effort to start or foster a conversation on gun violence, then I am complicit in my silence.
As of last night, my column and the accompanying Facebook Live had been viewed some 8,600 times, received 128 comments and had been shared 6 times.
Thank you.
I don’t share those numbers as any sort of bragging, but rather to commend and thank those who took time to engage, and share their feelings on a subject that can stir intense emotions. I especially want to thank gun control opponents for engaging, because your feedback and participation on this issue is critical.
Over the weekend the NRA and anti-gun doctors engaged in a war of words via social media about the epidemic. That kind of escalation is not what I’m looking for, and I want to thank everybody for keeping the conversation we had via Facebook and email civil. We can’t accomplish ANYTHING if we don’t listen to, and respect each other’s positions because we never know where compromise (or even a solution) may come from. If we don’t talk and listen, we’re never going to get anywhere.
Many of the people who responded emphasized the complexity of the issue, citing both contributing factors and potential solutions.
John, an NRA member, said he was in full support of background checks and waiting periods.
Carla lamented the breakdown of the family unit as a contributing factor.
Kate expressed frustration with the situation by calling it a “multi-faceted nightmare” involving gun control, mental illness, parenting concerns and media hype.
Christopher felt a good start would be prosecuting criminals for their crimes. I asked him to give me more on where he’s going with this thought.
For every person who contributed to the conversation by throwing out a position about why something couldn’t or shouldn’t be done, I responded by asking them this question: If you could make policy what would you do?
Again, I’m not looking for positions or arguments. I’m looking for solutions. I want to try and DO things, and to keep trying until we finally find a solution because failure in this matter is not an option.
Many people expressed frustration or hopelessness when it comes to our country's propensity towards gun violence, while others went so far as to send me personal emails rather then express their feelings in a public forum.
One such email came from Steven, a self-professed 2nd amendment advocate with a carry permit and a safe full of guns. He believes the easiest way to reduce or eliminate mass shootings is for the media to engage in a coverage blackout of the killers, and instead put all their focus on the victims. This would deny the killers the notoriety they know they’ll get with this heinous behavior.
Steven is hardly the first person to put this idea out there. As a matter of fact, Dana and I discussed it in our Facebook Live on Friday morning. Right after reading Steven’s email I read a story that said the perpetrator of the most recent mass shooting was making comments on social media about how the media would discuss his state of mind while last Wednesday night’s mass killing was in progress.
I’m certainly no expert, but this information makes me feel like the media MUST take steps to institute an industry wide mandatory 'perpetrator blackout’ in the media. Obviously, in situations where public safety is at-stake (a killer on the loose) this rule would not apply, but once the situation has reached a point where public was no longer in danger, the perpetrator’s identity would never be referred tp again.
Don’t get me wrong, I in no way to I think that this is the ONLY thing that needs to be done, but I am firmly in the camp that believes that this should become a established policy. If this has to be the first step towards finding a potential solution to mass shootings, so be it.
Perhaps by taking a first step we can encourage others to join the effort, with a goal of ending this nightmare once and for all.
To everyone who has participated to this point, thank you for reading and listening. Let’s not stop there, but continue to work together to find a solution.
Tim