The absolute last thing I wanted to be writing about is the crazy men who have decided to make our country into their personal shooting range and fire pit.  I don't believe in giving the prepetrators the fame and attention they seek.  But we cannot remain silent on the issues that underlie these acts. 

1) I fully believe that these are the acts of crazy men (people, if you like) -- I mean mentally ill, off their meds or undiagnosed.  There is no way to control the actions of any people let alone the mentally ill -- however, if nothing else, these actions, these tragedies should spur us to do more to bring out of the shadows the issues of diagnosis and treatment of the mentally ill. We cannot shrink away from this, it is squarely on our shoulders.  What a wonderful way to pay tribute to those who have given their lives for us, because there but by the grace of God go any of us, than to find a way to bring compassion to those whose pain provokes their destructive behavior.

2) Just because these actions were taken by mentally ill folks doesn't mean that we cannot pass laws that would restrict the use of certain (if not all) weapons.  It is no excuse to do absolutely nothing.  And to those who would have everyone armed as the solution, I refer you back to #1.  It is not a solution, it is a political stance.  And there is no place for politics.  These tragedies demand pragmatism not dogmatism.

3) Perhaps most important of all, we need to really reflect on the messages we send into the world.  Again, the mentally ill demonstrate the importance of this issue.  If we all think that it is perfectly right, indeed, constitutional, to spew hate, we must acknowledge that we have no way of predicting how our messages will be received.  It reminds me of the parable told in my church when I was a teenager about gossiping.  As her act of contrition (note, of course, that the sinner guilty of gossip was a woman), the penitent was required to go up to the tallest building in her town and cut open a goose down pillow and let the feathers fly.  When she returned to the priest to let him know she had done as he asked, he then told her to go out and collect each and every one of the feathers.  Of course, she could not do that ... and therein was the lesson.  I would extend that to say that we would not only not be able to get back those things we had said, we can also not predict how they will be used by others. 

So, simple statements of "free speech" that include railing with hate against others are not as innocent as the speakers would have us believe.

When is free speech just hate spewing? And when are we going to do something about it?

I don't mean we should take them to court or prosecute them... I mean as a society we should stop giving them the reason for going on and on.  We don't need news organizations whose only content is hate.  We don't need "reality" shows that only make fun of people.  We just don't need to bring that into our lives or the lives of our families.

If we stopped giving them attention, wouldn't they go away? It is a harder pill than just deciding who we think are hate spewers and prosecuting them.... I know.  But I think it is the only way ... we are all potential targets, therefore, we all need to be responsible for what comes out of our mouths and how that might affect others.