Shootings spike needs a face-off

Our current political debate about shootings has taken aim at the supply chain, but we should be disarming the demand.

The new federal offence of 'aggravated trafficking' would prosecute anyone smuggling more than 50 firearms within a six month period. But NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell insists that this firearm smuggling threshold should be halved, in the light of the recent spike of gun fatalities in Sydney's West.

A voice at arm's length to the crime culture has warned about a troubling trend to 'fix' disputes by hiding behind weapons. NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas identified this demand for long range weapons: 'it seems to be more acceptable now for people to get a weapon and go out and shoot them instead of having a physical altercation'.

It is this worrying trend to confront enemies from way beyond arm's length that needs to be arrested.

When one sends a message through bullets in the anonymity of darkness, it is loud but it is not clear.

There is no face to face contact, no reading of non verbal cues such as tone or pitch, no opportunity to clarify misunderstandings, no context to the conversation, and no exposure to the human consequences on the victims and their family. All these human dynamics and cues are blocked out in the blackness.

The trend raised by Commissioner Kaldas evokes the old adage that it is harder to stab a man than it is to shoot him. The 'physical altercation' requires you to be up close and personal, to see the reaction as the knife enters, to see the pain in their eyes, to see the window to their soul and to see your victim as a fellow human. It is no wonder that the trend is to attack from a distance.

But this trend is not peculiar to thugs and was not born in a vacuum. The trend to hide behind shields and indeed shield ourselves from the human consequences is a huge temptation for a generation of screen-agers who 'think with their thumbs' as they send messages through a plethora of social media platforms such as Facebook, SMS messaging and Instagram.

The more they become well versed and reliant on the social media as their primary source of communication, the more averse they are to face to face communication. The more they rely on digital communication, which is fundamentally zeros and ones, the more they are prone to 'non-verbal' Asperger symptoms.

When relationships turn nasty, the (anti) social networks can be transformed into barricades and battle trenches. The 'SEND' button is transformed into a rocket launcher in a computer game where the targets are either not human or dehumanized. The message is transformed into a missile. They fail to face their 'friend' as they give a modern meaning to 'behind their back'.

The dehumanisation and consequential disconnect increases the propensity for angry individuals who hide behind the send button to later hide behind triggers.

Ironically, the message intended by the drive by shootings is 'I have the power to terrorise you', but the action is everything but courageous. The faceless and nameless cowards may intend to silence their targets with fear and fire. But inevitably the result is spiralling counter attacks within a criminal culture that lacks social skills to strip off the armour and physically face the foe. Contrary to the glorified and sexed up dramatisations we see in the popular culture such as the Underbelly genre, such figures should be depicted as cowards to prevent copycat behaviour.