Some recent mass shooters are playing a really bad game.
Previous mass murders and school shootings have inspired other young potential mass shooters. And, based on some of the things they have said, we might believe a desire or compulsion to top previous mass murderers’ death tolls drives some of them. It is as if they were playing a video game.
Here are some of the things that the recent potential mass shooters have said.
- Because they “only completed 1 percent of their plan”, a Utah teenager who plotted an attack on his high school said he hated being compared to the Columbine attackers.
- In Florida, a 17-year old planned to bomb and “shoot up” his high school. He told police that he wanted to “break the records of the Columbine and Virginia Tech rampages”.
In 1966, Robert Smith walked into an Arizona beauty school and killed five people with his gun. Later he mentioned how the television coverage of a sniper who had killed fourteen people inspired him. “I wanted to kill about 40 people, so I could make a name for myself,” he said.
One way our society could curb this bad competition if only all news broadcasts and newspapers would refuse to name mass shooters. This refusal would deny mass shooters the attention they seem to crave and help reduce the players in this really bad game.
Should we ask teachers to identify students who have certain characteristics? Then teachers could get these students the help they need and prevent more violence.
Perhaps parents have the best method of all to stop this really bad game. If parents never allowed their children to play violent video games, perhaps children wouldn’t get these crazy ideas in the first place!
Let the encouraging words in these bobbiejrae posts help you
soar like an eagle above life’s storms.
Expect the best from every child.
Do you know how to love your troubles away?
What is the most powerful thing you can do every day?
Why do people do irrational things like shoot guns at others?