In Georgia, a 14-year-old boy killed four people in a school with a firearm. He appears to have had longstanding mental health issues known to police, educators, administrators, and his father, who gave him a loaded firearm. The boy and father face life in prison. This is altogether appropriate. The unasked question, or question behind the question, is how could this have been prevented?
Those on the left, even on the near left, who often have no familiarity with sidearms, shotguns, or rifles, who typically have never owned a gun, never tried to become proficient with a gun, have no interest in target shooting, hunting, or protection with a gun reflexively default to anger at the guns.
From Maine to California, despite the 2nd Amendment guarantee that citizens may “keep and bear arms” and repeated Supreme Court affirmations of that right, the left advances ever more radical anti-gun restrictions, often pushed by Democrat governors and legislatures, including confiscation.
Seldom asked are the tougher questions. Given our constitutional right to gun ownership, intended by the nation’s founders to deter government overreach, how were we once far safer, saw less gun violence, despite higher levels of gun ownership? What were we doing then but not now?
As late as the 1970s, more than half of American families owned firearms. In the early 1960s, three-quarters owned a firearm. In 2019, barely a third of Americans owned a firearm.
While firearm homicide deaths have fallen since 1993, from seven to 3.7 per hundred thousand, most firearm deaths today (54 percent) are suicides.
Moreover, the overall trend of gun-related deaths from the 1950s is upward. In 1950, overall gun deaths in America were 7,500. In 2021, total gun deaths, the majority now suicides, were 48,830.
In the early 1970s, membership in youth civic groups, many teaching rifle marksmanship, and safety, especially the Boy Scouts and 4-H, was at a high water mark, five million Boy Scouts, hundreds of thousands of 4-H members, all learning civic skills, responsibility, and life lessons.
In 2024, we have barely a million boys in scouting, and 176,000 girls integrated into that program. Girl Scout and 4-H numbers are harder to nail down, although lessons are similar. Scouts and 4-H members still learn marksmanship, responsible firearm use – and how to care for each other.
Likewise in the 1970s, many American kids learned responsible gun use – just as we learned responsible driving, civic, moral, and health lessons – from parents and in schools, plus programs like NRA Safe Hunter training. We also learned how to treat people, peers included, with respect.
Speaking from personal experience, my youth included all those programs, Boys Scouts through Eagle, riflery merit badge at summer camp, weekly competitions with .22s, as well as 4-H fairs, competitions, and service lessons. We also had church school and NRA Safe Hunter training.
On the firearms side, friends and I learned – and practiced – with rifles and shotguns, many becoming expert marksmen by their mid-teens, high responsibility based on the expectations of our parents, grandparents, teachers, administrators, and law abiders. We knew to be careful.
When responsibility is taught, it becomes self-reinforcing. When others expected us to learn maturity, we started to think we owed it to ourselves. We felt trusted, knowledgeable, and responsible – first because they expected it of us, then because we expected it of ourselves.
So, what is not happening now that was back then? Adults taught kids to be their best, to learn from their mistakes, and to respect others. They taught civic responsibility, not judgment, how to trust and be trusted, and how to handle firearms as we handle cars, trucks, boats, tractors, snowmobiles, saws, axes, knives, and poisons of all sorts – with care and respect. We were taught respect by being respected, society-wide respect for laws, rules, and the lives of others.
How do we best prevent gun violence then? It is not about being angry at the guns, not about confiscation any more than confiscating cars, boats, saws, and the like for misuse makes sense.
The real answer is returning to respect, teaching what it means to be a good citizen, trite as that sounds. We now have 73 million Americans under 18, barely a million with firearms training. We are teaching kids that guns are bad and should be feared, thus we throw the door wide for abuse.
The real answer to preventing gun violence – violence in general – is to reaffirm what it means to be a law-abiding citizen, responsible, looking out for others, living up to expectations set by adults, and setting them for ourselves. Adults have to model respect for laws, not the reverse. Yes, we have to stop terrorists, watch for mental health issues, and stop drug trafficking, bullying, and demonizing – often tied to gun violence. But the real problem is bigger, and we need to say so and fix it. The answer is not being angry at guns. It is taking responsibility for the unhealthy state of our society, and resolving to restore ourselves to health. It can be done. We had it once.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
Well RBC,
It seems this kid raised enough of a red flag to warrant an investigation by the FBI long before this shooting occurred. Local police officials were also notified. The father was also interviewed and warned that his son should NOT have access to guns. The father supposedly agreed and since the FBI nor local police didn’t have enough evidence at the time that the son posed a credible threat of imminent danger, the matter was closed from the FBI’s perspective.
Obviously, this tragedy was the result of lax parental supervision from all the accounts to date. So, it is understandable that the father has also been charged at this point. If the father knew his son has mental problems and didn’t ensure his son could NOT gain access to the guns in the house, then yes, the father bares some legal responsibility for his son’s subsequent actions. This is NOT a gun issue. This is an issue where the parent failed to properly supervise his child and get him the necessary mental help to ensure he did NOT pose a threat to himself or others.
Obviously, the Democrats will focus solely on gun control, because they want the general populous completely disarmed so they can’t resist the Democrats’ ultimate agenda for the country. The Democrats are no different than any other socialist / Marxist in that respect. It’s vastly easier to ensure control of a populace that can no longer defend its rights and freedoms, if they are stripped of any means to defend themselves. So, the Democrats are simply promoting policies that are in the best interest of their political party for permanent control of the country over the long run.
Respect and responsibility two qualities at the foundation of a civilized society and at the foundation of doing things intelligently as well. There is a great advantage in knowing that this society was once healthier than it is at present, as you stated in the last paragraph Robert , meaning that there is a map of sorts to refer to in order to make the ways of. thinking healthier , looking at that map ,that way of thinking and doing things can be established again I do believe. Intelligent people are going to have realistic ideas and views about guns and self defense , Constitutional rights and will not put blame for crime on inanimate objects . The betterment of life is achieved by having reverence for principles such as faith, family and freedom . And realizing that if there is something not right , not fair, not up to standard then it is time to fix what needs to be fixed, and be diligent about it . And to remember the value of having a sense of purpose that involves Responsibility , Respect , Courage and Integrity. Great article Robert, it makes profound statements about the connection between guns,the right people have to defense ,to have a gun if they choose to , and the understanding that life goes far better when there is respect and responsibility in abundance and practiced regularly.
The minute the Left (Democrates) gets that into their thick craniums the better society will be. But then they don’t care. Their aim has always been, and is to disarm the American population so they become as manageable as the sheeple they already control.
I spoke with my son, the felon, about gun access just this last week. He agreed 100% with me that he and his “friends” could get any kind of weapon they wanted, legal or not. So more gun laws are not going to make any difference to them. I completely agree with this article that we need to get back to previously held morals and expectations, and make mental health treatment more accessible and mandatory for some.
All the issues discussed by the author are part of a long-term plan by the Left to destroy this country from within. The plan is to slowly tear down our society, culture, and economy, one little step at a time, until the country implodes and falls apart. If you don’t want to believe that, I suggest you take a step back and take a good hard look at how this nation has deteriorated since, say, the 1960s. This is not random – it is being orchestrated.
Sandy Hook anyone? The son was mentally ill, mother took him to shooting range and left the weapons out in the open. Who is the guilty one? Since she was also dead her culpability was never suggested The guy who shot Gabby Guilford was fine till he started using drugs at 14 More gun laws will accomplish nothing Public hanging of the drug makers and suppliers would be the step in right direction. .But that would be barbaric and we are polite people God only knows what came into the country since the border has been abolished thanks to Biden and Harris No one is even looking in their direction since they have Trump in their cross hairs.
Whenever there’s a school shooting there will always be people asking, “Why”? In the recent shooting in Georgia, perhaps this will explain part of it, ‘Marcee Gray, mother of suspect Colt Gray, texted her sister that she had notified the school counselor that “it was an extreme emergency and for them to go immediately and find [her son] to check on him,” according to text messages obtained by the Post. The outlet also obtained a call log from the family’s phone plan showing a 10-minute phone call placed at 9:50 a.m. from the mother’s phone to the school, 30 minutes before the Sept. 4 shooting started. A school counselor told Marcee during the call that her son was talking about a school shooting, according to Annie Brown, Marcee’s sister. Text messages obtained by the Post from Brown show that the family was in contact with the school about Colt’s mental health a week before the shooting. Brown also told a family member that Colt was having “homicidal and suicidal thoughts,” according to the outlet.” In my opinion the answer to “Why” is…Because no one who should have done something cared enough to do anything.
One of the “brainwash techniques” of the Obama administration was to stop informing citizens about practical uses of firearms for home defense.
Their most successful act in this effort was, simply, to stop the periodic Department of Justice report that detailed firearms use stats in the US… which included stats how often GOOD people used firearms to protect themselves, and, that it was actually a GOOD idea for many households to have a properly-stored firearm on hand, for home defense.
This Justice Department report also informed citizens of the risks of violent crime in many locations.
The last year this report was published was 2009. Obama killed it to hide the truth from us… NOT to protect us.
It’s called “mental health”! It isn’t discussed these days and is definitely not included in college nursing and medical colleges to the extent it was once taught. As a student nurse I was required to study at a state hospital for three months. Guns don’t kill anyone! It is the person pulling the trigger. We aren’t paying attention to one another by just offering a smile or a pleasant hello. All that is looked upon with a frown.
I grew up in the best of times and continue to be thankful for my caring parents, teachers and friends.
In 1978, I used to drive my 4X4 truck with a scoped hunting 30-06 rifle + ammo on the back window gun rack to high school… in California! I wasn’t the only one and it never occurred to anyone to shoot up the school. These shooters are little nothings who think being “notorious” makes them famous. But what is mostly common with them is how PREVENTABLE it all seems after the fact… I rented a room from a friend while in school who had small children and I kept my gun locked up!
Truth
Democrats are always “progressing” to more government overreach,so they see no reason anyone would want to protect themselves against government.Government is what Democrats worship and look to,as their savior.
All they would need to do is publicly hang a few of these shooters.That would greatly discourage anyone from doing a mass shooting.
Possibly getting control of the shooter type games that most young males play, and making them available only to those 18 and older would help alleviate some of the problem. To them it’s nothing, if you get killed in the game, just reset. There are no consequences. Just start over. When my son was young enough to get a hunting license, I took him out with his shotgun and put up plywood. Had him shoot it. The damage that was done, really impressed him. Since that time he has taught his kids to respect life and to have respect for the firearm. Too many of today’s parents are too absorbed in their phones to even want to teach their kids. Schools surely aren’t doing it. They don’t have a clue anymore what respect is.
Well done sir, this article should be mandatory reading or listening by all politicians, government officials, teachers and parents. I am going to yry and show this to as many people as possible, thank you sir for writing it.
Approximately 42,000 people die in traffic accidents every year, but no one has EVER suggested banning cars. Especially teens: They can drive and vote but not own a gun? Europe mostly banned guns and now the criminals use knives to kill people.
Once again I must agree with you. People need to wake up. (I admit I had training in High school with a gun range). Those days are gone and need to return.
First off, I am not a fan of guns but… the lefts insistence on blaming guns is one of the most idiotic things they do from a vast quantity of idiotic things they do. But it really is a power grab for them. Blaming the tool used is just plain stupid. If I have a nail sticking out that needs to be hammered and I don’t have a hammer, I will use a shoe or some other tool to get the job done. The point is that the gun is only the preferred tool and if these loons want to kill, they will use a different tool if needed. My wife has a pen pal in England where they have been having knife murders. He tells her that they need knife control! I am not joking. What happens when they have knife control and the killer uses a brick? Will they need brick control and so on. How about focusing on the real issue, the killer and not the tool.
There are so many things that have factors for all of this. One is most people these days do not bother to raise their own children. Somehow it has become the job of teachers. Next, gun safety and responsibility is rarely taught in schools even though some states still have laws on the books that students should not gain their high school diploma without passing a gun education class. There seems to be a HUGE connection between bullying and suicide… If you know or think your child has been bullied, lock up your guns even if your child has always been a responsible one and you have taught them to respect the weapons. Law givers are always working to take weapons away from the classic, responsible, citizen. When this happens the US will go down from the inside out. Power corrupts and our forefathers knew this. What ever happened to “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED”?
That has always been the case: It is the person that pulls the trigger that bares the responsibility, not the weapon. For that matter, even kitchen knives have to be banned. We have known about cases all over the world when a person has killed up to six people with a knife. It is what we have in our brains what matter, not the skin color, sex preference, or political affiliation what dictates our conduct. Not until we take personal responsibility for our actions, we will be able to achieve some degree of civilization. But governments, especially this one, has made a point of taking responsibility off of our hands. They do likewise: blame Trump for everything that is bad during these past four miserable years.
Disarm the people.The cry of tyrants,the creed of slaves.
People should be reminded that Japanese feared Americans’ household guns during WWII.
And perhaps this can be mentioned in debates: Chinese students have mandatory training of using rifles even though they have total gun control. Many of them go on serve as civilian guards in factories and villages. With the open border, we can’t be sitting ducks. Speaking of which, an old tv series, The Rifleman gave a few excellent episodes to show this problem, so did the series decades later, Golden Girls.
RBC,we have spoken before.Myself former member,Royal Air Force.Life member NRA. Proud father of a combat marine and now SWAT Offi cer.And all because we followed the tenets outlined in your article.When I figure out how I’ll sent that copy of the little church at Blaydon.
His shooters name was colt too.
murica
Nationwide slavery is the objective of the US Democratic Party. It ALWAYS has been.
No. Democrats are our problem.
Great article. In the distant past our government allowed hospitals to hold weak-minded/crazy people. It was decided that it was more economical to medicate than to hospitalize. I have been around many people who would quit their meds because “I don’t feel like myself.” We would all be safer if they were in a padded room. There is little help available to families burdened with a simple, or dangerously minded individual.