A 14 Year Old Beating His 56 Year Old Neighbor with a Hammer

Auburn (Maine) Police Department

“AGGRAVATED ASSAULT INVESTIGATION: Auburn Police are investigating an attack that has left a 56 y/o man hospitalized. On April 5th at approximately 7:30pm, officers responded to a residence on Huard Avenue for a report of a man who had been assaulted with a hammer.

During the course of the investigation, a 14y/o male neighbor of the victim was identified as the suspect and was taken into custody. The 56y/o male victim was transported to Central Maine Medical Center and is in satisfactory condition after undergoing surgery.

While both the victim and suspect were familiar with each other, living in the same neighborhood, this appears to be a random attack. The 14y/o suspect does have a past history of violent outbursts. The suspect, charged with Elevated Aggravated Assault and Attempted Murder is currently being held at the Long Creek Youth Development Center pending an initial court appearance.

The incident remains under investigation by the Auburn Police Department.”

Teen accused of beating man in random hammer attack – WMTW

 

Think things like this don’t happen in Maine? Think gun control will keep you safer? A 14 year old male beating his 56 year old neighbor with a hammer, not because of a dispute but as a random attack.

Can we stop talking about placing more limitations on not just law abiding gun owners but law abiding citizens at large, no amount of governed law stops violence. If there was just a law that controlled who could by hammers, it would have failed to do anything to stop this attack. Weapons are tools and like all other tools they are used at the discretion of the user, good, bad, or indifferent.

If we really want to solve this country’s “violence problem” then we need to look at the causes not the symptoms. It is not something we are ready to do, we do not do it in medicine, and we don’t do it in our society either.

We need to start talking about why are kids and most adults are in so much pain that they act out with such violence. Violence is a tool of desperation, not the tool of the strong or strong minded.  Carl von Clausewitz  is quoted with “War is the continuation of politics by other means.” Which to me says that even war is an action of desperation, when all other avenues have failed even nations resort to violence. This is the fundamental flaw in the logic of people clambering for more laws and restrictions. As long as there are people there will be violence, not because people are violent but because there will always be desperation. If we think of it rationally, does it make sense to commit armed robbery? No of course not, just from a risk/reward standpoint the chances of what could happen greatly outweigh the few hundred dollars that you could get. You could be killed, attacked, arrested, charged  and jailed for a few hundred dollars. This is not the act of someone being rational it is someone desperate for something, money, power, the rush of adrenaline, and others.

When something horrible happens, as empathetic human beings it is natural for us to want to do something. How many times have we heard the “we have to do something” reason for a law being made, it is usually followed up by “if it saves one life” and “for the children.” Because doing something makes us feel better even if it is completely ineffective and misguided. We want to treat a symptom and the diseases goes merrily on. Laws do not stop crimes, they only provide an avenue for punishment to impose one group of peoples will onto another. How many laws are broken when someone comes into a school and starts murdering people with a firearm? We get the whole spectrum, federal laws, state laws, and local ordinances it is a perfect hat trick. So how does breaking 134 laws instead of 133 laws stop anyone? It doesn’t, desperate people will do desperate things.

If we want to fix the problem, it will not be easy, it can not be forced, it can not be legislated from any level, and it can not be a control function. We can try to fix it in our own homes and with the people we care about. However we still need to be prepared for when the unforeseen and unplanned happen and people use violence against us. We need to do so ethically, morally, and legally.

–Be Safe