Statement about the Newtown Tragedy from Alumni of Bard College at Simon's Rock

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http://www.thetwelvefourteen.com/

December 14, 2012 marked the twentieth anniversary of our friends’ murders during a campus shooting. In 1992, the gunman was a gifted eighteen-year-old student who legally purchased a semi-automatic weapon and 200 rounds of ammunition, and proceeded to shoot his way across our campus. He murdered professor Ñacuñán Sáez, Ph.D. and student Galen Gibson. Four additional staff and students were wounded that day, and it is only because his gun jammed that many additional lives were not lost.


The students who survived that day are now around 40 years old; many are parents of school age children. Like the rest of the country, our community is horrified by the Connecticut killings, and feels powerless in the face of such violence. In response, many alumni made donations to the Newtown Youth & Family Services center, a local mental health provider, so that anyone who needs it can get therapeutic help. Collectively, we acknowledge that the way to best deal with trauma is by treating the mental health of those affected.


For twenty years we have witnessed the debate over gun control go nowhere. Now is the time to discuss the entire constellation of issues surrounding the causes of mass murder. We can reduce these instances through a combination of more access to mental health services and less access to weapons. It is currently easier to get a gun than get mental health treatment. We need to help individuals who are hurt, traumatized, and angry so they do not act out their pain with deadly consequences. We must go even further and develop meaningful and effective violence prevention in our communities. We all become victims of the pain caused by such violence and are haunted by the idea that we could have done something if we had acted when the time was right. The time is now.


The undersigned are alumni of Bard College at Simon’s Rock

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(Follow the above link for a complete list of signators.)

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1. Please K&R to give this as much visibility as possible. Thank you. n/t

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2. To donate to Newtown Youth & Family Services center

Please visit the Newtown Youth & Family Services center and donate, if possible. Thank you.

[villager]

3. Somewhat sobering as my eldest just started Bard College this fall.

I realize this is a different campus/college in the Bard College "system," still - everything just seems so close to home.

And I'm in California!

[libdem4life]

4. I agree 110%, but I'm sorry, anyone who believes mental health talk therapy and legal drugs,

however well-meaning and intentional, can put a dent in the insanity of the murky gun/NRA...legal or illegal... underbelly of our outdated Wild Wild West culture...please, think again. We can live with guns in this 21st century and will have to learn how. And we can help our citizens with psychological issues. But neither one will work with 18th century rules and social consciousness.

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5. Kick for daytime viewing. n/t