A wake-up call to respond to the increasing barrage of gun violence came from Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm, keynote speaker for the Nov. 3 seminar on gun control in America held at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center at Wayne State University.

Citing the recent shootings at a daycare center and Columbine High School, Granholm said this is a time of extraordinary evil and people must respond with extraordinary vigilance. She continued that citizens bear responsibility for the response, not just law and government. "People are like the walking numb, desensitized," she said, " but they cannot afford to blink and turn away."

Violence is pervasive in our society, she said, explaining that we need only to compare U.S. video games, television and Internet with other countries to recognize how many more violent messages the United States has. Research indicates the U.S. population has increased by 40 percent, but violence increased by 500 percent.

"A strong correlation between television and violence exists," she says. "Studies show that reality police programs create less impact than glamorous cartoons and videos which feature neat, bloodless victims and perpetrators who are fun and likable."

The seeds of violence are planted long before a person picks up a gun, she said and went on to clarify. "Research indicates that by the age of three years, messages of remorse, violence and apathy have set brain patterns in youngsters.

Granholm suggested that perpetrators get a short cut to fame from the notoriety created by media-publicized episodes. She recommended that names not be used, possibly reducing copycat events. "This no way to achieve notoriety."

The attorney general opposes changes to the existing gun laws which would allow guns to be more accessible to people, and she raises other questions about gun violence.

"Inability to feel remorse causes people to hate and feel violent, but what leads them to experience violence? Are guns at the root of the problem?" she asked.

Granholm quoted Martin Luther King Jr. "Violence is the language of the unheard." Feelings of powerlessness initiate acts of violence, she stated, and the use of guns tips the scale of power.

Granholm's final recommendation was for all of us to listen attentively to the unheard, to share love and respect with each person we contact every day. "Extraordinary fear requires extraordinary courage; extraordinary evil requires extraordinary vigilance," she said.

The Center for Legal Studies sponsored the seminar that also featured other national experts who presented various perspectives on gun control in America.

For more information call the center at (313) 577-3947.