The Aurora Massacre

Dear readers, I know you expect me to say something about the horrific shooting spree that took place last Friday in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, Colorado.
Well, I’ve waited a day or so because I wanted to be sure that my first reactions weren’t colored by the scenes of shock, grief and mayhem that covered CNN TV wall-to-wall during the 24 hours after the killings.
My first reaction was to pray for the dead and their families. And, then for the injured.
My second reaction was that the killer must have been a deranged madman.
My third thought was that there seemed to be a ghastly over-reaction to the deaths, terrible as they were. Over-reaction and hysteria and a general excess of maudlin feeling for an event that, although horrible, was local in nature, not related to terrorism, and that killed fewer people than are killed on American highways in a day.
That sounds hard, unfeeling and wrong-headed, I suppose, but these sentiments have become stronger, not weaker, as I have continued to watch the CNN coverage.
So, let me state my positions as clearly as possible.
I am against killing - planned, random, deliberate, military, guerrilla - killing is not what we were given life to do. It is wrong. It is senseless, even in the best of circumstances, and it is against any set of ethical or religious principles you wish to cite.
But, as in the terrible events that occurred in Tucson, Arizona, in 2011, the killings in Aurora were random in the purest sense of the word.
Twenty-five years ago, America would have noted their occurrence, given their condolences, and moved on. That didn’t happen in Tucson and it didn’t happen on Friday after the Aurora massacre.
Why?
My answer is the same as it was after Tucson.
America is grieving and wounded - in its psyche, in its soul, in its rationality. It has been damaged so profoundly by the events of 9.11 that any death, any attack, however local, on its fragile body societal, is an attack on every American. An attack bitterly felt, resented, feared and mourned as if 9.11 were occurring all over again (God forbid that that should ever happen).
That is not to belittle Friday’s events. They were mindless and should be recognized and studied for ways to prevent them in the future. And the perpetrator should be punished to the fullest extent possible.
But, I am not by this recommending gun control, as Piers Morgan tried to do on his CNN program last night when he was roundly attacked for his choice of timing and topic. I do not believe that Aurora or Tucson or any past or future similar killing spree has anything to do with gun control or the lack thereof.
While we may debate the prudence of allowing anyone to buy attack guns or thousands of rounds of ammunition over the internet, that is a detail.
Gun control has nothing to do with such laxities. Gun control deals with the constitutional right to bear arms. No Founder ever considered automatic weapons because they didn’t exist in 1789. No Founder ever considered concealed weapons permits because they didn’t exist in 1789.
Those concepts aside, the Constitution guarantees American citizens the right to keep and bear arms - not as a right that includes mass murder, but as a right to be safe in one’s own home and as a right to prevent the government from overreaching its proper limits.
Thomas Jefferson said as much when he wrote concerning armed citizens in the face of the government being put into place against the backdrop of the Revolutionary War:
“God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
These are blood-chilling words if we read and reread them to understand fully their importance. According to Jefferson, Americans should first of all be wary of their government. They should demand to be informed. They should express their dissatisfactions. And, if all else fails, they should be ready to take up arms against a government that has betrayed their trust.
To put Jefferson’s words against the hysteria of the media and private Americans during the past two days is to understand the depth of the American malaise after 9.11.
If Americans do not have the fortitude to suffer a loss such as occurred in Aurora, what will they do if actually attacked again by terrorists or betrayed by their government?
I hate to consider the possible answers.