Think, act, prevent next school shooting
It was a week ago yesterday that a young man was mortally wounded as he went about his business at Watson Chapel Junior High School. Another young man had brought a gun to school and allegedly shot his classmate. These were 15-year-olds.
The situation is, of course, the worst thing that a parent could imagine. One young man’s life was snuffed out. He will not grow up. He will not have a family and a career. He will not hug his mother again. The other young man’s life will likely be ruined beyond all recognition, as well.
There have been stories aplenty on this occurrence, and there will continue to be as the case against the alleged shooter moves through the legal system.
As a society, we collectively stand in grief over such a happening. But we need to do more. We must look for ways to keep something like this from happening again or at least attempt to make it less likely to occur.
We suggest that it is time to place metal detectors at the doors of all public schools. Some have shied away from such a move, saying the optics of having such devices are not good. We believe that the optics of having dead children are quite a bit worse. And then a district would have the expense of placing someone at the doors at all hours. Again, what are our children worth?
This subject came up in our reporting of the incident, with one official who attended Watson Chapel schools saying that there was already a secure environment at the school because those trying to enter had to be “buzzed” in. That is a grand place to start, and all schools need to have such a measure in place. But, if you would, please explain to the mother of the deceased child how that buzzing-in process protected her son.
Another school official said students need more guidance from home. That is a line that has been tossed around for as long as there have been students going to school. Again, are we to fold our hands in our laps and wait for that glorious day when we are all perfect parents and send only perfect children to school?
One person said we are to thank God that the shooter did not do more damage. Yes, thank God that did not happen. But we can only shudder to think how bad the carnage could have been if the shooter had wanted to do more damage. In that sense, we do not find much comfort in the fact that the only thing standing between the death of one student and the deaths of five or 10 students is the motivation or level of derangement of the person bent on doing evil. Instead of that person being in charge of the narrative, the grownups in the room should control this story going forward.
When terrorists took control of jetliners, the country — actually, the entire world — took action to keep such atrocities from happening again. On a much smaller scale, when you walk into the Jefferson County Courthouse, you have to empty your pockets and walk through a metal detector. Neither system is perfect, but it raises the bar for doing something dastardly.
As a parent or teacher of a school administrator, would you not want that bar raised on campus? Would we all not feel more secure knowing that there are at least some safeguards in place for stopping a student or visitor who was armed from coming into a school? Let’s lean forward into this problem and get it solved. Let’s not wait for another tragedy and wish we had done something sooner.