No guns on set…or…rewrite the scene with the gunfight.

Hollywood bares responsibility for the gun-toting images that infect our society. The violence they paint with such lavish brush strokes on the silver screen and on our TV screens is as much a part of the problem in our society as the guns themselves. We have become a society that glorifies violence. And TV and movies play a huge role in that

We have created the gun as the answer in our dramas. We have condoned violence to the point that it is now accepted. Anti-social behavior is the norm and is called out as the way to be. The weirder the better; the scarier the more wonderful; the bloodier the bolder— that’s Hollywood. Imagination has been left behind to the history files of Hitchcock and other directors who allowed audiences to build the dark side of the story in their own minds, not having it shoved in front of our eyes in bloody Technicolor. Now we’re shown every flake of brain bits from every gunshot in our movies— some in slow motion. More arms. Bigger arms. More killings. Welcome to the world of Hollywood and the gun — where art imitates real life.

I am no prude. I don’t want there to be censorship in America.

But I have taken my own steps to help bring order and civility back into art. I have removed the gun violence out of my books. I have taken the crazy, unabashed criminals and their street-talking language far from the crime scenes in my works. In fact, I destroyed two books of a trilogy simply because I felt they had become too dark and served no purpose other than to tease the reader with violence and death. (This actually occurred after the Aurora, Colorado shootings. I could no longer stomach being a part of the problem of glorifying violence in our society.) If there is going to be a crime solved in my work from now on, it will be solved with the brain, not the bullet. It may be a small step, but I will not longer be a part of the machine that idolizes this conduct in America.

And Hollywood should follow suit.

Just as the NRA will scream bloody murder and kick and pout like a child over gun legislation, the forces along Sun Set Strip and in Culver City and in the studios in the Burbank valley will cry foul, too, when the nation wants their movies and TV shows changed. But it is time we look at all our media squarely in the eye and raise the question and concern if it is enticing young minds to act in criminally insane ways. “Putting a cap” into someone’s head is easy language to digest and incorporate into culture. Our art needs to take a higher road.

The road we are on is driving us to ruin.

Just as there are those who believe PORN warps minds of young viewers and should be limited if not removed all together; evil violence does the same. And when it is so prevalent as to seem like it is being worshiped, then those portraying that violence in and to our society have become a huge part of the problem.

Instead, we must depict how we work out our differences peacefully, rationally and with emotions in check. This is rarely glorified in film. It is NOT as exciting as a shoot’ em up. The blast of automatic weapons is fun and exhilarating. It is like watching a train wreck.

Perhaps this is why our entre society has become so uncivil (myself included) and contentious in every discussion. Reality TV has set up quarrelling and fighting as good TV scripting. Mechanics in a motorcycle shop or chefs in a kitchen getting into arguments and fighting over the wrong nut or nutmeg have become high art in America. Violence, in all forms, corrupts the mind.

I was watching TV the other night, and right in the middle of the national coverage of the horrific disaster in Newtown, there was a promo for Cowboy week at Christmastime.  A shoot and be shot-filled week of rifles, pistols and people going down in a blaze of gunfire featured on TV.

Really?  We needed that at that time?  Really?

And the news channels don’t get off without some scorn here, either. They have all plastered the killer’s picture and name on their screens and devoted entire segments of their evening and morning news shows to him, his family history and the role his disease may or may not have played in this massacre.

Quit giving these shooters airtime.

That is what they are hoping for. To go out in a blaze of headlines and TV coverage. Wall them off from coverage. We don’t need this information. And they need to know they will NOT become famous posthumously for killing a school-full or theater-full of innocent people; then shooting themselves. Instead, they will remain faceless, nameless people. They will not be remembered in the media or in the minds of the country. That is the last thing these crazies want. They want the notoriety. Let’s not give it to them on the evening news.

So I call for the writers, producers, directors and actors to re-examine their scripts and the messages they are putting out about the glorified violence in our society. It is time we heal rather than fight. Time we stage a come back for common sense. Just as more guns in society is not the logical answer for our problems, more violence on our screens isn’t either.

And Hollywood don’t cry First Amendment Rights!!!…because remember, the NRA is crying Second Amendment Rights!!!! just as loudly.

And you both are wrong.