I hold my breath every time I turn on the news after a mass shooting.

It’s frustrating to hear people who have never held a firearm in their life incite fear in the national populace against something, which when handled properly, is as safe as any other tool.

I carried an M-16 on and off for four years in the Marines and, surrounded by hundreds just like them, I witnessed no mass shootings.

Why? Because everyone handling these actual assault weapons was trained and had respect for the rifles. We have mass shootings in America because we have lost our respect for firearms as a people. Without guns, we would have never defeated arguably the greatest empire of all time (The British Empire), defeated Fascism and Nazism or became the world’s greatest superpower.

Without guns, none of this would have been possible. Something within the past 70 years has caused us to go from a nation who loves her guns, handles them properly and provides legislation to protect gun owners, to a nation filled with fear, ignorance, embarrassment and hatred. All of these new found changes in America put us in the situation we are in today, and in my opinion, bad parenting is to blame.

As a nation, we took away our right to physically discipline our kids. As a generation, we were brought up being told how special we are or how our feelings mattered. The reality is, none of that matters. We didn’t defeat the Nazi’s with feelings. We defeated them with guns carried by men who weren’t afraid of criticism for what they were doing.

The tragedy in Parkland happened because people were afraid to come forward with information about the shooter in fear of being given a label, and when they did, they were ignored.

We’ve taken away the power away from ourselves to do the right thing even though we will be criticized and labeled. By creating a generation of immature and self-obsessed youth that are out of touch with reality, we have created this paradox of mass shootings.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at Japan. Japan as a nation is extremely collectivist, and has virtually no mass shootings. The Japanese people police their own, and the nation garners the highest level of respect. In America today, we’ve lost that respect for ourselves.

The best way to stop mass shootings in schools would be to hire armed security for schools. We have many unemployed veterans who would be perfect for this role. Along with an increase in security, we must make it harder for the mentally ill to obtain firearms. We have to make it possible for a person to step in and revoke someone’s Second Amendment right if they are a danger to themselves or society.  It’s important to start to fight back against our politically correct culture and to not be afraid of criticism.  If you see something, report it.

Mot importantly, however, is to make it easier for the average law-abiding citizen to purchase firearms, not harder. By creating more restrictive gun legislation, you take the guns from everyone but the criminals. Like it or not, guns in America aren’t going anywhere. The solution to this madness is to arm more people so that if needed, they can respond to the threat instead of lying in wait to be killed.  One final note, there’s evidence to show outlandish media coverage actually causes a rise in mass shootings. You want to stop them? Stop victimizing and promoting the shooter.