I have been struggling with this column all week.

Many have commented on the shootings last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and the need for stricter gun control and keeping our children safe.

Personally, while I have no problem with someone owning a gun, I believe we have to make our gun laws stricter; not just with more intensive background checks, but eliminating assault rifles and requiring people to receive proper training in the use of firearms, including passing some type of shoot, don’t shoot course, where they are forced to make decisions whether or not to pull the trigger.

Just for everyone’s information, I did a shoot, don’t shoot course many years ago when I did a story on a women’s self-defense program.

But I’m not going to belabor the gun control issue. My concern this week is about our society.

In the almost 40 years I’ve been writing about the governments, crime and the lighter side of life, I’ve been amazed how fast people have been to resolve a dispute or problem by violence on another person or a group of people. I’ve covered court trials where people have resorted to a gun or a knife to settle an argument when it would have been best to let matters lie.

In the 1980s, I covered a homicide where a man stabbed his son in an argument over how to cook a hamburger. Several years ago, we had a shooting death where two men settled their argument with another man by pulling guns and shooting him. In many shooting or stabbing cases I’ve covered, alcohol was a factor. In others, it wasn’t a factor at all.

But what bothers me most is how many young people have resorted to using a gun to solve their differences. This is not a new phenomenon. In the early 1990s, I covered courts for The Decatur Daily in Decatur, Alabama. At the time, the Morgan County Jail held several teens — all under 18 — on homicide charges for shooting another teen to resolve a difference. We also have Columbine and Luke Woodham and at Pearl High School.

I remember talking with a juvenile probation officer who cited an article that indicated young people have no concept of death, because they watch television and see someone get killed and then see the same person on a different show the next week. It made me think then, and it made me think now.

Maybe it’s time while we take a serious look at gun laws that we look at examples we as a society are setting for our youth. Right now, we’re setting an example of hate and anger, and revenge. In an atmosphere like that, how can a child not be influenced to solve issues by striking out in a violent manner? It’s time we take a look at ourselves as a society and change ourselves while we change the gun laws if we want to help our youth.

John Surratt is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at john.surratt@vicksburgpost.com