On Memorial Day, we think of the young we have sent out for generations to legitimate battles and who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms.
But this holiday we realize our freedoms come at a cost at home too.
Elliot Rodger, the suspected Isla Vista shooter, reminds us that every day in America has become a war whether we know it or not. With the unfettered access to own a firearm for the home, or in some cases carry a gun in person, patriotic zealots have misread the Constitution and turned modern domestic life into a war zone.
And when young adults with real problems like Rodger get a hold of guns and see them as therapeutic, we are all in trouble.
Rodger, a student at Santa Barbara City College, was a 22-year-old self-professed virgin who was obsessed and despairing over his continued rejection by blondes from sororities at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
This should not be the reason for mass murder.
It is, however, a reason for something too often left out of the conversation in higher ed.
