A great time was had by all at the Ferry Point Civic Association block party on Saturday, August 17.
Photo courtesy of the Ferry Point Civic Association
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A 44 UGUST 23-29, 2019 BTR
Action
Association
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
The human tragedies that
unfolded in El Paso and Dayton
refl ect how our society has
become unhinged, loosened
from all bounds of human decency
and community standards.
Rational discourse was
the fi rst victim. The heartbreaking
loss of life was an almost
inevitable result.
Despite the presence of
guns in private ownership
throughout America’s history,
mass shootings are a 21st century
phenomenon. Tevi Troy,
writing in National Affairs,
notes:
“ … mass shootings are a
late-20th-century American
phenomenon, with a persistent
and frightening increase
in regularity in the early 21st
century…The fi rst mass shooting
in the collective American
memory was the University of
Texas at Austin shooting in
August 1966.”
Troy reports that was the
only mass shooting in the
Johnson Administration.
Three occurred under Reagan,
four under G.H.W. Bush,
eight under Clinton, eight
under G.W. Bush, and 24 under
Obama. Six have now occurred
during the Trump
presidency.
What has changed in America?
Democrats blame access
to weapons that can fi red rapidly.
Republicans blame untreated
mental illness. The
problem is, statistics don’t
bear either out.
Alex Yablon, writing in
The Trace, reports that “According
to the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives, there are roughly
638,000 machine guns in circulation
in the United States,
a number that includes both
assault rifl es like the M16 and
more novel products, like the
Uzi submachine gun.” With
that many automatic weapons
in circulation, one would
expect a far higher number of
mass shootings if the weapon
was the cause.
What about mental illness?
A study in the Annals of Epidemiology
reported in Science
Directfound that “Media accounts
of mass shootings by
disturbed individuals galvanize
public attention and reinforce
popular belief that
mental illness often results
in violence. Epidemiologic
studies show that the large
majority of people with serious
mental illnesses are never
violent…” In the wake of the
Newtown tragedy, “…mental
health stakeholders encountered
a painful dilemma. The
goal of keeping guns out of the
hands of seriously mentally
ill individuals was emerging
as perhaps the only piece of
common ground between gun
rights and gun control proponents;
a post-Newtown public
opinion poll found that a majority
of Americans across the
political spectrum favored ‘increasing
government spending
to improve mental health
screening and treatment as a
strategy to prevent gun violence.’
But mental health experts
and consumer advocates
strongly rejected what they
saw as the scapegoating of
people with mental illnesses—
the vast majority of whom, epidemiologic
data shows, will
never act violently toward others—
as if people with mental
health disorders were somehow
responsible for gun violence
in general.”
Obviously, keeping weapons
in general out of the hands
of those with violent mental
disorders is a good idea, but it
is not the total answer, not by
a long shot. Neither is abolishing
the Second Amendment.
It is absurd to believe that an
individual willing to commit
murder, assault, rape or
robbery will be deterred by
statutes prohibiting gun ownership,
although some may
argue that in the case of automatic
weapons, it may reduce
somewhat the number
of victims in any one particular
incident, assuming the
perpetrator, lacking access to
a repeating weapon, doesn’t
use an even more dangerous
instrument such as a home
made bomb.
The answers to what caused
the mass shooting phenomenon
to increase are ones that
will make many uncomfortable.
By the 1990’s, two events
occurred.
The fi rst: America became
an unquestioned superpower,
and for an all-too-brief period,
the only true superpower.
There was no longer an external
danger allowing those
predisposed to hate to see “us”
as one side, and some other,
external, force as the enemy.
Rather than Redcoats, Nazis,
or Soviets as the bad guys,
some, with a predisposition towards
violence and animosity,
began to view some faction of
fellow residents of this nation
as the target of their venom.
Hillary Clinton, during her
presidential bid, answered a
question about whom she considered
the “enemy” by saying,
not poverty, racism, terrorism,
but “Republicans.”
The normal cultural and
moral restraints that would
have had some infl uence preventing
acting out on no longer
held much sway, because
they were no longer taught.
Paul Barnwell, writing in
The Atlantic,
“…my students seemed to
crave more meaningful discussions
and instruction relating
to character, morality, and
ethics, it struck me how invisible
these issues have become
in many schools. By omission,
are U.S. schools teaching their
students that character, morality,
and ethics aren’t important
in becoming productive,
successful citizens?…
Talking with my students
about ethics and gauging their
response served as a wakeup
call for me to consider my own
role as an educator and just
how low character development,
ethics, and helping students
develop a moral identity
have fallen with regard to debate
over what schools should
teach. The founders of this
country, Jessica Lahey wrote
in The Atlantic, would ‘likely
be horrifi ed by the loss of this
goal, as they all cite character
education as the way to create
an educated and virtuous citizenry.’
”
Schools have eliminated
teaching the virtues of both
a uniting form of patriotism,
and any discussion of the Judeo
Christian ethic that is the
foundation of American society.
Our media substantially
overlooks, and even mocks,
any concept of traditional morality.
On top of that, the concept
of value judgement, that
there is, indeed, such a thing
as right and wrong, has vanished
from mainstream discussion.
Perhaps, in a nation of
327 million citizens, it is inevitable
that some truly evil
or insane individuals will
be present and act out. The
lack of any grounding in appropriate
ethics makes that
inevitable.
BY JOANN SOHMERS
On Saturday, August 17 our
association held its annual
block party. It was great to see
all our neighbors and friends
at this event. A great time was
held by all who attended. I
couldn’t have asked for better
weather and it was wonderful
to see the children enjoying every
minute of playtime, music
and food. The adults seemed
very pleased as well. Thank
you to all who made this event
a success.
A special thanks to Farrah
Rubin from Councilman Mark
Gjonaj’s offi ce who stopped by
with popcorn treats for the
kids. Unfortunately Mark was
not able to attend as he was
away on business. Every year
Senator Jeff Klein would come
to our block party and we appreciated
his visits. He is no
longer our representative as
we have a new senator for our
area who is Senator Alessandra
Biaggi. Her offi ce mentioned
she might attend our
block party, but unfortunately
she did not show up. Although
we are a small community, it
seems as though we have become
much sought after. We
looked forward to our local
politicians attending functions
like this to get to know
our community, what our
needs are and how they can
help us.
You can contact me by
email at JSohmers@gmail.
com with any questions or
concerns. Thank you to all
that submitted our membership
dues. A subscription to
the Bronx Times will be sent
to your mailing address. For
those wishing to join , the
fee is $15 for the year, which
includes the Bronx Times
weekly newspaper
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