Regarding gun control, no matter which side a person chooses, he or she will be wrong to a large group of people. There are powerful arguments on both sides of the aisle.

The right’s position can be summarized by Thomas Jefferson’s quote on gun control: “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms … disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one.”

When a drug is banned, people do not cease to use it. They either find new ways to obtain it or find alternative substances to achieve the desired effect. Similarly, it’s safe to assume people who wish to do harm will find alternative ways to satisfy their nefarious desires. But just because reducing gun violence is a difficult subject, that does not mean we can do nothing and allow these tragedies to continue.

Although no one expected this midnight massacre to occur, for many such as myself, it seemed like only a matter of time until such a tragedy happened. This might seem exceptionally melancholy and dramatic, but if one looks at the rate of gun crimes in America, it is easy to see how this occurred again.

This is an argument on which I hope even those on the left can see eye to eye with me; one of the many reasons for the call for gun regulation is that these sorts of things happen regularly, and they do not seem to be going away. Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson and now this.

This is human nature in action. The quest for attention — be it through destruction and violence, or invention and creation — is what has driven mankind throughout our existence and is what has caused us to evolve. Sociologists agree that it is not simply the end result of creating or destroying that makes us act, but it is also the attention we receive for said action.

Many have speculated that is what motivated James Holmes to commit this crime, to go from a brilliant, young, law-abiding citizen to a mass murderer. Andy Warhol once said that everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Holmes has certainly had his time in the spotlight — much more than he deserves.

What does this say of us as a people? Ronald Reagan once said, “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”

Should we then just blame Holmes and Holmes alone? Should we simply accept this crime as an inevitable example of human nature? If not, then who else is to blame and what can we do?
I, along with everyone else, do not have the answer for what to do about gun violence, for there is no silver bullet.

History and common sense tell us we cannot get rid of them, just as we cannot simply eradicate any other evil mankind has created. They are here, and they are here to stay. We can only debate what to do about them.

One of my favorite quotes, “You can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails,” seems to apply here. We cannot change human nature — every idealistic attempt to reform humans has been met with disastrous consequences — but we can change our laws. However, we must move forward precariously as we discuss changing laws to meet man’s unchanging nature.

This is not a column to express a loss of faith in humanity; I believe we must walk a fine line between living and acting as a people and taking accountability as individuals. For that reason, we should think about this incident and question whether this was an isolated incident, an unfortunate example of human desperation or a result of a twisted society.

The answer to this question determines how we should move forward as a nation. We must either bitterly accept this tragedy as part of life, or we must examine why it happened so we can prevent events like this in the future.

The pursuit of improvement is how we have risen as a species, and it is how we will move forward solving today’s issues. It is because we are not and never will be perfect that makes us human. That is why I believe the greatest purpose of a person’s life is to improve himself or herself. Progress is humans’ distinctive mark that sets us apart from the animals. For we are not gods, but then again, nor are we beasts, and our society should reflect that.

Jameson Joyce is a guest columnist at The State News and a James Madison sophomore. Reach him at joyceja1@msu.edu.