Gun Violence
May 9, 2009 by Claire Rogers
Filed under Notes on the News
It seems that the NPPC (No Political Profiling Coalition) is upset at a report from the Department of Homeland Security citing that extremist groups may attempt to recruit ranks from disillusioned military veterans. Stephen Gordon of the Liberty Papers wants Janet Napolitano to apologize. That should help. [Click here to read the original story.] Never mind that the report also cited concerns about left-wing extremists such as the most recently declared domestic terrorist and animal rights activist Daniel Andreas San Diego.
Is NPPC’s concern that disillusioned military vets aren’t any more susceptible to such extreme viewpoints than say, the recently jobless or recently homeless? This disturbing video still spooks me:
Hear that patriotic music in the background? See the broad shouldered and highly decorated uniform? Like the coward’s mask? Be afraid, very afraid the message screams. Apologizing for the necessity of the mask, the speaker fashions himself a coward, fearful of his own countrymen. For eight minutes he rambles on about the current threat level to the second amendment. Is this what a true patriot looks like?
As the recent shooting attack at Camp Liberty near Bagdad points out, even current members of the military are suffering from the stresses of multiple deployments just as veterans struggle to assimilate into the mainstream after their service. These are people with disciplined training and a thorough knowledge of weapons, yet some are having difficulty coping and remain untreated for PTSD. Rather than a poor reflection on vets, this is an indictment of the nature of extremism, according to a clarification made by Napolitano.
What is most troubling regarding gun violence is that a recent shooting of three police officers in Pittsburgh was attributed in part to shooter Richard Poplawski’s fear that Obama is going to take his guns away. Had he been watching this video?
Many others are lashing out with violence as well.
“He must have been a coward,” said Binghamton, New York’s Police Chief Joseph Zikuski, referring to Jiverly Wong, who killed 13 people on April 3. Wong had recently lost his job and had been ridiculed for his poor language skills. He barricaded the rear door of the American Civic Association with his car and donned a bullet proof vest before carrying out the assault with two handguns and plenty of ammunition.
The recent rise in gun violence has been blamed on everything from fears of gun restrictions, rising unemployment and reactions to bullying, none of which should have any impact on our military veterans. Except that suicide among soldiers in the Army is at an all time high. They’re also feeling hopeless.
Carrie Constein wrote this letter to the editor of the Arizona Daily Star, published April 28:
After spending four years of my life serving in the 101st Airborne Division —a year of which was in Iraq — I find myself facing bankruptcy. I was injured while serving my country; in fact I was med-boarded out because of my injuries.
I was diagnosed with PTSD while still in the Army. I have fought for almost two years for my benefits. I have had surgery, and because of my injuries, I cannot work. I’m on the verge of losing my car and must live with my parents. I consider myself fortunate to have somewhere to live; many of the vets I see are homeless.
You can multiply my story hundreds of times over. Each time I go to the VA hospital, I see other vets fighting for their benefits. We fought a battle in Iraq, but we didn’t think we’d have to come home and fight again for our rights as veterans.
Many other Iraq war vets have expressed strong tendencies toward violence, feelings of isolation and severe depression. Can we hear this call for help? Does Post Traumatic Stress Disorder count as a disability or not? What options do these military vets have?
Wherever our future domestic terrorists come from, there are many sources to consider. Janet Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security certainly have their work cut out for them.
Claire, it was good to see your excellent journalistic skills featured in JOO once again, reminding me of your talent in telling both sides of the story. And it’s a shame that more people don’t realize the potential threat of ignorance and misinformation when they choose to believe what they want to believe, irregardless of the evidence. Unfortunately, some true-believing political and religious pundits can twist the facts so perversely that they are a threat to our national security. Therefore, I don’t take your objective writing skills for granted.
Clare Rogers,
You are so right about these militants with army rifles. I went to the pan handle of Idaho a few years ago and the place is crawling with just these kinds of guys. They all wander around town dressed in cammies and drive Hummers and old army jeeps. They look and act just like the rednecks down south and some even talk like them. Some of the shops had posters in the windows with really hateful stuff on them. I asked one shop owner why he would put such a thing in his window and he told me Its insurence to prevent my windows from getting broken.
I think there is a real danger in allowing anyone that is not in the military or a policeman to own any kind of assalt weapon. Why are you going to kill a deer with one? What would be left of the deer? Not enough to eat.
If someone belonged to the military then they can get their weapon at the armory or at a army base when they really need it. I”m telling you that some of these guys getting out of Iraq are really totally insane and very scary. But it is not their fault. So what are we going to do about them?