The Navy Yard Shooting

The recent shootings at the Navy shipyard in Washington is unfathomable. What would bring a man to murder innocent people—individuals whose professions are to maintain the liberty of Americans upon the call of duty, at that—is beyond logical understanding. While people around the world attempt to explain the origin of this tragedy and how this madman was allowed to do what he did, I believe it is important to “consult” Adam Smith and Karl Marx on their takes on the situation.

Adam Smith, in both his discourse on morality and economics, made it clear that he believes in personal responsibility. He found that one should fail or succeed on their own merit and should be held responsible for their actions. I believe he would condemn this man for what he did and merely place all blame on him for what he did to innocent Americans. Marx, on the other hand, is a proponent of community and would most likely argue that we are to blame for this catastrophe. He would probably say that the burdens society put on him provoked this and that we should have made more preventative provisions, which would have, in theory, kept this maniac from access weapons and the shipyard itself.

Whether the man who committed this heinous act was truly insane or not is irrelevant. Something like this, at a military base no less, should never happen. I, personally, see this incident from the points of view of both Smith and Marx and agree with components of each. While I, like Smith, believe in personal responsibility and that this man should be held accountable for his actions, I also find that Marx’s sentiments on communal preparedness hold water, as well: the government should have tighter gun regulations (more specifically, more thorough background checks) that would not allow such a madman to have access to powerful weaponry. In the end, though, whose fault it is or what could have been done to prevent this blasphemy is important. We can only hope that measures be taken to stop incidents like this to occur in the future and that the families involved will be consoled.