The Newtown tragedy: One possible cause

Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman print an editorial titled “No more Newtowns,” on Dec. 16. I agree with the general ideas presented and yes, this whole situation is very complex with many possible reasons why the shooter did what he did. Gun control should be one of the topics discussed, but that is not, in my opinion, either the cause of the situation or even one of the main problems.

A story NBCnews.com on Monday, “Pro-gun Dems warm to tighter laws, but GOP stays silent,” cites poll results taken after the Connecticut shooting that states that “more Americans — 49 percent — said the most effective way to curb gun violence is through enforcing existing laws, versus 32 percent who favor passing new laws.”

The article continues, “That said, 52 percent of Americans now believe that the recent shootings are emblematic of larger problems in society.”

The Frontiersman editorial mentions what I believe is the major problem — mental health. If you listened to President Obama’s speech in Newtown Sunday night, you’ll remember he mentioned having to deal with four separate shooting incidents (Phoenix, Aurora, Portland and Newtown) over the last four years. What he didn’t mention was that in every case, the shooter had some significant level of mental disorder that had been either ignored by those around him or, at least, left untreated.

Connecticut has some of the strictest gun control laws in the United States. The shooter had been denied the ability to purchase a firearm three days before he went on his killing spree. He had to murder his mother and steal her legally owned guns before he could go on his rampage. How would another gun law have prevented this? News reports over the past week have pointed out this young man’s mental instabilities and the lack of any form of treatment. Might that not be a greater contributor to the tragedy?

I do not want to make light of this horrible situation, but Cain killed Abel with a rock. Should we consider banning or registering rocks, or would it be more appropriate to address the behaviors of those misusing these inanimate objects before we think that banning an object will make the world a safe place?

Since gun control will be a necessary topic in this national discussion, we need to make sure we are all using and understanding terminologies correctly. The editorial states, “An undeniable common denominator in mass shootings has been high-capacity, military-grade automatic weapons. These are not the firearms of choice for a weekend moose hunt. Their sole purpose is to kill a lot of people quickly.”

This is not correct.

By definition, an automatic weapon keeps firing as long as the trigger is held down — a machine gun, if you will. This class of firearms has been very tightly controlled by the federal government since the early 1930s. The proper term is “semi-automatic,” which means one trigger pull equals one shot. To shoot again, the trigger must be pulled again. The military lookalike firearms have become a favorite for predator and deer hunting with the appropriate caliber versions. With some of the newer large-caliber cartridges developed for the AR-15, like the 450 Bushman and 50 Beowulf, that rifle would make a perfect choice for a weekend moose hunt.

Throughout our history, the main battle rifle of each generation has gone on to become very popular with the civilian populace because many used it during their military service. To my knowledge, only two rifles have not been made available to the public — the M-14 and the M-16 — because they were both designed as full-automatic weapons. However, civilian-legal semi-auto versions were developed and are routinely found at Camp Perry military-style rifle matches, among other uses.

I also heard a news report Monday morning where the reporter spoke of the “arsenal of automatic weapons” the shooter used in the school shooting. What constitutes an arsenal? If you own a shotgun for hunting grouse and waterfowl, a handgun for personal protection, a .22-caliber rifle for plinking and hunting snowshoe hares, and a large-caliber rifle for moose hunting, does that constitute an arsenal? The Connecticut shooter only had three firearms and you have four — do you own an arsenal?

We need to stay rational and avoid the use of inflammatory words and statements in the course of this discussion.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.