Sandy Hook lessons

This letter is to criticize The Spokesman-Review for selecting page 12 rather than page 1 of its Nov. 23 edition as the place to publicize a report documenting significant causative factors associated with the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. The report, coupled with an appropriate headline, should have been placed on page 1, given the nation’s clamor for increased gun control in light of this and many other school shootings.

The Connecticut Office of Child Advocates identifies the shooter’s parents as significant contributors to the shooter’s decision to commit the massacre.

The Sandy Hook shooter had significant mental problems and was supposed to be taking prescription medications. His mother supported his resistance to medicate himself and kept him at home from school, where he was surrounded by an “arsenal of firearms and spent long hours playing violent video games.”

In short, “his parents and educators contributed to his social isolation by accommodating – and not confronting – his difficulties.”

Restricting access to guns is too simplistic a solution to the problem. Solutions will likely be found through more emphasis on an understanding of mental illness and a strengthening of the traditional family unit.

Gordon Spunich

Spokane Valley