In Gary Kleck’s essay “There Are No Lessons to Be Learned from Littleton” Kleck draws to a conclusion that I did not expect to read just a week after blogging about Sissela Bok’s essay last week. In it he determines that the media in its quest to make us feel better about terrible tragedies by placing blame. Why take responsibility as a society when we can just as easily point a finger at some media determined entity such as gun controls or even gun shows. Kleck states that those who perpetrate mass murder crimes tend to do so far in advance, and thus stricter gun controls and stiffer laws regarding firearm shows would be largely ineffectual. Due to the premeditated nature of the crime, a perpetrator could plan for months, even years, and in so doing acquiring all of the necessary supplies needed to carry such an act.
Kleck also speaks of “emotional momentum” which is a great way to describe the media hype machine. As soon as the media gets a hold of a catastrophic event or heinous crime, it merely rides the wave, pointing fingers and demanding changes so it doesn’t happen again. They talk to all the foremost authorities and lawmakers to ensure they’re doing their jobs until the next wave comes along, newer and fresher than the one before.
We are urged to focus on the regular everyday violence that occurs which are more often spur of the moment and quite often could be prevented. Kleck concedes that it would be nearly impossible to prevent a mass killing as there are no alarm bells surrounding the perpetrator, often from the middle class, with no criminal record and easy access to powerful weapons. By focusing on preventative measures on smaller, ordinary crimes we may just inadvertently bypass a “freakish event” as he puts it.
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