Banning guns won't solve our main problem

A lot has been said on tv and elsewhere that we need to have stronger gun control, or maybe ban guns. Somehow this will solve our problems.

And while I do favor (some) gun regulation, banning guns wouldnt stop all violence or have stopped the recent massacres over the pat few years. OJ killed with a knife. Tim McVeigh killed massive amount of people without a gun. Killers are going to kill...and to me that is at the heart of the issue. The culture of this country needs to be changed.

Jamie Foxx, one of the Hollywood's biggest stars, said recently that actors can't ignore the fact that movie violence can influence people. Tom Cruise's new action movie, "Jack Reacher," in Pittsburgh and the family comedy "Parental Guidance" in Los Angeles were postponed. And, Fox pulled new episodes of "Family Guy" and "American Dad" that were to air over the holidays to avoid potentially sensitive content.
This indicates to me that hollywood actually knows its product can affect the hearts and minds of viewers.

If Hollywood can see that film and tv do affect the public after all, then shouldnt they be blamed somewhat? I mean, they are all but admitting their culpability.

Folks, the problem is our culture. Its a violent one. Sure...parents ought to take more responsibility. But clearly many dont. So the question then is...should my kid die because someone didnt teach their kid to respect others? Or because someone didnt monitor their kids activities or the sort of tv or video games they watched...or how long they sat in front of them, or at least made the kid go out and play outside for awhile???

The answer of course is...no. So what is the solution? Some say ban guns. I dont think that solves the main problem, which is the heart and mind of a person. Somehow...our culture needs to change.

I support teaching good citizenship and ethics in schools k-12. While it wont solve ALL violence, it might help. If parents wont teach their kids to be a good person, then schools should.

Washington could enact legislation to reel in gratuitous sex and violence in the media. Even prime-time shows like the cartoons "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" ridicule people of faith, mock authority figures and depict sexual situations and gratuitious violence. Yes, they are just cartoons. But I dont think shows like these are entirely harmless. And they are aired usually in primetime when children are watching. Same goes for games and film.

I'm not calling for entirely banning such entertainment. But we know that many parents just arent going to monitor what their kids watch. They should, but they wont. So telling parents to change the channel really isnt an option and Hollywood knows it.

But the main thing we ought to do to try to stem the hatefulness and disrespect in our culture today is begin teaching kids in our schools good citizenship and ethics.

"Garbage in....garbage out"

 

I hear ya. Imo, the guy that killed those kids in Conn could have done so without a gun. Coulda used a pipe bomb or a knife.

That guy was just plain nuts I think. But still, we arent nice people in this country. I remember when I was a teenager in the mid 70s, we would NEVER have dared call a teach the b-word. Or raised our hand to a teacher. Heck, I was scared of most of my teachers.

I dont think kids have that problem these days. And we hear folks say, "well parents ought to teach their kids...(whatever).

Yeah...they SHOULD. But many dont. Meanwhile those particular kids grow up rude, disrespectful, and have a lack of compassion for anyone other than themselves.

Lack of compassion and lack of respect for others, and for themselves...thats a big problem.