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It's about 65 miles from where I live. But still, pretty unnerving when it hits this close to home. My children attend Maryland public schools.
All crime is local. It sometimes gets national attention. If it happens far away the effect is less.
Its like foreign policy. As long as we are bombing a distant city and not being bombed its bearable.
Then please explain why there were few, if any, mass shootings in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, etc. Many of us went to school back then, with pistols and rifles in our vehicles. Yes, back then it was perfectly legal for a teenager to own a gun, and many of us did. Yet, there were almost no school shootings, even though there were lots of bullies (some of the worst bullies were teachers!). Somehow none of us who were bullied ever considered shooting up the school. I wonder why??
It is very easy to blame the tools, yet the tools have always been there, readily available, easy to order from the Sears, Spiegel, or Montgomery Ward catalog, delivered right to your door by the mailman!
No gun has ever loaded itself and started shooting people. A PERSON is required to operate the machine!
Yes, you hit on the key point! Why so many now and so comparatively few back then?
THAT is the question that needs to be answered, and solutions found.
Then please explain why there were few, if any, mass shootings in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, etc. Many of us went to school back then, with pistols and rifles in our vehicles. Yes, back then it was perfectly legal for a teenager to own a gun, and many of us did. Yet, there were almost no school shootings, even though there were lots of bullies (some of the worst bullies were teachers!). Somehow none of us who were bullied ever considered shooting up the school.
I wonder why??
It is very easy to blame the tools, yet the tools have always been there, readily available, easy to order from the Sears, Spiegel, or Montgomery Ward catalog, delivered right to your door by the mailman!
No gun has ever loaded itself and started shooting people. A PERSON is required to operate the machine!
I have a few comments on this; nothing substantial:
1. Nutjob kids weren't mainstreamed. They just didn't go to school or were removed early on and sent to special schools. Lots of funding for that sort of thing has been cut.
2. A lot of the authority and discipline has been removed from the schools so kids feel quite emboldened to do what they want when they are mad. They have been acting out in many ways FOR YEARS. When I was in school, the teacher/principal was always right and you didn't argue (or your parents didn't). Now the teachers/school is always wrong and getting beat up for it. There's no respect for schools anymore.
3. Copycat crimes. At the high school level, fame and recognition is very important to that generation. They want their fame. So the crimes are more geared toward how they can get more recognition.
Last edited by ChristineVA; 03-20-2018 at 09:06 AM..
I have a few comments on this; nothing substantial:
1. Nutjob kids weren't mainstreamed. They just didn't go to school or were removed early on and sent ot special schools. Lots of funding for that sort of thing has been cut.
2. A lot of the authority and discipline has been removed from the schools so kids feel quite emboldened to do what they want when they are mad. They have been acting out in many ways FOR YEARS. When I was in school, the teacher/principal was always right and you didn't argue (or your parents didn't). Now the teachers/school is always wrong and getting beat up for it. There's not respect for schools anymore.
3. Copycat crimes. At the high school level, fame and recognition is very important to that generation. They want their fame. So the crimes are more geared toward how they can get more recognition.
Four words - Internet and media attention. Columbine happened right when the Internet really took off, and the media turned it into kids fighting back against their bullies. I feel it granted them a sort of infamy and anti-hero status that wouldn’t have happened 30 years ago.
What a terrible tragedy. I think it's time for parent to consider putting their kids in private school or home schooling if at all possible. The government is obviously not protecting their children, and how can they when they can't be with them every minute?
And some think those for gun control are overreacting?
They want parents to respond to another high school. That's not a good sign.
It's not any kind of sign except that they don't want parents crawling all over a crime scene. That's SOP for here for school incidents of that magnitude. We did that for a fire. Current information is 3 injured and transported, nothing on condition, 1 dead.
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