Blog Post: Mass Murderers - Nature or Nurture?

When something like the incident in Aurora, Colo. comes along, or shootings at Virginia Tech or Columbine invade the tranquility of our lives, it's difficult to understand these events or to assess them logically. When a mass tragedy occurs, people and the media like to project the reasons it happened or lay blame right away. Sometimes they are chillingly right. Other times they are way off base. But that doesn't stop the theorists.

Often in these case, theories that bounce around are that: guns are the problem, there is not enough security to protect the general public, the violence in the media is to blame, and we aren't raising our kids right just to name a few. There is probably some truth in each of those positions, but I'm not sure any ONE of them can stand alone as the reason these things occur.

Guns. Yes, they are a problem when they get into the wrong hands. I have friends who hunt and like to target shoot. They have no problem respecting guns. But others do. How do we keep guns away from people who have mental or anti-social issues? I don't think we'll ever find a solution to that.

Do we have enough security in place to protect the general public? Well, how much is enough? It's most intense in airports and federal buildings. It seems to work reasonably well there. Do we need that same level of security to shop at Walmart or attend a movie or a sports event? Personally, I'd hate to see things get to that level.

Media violence and it's effect on human beings has been analyzed and debated for years. I have seen as much violence as the next person in the media yet I don't own a gun nor have I any desire to act out or replicate what I see in films. Is that a result of how I was raised or is it just something ingrained in my personality? Do parents raise a child expecting that their child may grow up and do harm to others? I generally don't think so.

Each person grows and develops uniquely and kids from superb families can turn out to have horrendous adult lives. Likewise, kids who come from nothing can achieve great heights and embrace morals and ethics they never got growing up. It's all a conundrum and as long as we are dealing with human behavior...results will be unpredictable. Let's face it, if some parents and friends of mass murderers pay attention they might be able to detect some warning signs. But if the past is any indication, they haven't acted upon them or tried to deter the inevitable. James Holmes Mother, when told by Colorado police of what her son was suspected of doing replied, "You have the right person." Does this mean that she knew he was unstable? Had a propensity for acting out or had anti-social tendencies? I don't know. If his family had an inkling of his potential could they have helped prevent this horrific event? Again, we may never know.

It's unsettling and upsetting anytime something like what happened in Aurora occurs. The talking heads on TV have a field day debating what NEEDS to be done or what SHOULD be done to prevent this kind of thing from happening again. But can things like this be prevented? Human nature is unpredictable and often extreme turns in behavior are undetectable. We, as the general public, are often shown a picture of a person who, before they went on a killing spree, "was a perfectly normal and nice person." If those are the signals  and impressions everyone is receiving from people who reek such havoc then it will always be a challenge to find a way to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.