Mall Disturbance And Arrests – Who’s Responsible?

Saturday night the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge was evacuated due to a disturbance that resulted in the arrests of six teens.  Businesses in the Mall were forced to close early and contraflow traffic was instituted to move patrons out of the area.  There are reports that messages urging teens to converge on the Mall of Louisiana were posted on some social media sites and approximately 200 teens were in the Mall when the fights broke out.

I question who will be blamed for the incident?  Will the call go out for social media sites to be banned to prevent future violence?  Will teens be banned from shopping at all malls or just the Mall of Louisiana?  Will people be banned from having children that will grow up to be teens?  I know I'm going a bit over the top here but it seems like every time there is an incidence of violence involving more than two people there is a national outcry for more restrictions.  Obviously we can't put restrictions in place for every eventuality but we can learn to take personal responsibility for our actions.  The teens that were arrested are 13, 14 and 15 years old and obviously should know right from wrong.  Notice I said "should know better".  These teens should be punished to the full extent of the law and their parents, if they know who their parents are, should be held accountable for damages if any were caused.

It's not guns, knives or other instruments that cause disturbances or deaths, it's people.  People need to be taught right from wrong and held accountable for their actions from the time of reason.  Maybe, just maybe, then we might be able to get some sanity restored in this country.