If Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast...

If culture eats strategy for breakfast then why on earth do we think we can count on politicans to devise a strategy to stop mass shootings?

Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted: “In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings. On average, across any 48hrs, we also lose… 500 to Medical errors 300 to the Flu 250 to Suicide 200 to Car Accidents 40 to Homicide via Handgun Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.” He is right.

If we make it harder to obtain/own guns, we will all be safer” sounds appealing in the emotional roller-coaster aftermath of any tragedy, but defies logic and intellectual honesty.

What if Congress collectively concluded and all members quoted; “Tragedy is sometimes the price of liberty, but to remove all liberty will not remove all tragedy”. If heavily gun-controlled Baltimore was a country, it would be the world’s third deadliest; just behind socialist, gun-controlled Honduras.

No law can instill the values of a good community, positive childhood, supportive friends or a two parent home. You can’t legislate morality, and to try would undermine the very fabric of our civil liberties.

Let's face it, as an American society we have gotten exactly what we have asked for. The destruction of religious institutions has resulted in a breakdown of the social community construct. The days where we all had to make the daily trip to the local bodega has been replaced by Amazon offering two-hour delivery where you don't have to leave your own home. Don't worry, the mailman will check up on you to make sure you are OK. Oops, that institution is under threat as well.

For those who do not believe in self-defense and have outsourced the safety of their family to law enforcement, the person on the other end of that 911 call is also under threat with little societal support or defense.

Has anyone else noticed the number of people we elect that are lawyers? Do we really think they are going to work in our best interest or rather should we consider that no one is ever going to destroy their own livelihood? Anyone care to guess how much profit the profession of law makes off tragedies?

Background checks could benefit from lots of automation, some thought leadership from the best and brightest minds that the world of IT has to offer but what it doesn't need is additional regulations.

Whether it was Parkland, Dayton or El Paso, the perpetrators of these heinous crimes had many red flags that were reported to various authorities. As a nation, we have a severe lack of policy or framework in terms of how law enforcement follows up on these warnings. We need to fix this and do so in a way that is respectful of another constitutional right known as due process.

Solutions need to be data-driven. Of course, if we look at current data analysis, some will want to take action on incomplete data that directionally demonstrates that a nation of children who grew up in single-parent households faces an increased risk in this regard. Others will stand on their pedestal especially when the data goes against their own world views arguing correlation is not causation. In other words, they want it both ways.

As stated, culture eats strategy for breakfast and therefore we should all agree that government regulation is NOT the solution. There is no law that can regulate the value of life. Only a return to respect for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness can...