WHAT I MEAN...

I'm not sure I made myself clear in yesterday's letter about the wrong questions and the right questions in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre. I wrote that the most frequently asked question (in the media at least) is "why." Understandably, because in a sense it's the most interesting question. When someone commits a crime of this magnitude, it's natural to want to know why.

But why? is, to my mind, a not very useful question. Even if we know exactly why--if the perpetrator, for example, writes a note saying: this is why I did it; or if he's a member of a terror organization; or a proven madman--even then, the answer doesn't help us. First, it's usually insufficient to account for the action. If we know it was committed by a terrorist, the why? question immediately crops up again: why was this man a terrorist? Then, even if we were to find a sufficient explanation, where does it get us? Does it even help us to prevent such events in the future? Probably not, because the next perpetrator will require different answers as to the why? of his action.

No, the real questions that need answers are the hows. How was this particular deranged man, the Las Vegas shooter, permitted to acquire the weapons to commit his atrocity? How did he manage to acquire such an arsenal (over 40 guns, as I understand it) without being noticed by authorities? How did he manage to gain access to that Las Vegas hotel room with so many lethal guns and so much ammunition? How could his crime have been forestalled? Prevented? (With reasonable regulations on the purchase and ownership of guns, perhaps).

It's the honest answers to these "how" (well, these other than "why"?) questions that would make it possible to address a problem--indeed, an epidemic--whose unimpeded growth is a disgraceful indictment of our society. In this, we are unenviably different from every other advanced nation. And yet, and still, the hows remain inexcusably unanswered; instead we get sidetracked with the "whys." Because they are more fascinating and, perhaps, because they will always be unanswerable.