A Massacre in Florida: The Search for Answers
Since Columbine, dozens of students of all ages have been gunned down while attending school.
Wednesday’s shooting in South Florida is the latest example of a teenager indiscriminately killing other young people (“How Many Times?” Feb. 15).
What’s most disturbing is how numb and blasé we’ve become to this kind of random violence. It’s almost as if we expect it.
I care about the health and welfare of America’s youth. I wonder why, nearly 20 years after Columbine, we still can’t figure out the solution to this terrible problem.
Denny Freidenrich Laguna Beach, Calif.
The alleged shooter was a troubled, gun-obsessed teenager, suspended from high school for attacking another student. And he was able to buy an AR-15.
The AR-15 is a killing machine. It’s basically the civilian version of the military’s M-16 rifle, which I fired while serving in the Air Force from 1964-68. It’s a combat weapon that should not be owned by civilians.
Richard Reif Kew Gardens Hills
I believe an armed security guard is necessary in every school to prevent massacres.
But we also need every school and parent to be vigilant and report any suspicious student to police.
Still, no legislation, no matter how strict, is going to prevent every one of these horrible crimes.
David Yazdan Monmouth Beach, NJ
When is enough, enough? What will it take for pro-gun states that protect the “right to bear arms” (something that may have been needed 230 years ago), to realize that we live in different times?
I hope President Trump will stand up to the NRA and put an end to this.
D. Mann Miller Place
I was born and raised in The Bronx. The sensible Sullivan Law has been in effect since 1911 to limit eligibility to own firearms. During my decades living there, I never knew anyone who owned a pistol.
Our current president ran on the platform of making America great again. He must use his authority to make America safe again by persuading a totally feckless Congress to mandate an extreme vetting process in an effort to slow the disease of this gun culture.
Skip Hannon Bradenton, Fla.
Let teachers be armed. Discussing gun regulations is like beating a dead horse.
Matt Engel Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
When will we ever learn? Never, if we keep allowing the Second Amendment to justify the ownership of weapons of mass destruction.
Why try to come up with ways of surviving a massacre when the simplest solution is banning the sale of such killing machines?
Ray Hackinson Ozone Park
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said now is not the time to talk about gun control but the time to mourn. Yet the time for action never seems to come. Is his high NRA grade worth the lives of gun-violence victims?
Patrick Fogarty Gresham, Ore.
Mental-health laws need to change. Families should note changes in their children or other family members and seek help when needed. Authorities must listen and act.
Mentally ill people should be supervised to be sure their medication is taken.
Also, only those in the military should have access to AR-15s. No private citizen has any need to own them.
K. Crisson Sayville
When mass shooters are high-school or college-age kids, I think we should consider a link between violent video games and murder.
The basic plots of many of these games involve getting a gun and killing as many people as possible. Isolated, impressionable kids play these games.
These games were not available when I was growing up. They’ve been around for the last 20-25 years or so, which is the time frame of many of these murderous rampages.
Craig Casey Yonkers