Veteran journalist Dan Rather calls mass shootings like Wednesday's massacre at a social services facility in San Bernardino, Calif. a "public health" issue and says scientists should study the matter as such in hopes of combatting the disturbingly pervasive threat.
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Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Here is Rather's open letter, posted to his public Facebook page"
Another mass shooting. It is not enough to say our prayers are with the victims. It is not enough to to say this is NOT normal. It is not enough to point the usual fingers. This is a public health issue on par with an infectious disease, an epidemic. We need to allow our best scientists to study it as such.
This is a national security issue equivalent to terrorism. It actually is terrorism. We need to let our best minds in law enforcement, sociology, public health and many other professions come up with plans of action and have that done without being hamstrung by petty partisan politics.
Americans are being killed in large numbers. When did we go from a can-do nation to a shrug-our-shoulders nation? This is a problem we can't afford not to solve. It is a contagion that needs a plan of treatment. Now.
When it comes to mass shootings like this there are also a couple more things to also keep in mind: facts at this point are few, the situation fluid, and it is not a time for conclusion-jumping. In these kinds of situations, early reports are frequently wrong. I'm almost certain it will take days, probably weeks, perhaps more to sort out exactly what happened, how, and who was involved. # SanBernardino
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