STEM SCHOOL SHOOTING

A desperate search for answers

With the increase of Colorado school shootings, steps have been taken to prevent more deaths. Schools have added police officers, protected perimeters and added cameras to hallways and carparks.

Despite these efforts, Colorado is still seeing an insidious crisis of selfdestruction and death in classrooms.

The perpetrators of these shootings often aim to attempt suicide after angrily bringing down a classroom or school they feel betrayed by.

Why are we not analyzing the intrinsic nature of these mass feelings of hopelessness and anger? Surely, the next step should be mindfulness training in schools, just five to 10 minutes a day, helping children become aware that running rampant with their reactions to the unfairness of the world only propagates pain.

Why aren’t we focusing on training kids to question destructive thoughts and empowering them to change these negative neural pathways? Until we begin to heal the source of this problem, no amount of police protection will save the innocent bystanders.

When are we going to make parents with guns responsible for the actions of their children? Parents who can’t safely store guns in their homes, parents who make it possible for their children to shoot other children should be punished. I believe these irresponsible adults should be required to help pay for injuries and funerals of the victims as well as serve jail time for child endangerment. They put all children, as well as their own children, at risk.

Some of us want guns as far away from our child’s classroom as possible. Some would feel much better if their child’s teacher was appropriately trained and armed if necessary. Some of us don’t think government at any level should make this potentially life and death decision. Maybe we’ve finally arrived at the ultimate reason for vouchers and school choice.

I found Meg Wingerter’s article quite informative. However, I have a comment about the phrase, “still quite rare” in describing school shootings.

There have been more than a dozen school shootings in the US in 2019; and, 24 in 2018. I understand your point — the odds of a shooting happening at any given school are extremely low — but if there have been more than a dozen since January, then most of us don’t see school shootings as rare. Saying so risks seeming condescending to those worried about where the next school shooting might occur. You don’t want to be seen as causing either reaction; you’re helping society wrestle with an important issue in this kind of good reporting. School shootings shouldn’t happen, but they do, and far too often.