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In those days, school shootings were unheard of.

President Obama and others are apoplectic about the presence of guns in our society, blaming them on the rather recent societal phenomenon of kids gunning down their classmates and teachers when they should be studying. Something has changed, and given that the guns have always been there, it is obvious that it is something else.

Maybe it is time to hold the media responsible for their coverage of these events.

When the perpetrators have their names and faces spread all over the newspapers and TVs, when their lives are publicly examined in detail and they are generally given more coverage than most celebrities receive, it’s easy to see how it might occur to more than one twisted little mind that this is a fast and easy way to achieve celebrity status.

Murders have always gotten major coverage: “If it bleeds, it leads.”

Carnage equals profits. But wouldn’t it be possible for the media to rub gore all over themselves without acting as PR agents for the crazy idiots who commit these crimes?

I’m not suggesting new laws restricting anyone’s First Amendment rights – good heavens, that would be tantamount to infringing upon our Second Amendment rights! Outrageous!

But how about the media take it upon themselves to act responsibly here?

If school shooters were identified only as “…a 16-year-old male student loser,” the attraction would decrease very rapidly.

Let’s issue a challenge to the media to give it a trial period of, say, five years. The worst that could happen would be a few journalists might go nuts.