How Do We Stop The School Shootings?

[sbl_admin]

Killer was angry at God and life. What makes a person kill innocent people (especially children)?
CNN

[rhertz]

Originally Posted by sbl_admin

How Do We Stop The School Shootings?

If schools are outlawed, only outlaws will have schools! Wait, I think I might have that wrong... LOL

[Al Swearengen]

It all starts at home. Parents need to instill in their children a healthy respect for other people, and other people's feelings, and life in general. Schools can be brutal places, and its rarely the school's staff that make them that way. Its other children and the high drama they create. From perhaps the second grade on thru highschool, schools are just big popularity contests, just dog and pony shows. We've all heard the cliche "kids can be cruel"..well, theres a good reason why its a cliche...its all too true. Think back to when you were in school...I'm sure we can all remember when other people gave a damn about what brand of shoes or jeans we were sporting. It was the norm for rude comments about someone's appearance to be made without a care as to how it would make that person feel. And if we're honest with ourselves, we'll have to admit to having been on both the sending and receiving end of these remarks. And then theres the outright physical violence. These are the kinds of things that wont fly in the adult world, because in the adult world people are killed when there are physical assaults, and even as a result of insults and slights. Why should the children's world be any different? They're even less well-equipped to deal with this sort of stress than adults are. Children are certainly exposed to this sort of thing much more often than adults, so is it any wonder that a certain percentage of them get fed up with it and decided to waste their tormentors, and then themselves? When you're a child and life sucks, things seem pretty hopeless because you tend to perceive and react to stressfull situations all out of proportion to reality. But where does the meanness and cruelty come from? If your kid is a mean little bastard of a bully, its a pretty good indication that you dropped the ball somewhere as a parent. You either taught them wrong or you didn't teach them right. In many cases, parents view such things as sort of a right-o-passage..."I came thru it in one piece, so will you"...or "the world is a harsh place, best you learn that now". So, lets start teaching our children how to be considerate and courteous and feel compassion for others as early as possible...some bible study wouldn't go amiss either.

Now, something else that really bothers me is that when some of these guys snap and decide to start killing people, they use guns. I cringe every time this happens, because it just gives the anti-gun lobby more "ammuntion" to use in their single-minded quest to disarm the lawfully armed public. We wouldn't hear a damn peep out of them if the killers used bows and arrows, baseball bats or knives.

[LateNight]

Originally Posted by Al Swearengen

It all starts at home. Parents need to instill in their children a healthy respect for other people, and other people's feelings. Schools can be brutal places, and its rarely the school's staff that make them that way. Its other children and the high drama they create. From perhaps the second grade on thru highschool, schools are just big popularity contests, just dog and pony shows. <SNIP>

Hey AL, could to hear from ya. although I would agree with what you've said. This guy was probably close to 30 years old, article didn't have his age, but he's been married for 10 years and has a few kids. Time enough to get over what happened to him at school ? Not like he went to school with the kids he killed.. Or course, that's not to say his troubles didn't start when he was in school. anyways just crazy.. here's the relevant piece of the article:

Monday, Roberts walked into the one-room school in the Pennsylvania countryside carrying two guns. He let the boys and adults leave, tied up 10 girls and shot them, and then shot himself to death, according to police.

Three of the victims died at the scene and two more died in hospitals early Tuesday. (Full story)

"The man that did this today was not the Charlie I've been married to for almost 10 years," Roberts' widow, Marie, said in a statement Monday night. "My husband was loving, supportive and thoughtful -- all the things you'd always want and more."

[rhertz]

Originally Posted by Al Swearengen

So, lets start teaching our children how to be considerate and courteous and feel compassion for others as early as possible.

Very well said Al. The only thing I might add would be to keep your guns and ammunition under lock and key. This isn't a perfect solution by a long shot, but there is no sense in making it easy for anyone wanting unauthorized use of a gun. I use a small gun locker with an electronic finger pad combination lock that can be unlocked easily even in darkness. It cost under $100 and I consider it a good investment. I admit that I used to sneek-a-peek at my dad's guns when I was young before such technology, and fortunately I didn't get into any trouble. I do not want my children to rely on luck as much as I did.

[Al Swearengen]

Yes, this particular case involved a grown-up with absolutely no connection to the school or the students. Yeah, he certainly had plenty of time to "get over it", no question about that. This exact same scenerio played out in Canada last week I believe? If its not a tormented and bullied student its a disgruntled adult looking for easy targets.

[LateNight]

Originally Posted by Al Swearengen

Yes, this particular case involved a grown-up with absolutely no connection to the school or the students. Yeah, he certainly had plenty of time to "get over it", no question about that. This exact same scenerio played out in Canada last week I believe? If its not a tormented and bullied student its a disgruntled adult looking for easy targets.

Yes you are correct, apparently there's been a few stories this past month...

No perfect security -- shootings put school safety back in spotlight

A bearded drifter walks into a Colorado school and fatally shoots a student before taking his own life. Wisconsin authorities charge three boys with plotting a bomb attack on their high school and, two weeks later, a student in a rural school allegedly shoots his principal. A gunman bursts into a Vermont elementary school looking for his ex-girlfriend and guns down a teacher.

All of this in the past month alone.

[Isaac-Saxxon]

Originally Posted by sbl_admin

Killer was angry at God and life. What makes a person kill innocent people (especially children)?
CNN

The ACLU along with a few lawyers have been able to take God out of our
schools and off our sports feilds and it shows. Now to put the monkey back
in the box well I don't know ? It does show how a few can cause the many
to pay the price. It is sad for all starting with the familys and the ones
killed by this lunatic.
I-S

[Isaac-Saxxon]

Originally Posted by Al Swearengen

It all starts at home. Parents need to instill in their children a healthy respect for other people, and other people's feelings, and life in general. Schools can be brutal places, and its rarely the school's staff that make them that way. Its other children and the high drama they create. From perhaps the second grade on thru highschool, schools are just big popularity contests, just dog and pony shows. We've all heard the cliche "kids can be cruel"..well, theres a good reason why its a cliche...its all too true. Think back to when you were in school...I'm sure we can all remember when other people gave a damn about what brand of shoes or jeans we were sporting. It was the norm for rude comments about someone's appearance to be made without a care as to how it would make that person feel. And if we're honest with ourselves, we'll have to admit to having been on both the sending and receiving end of these remarks. And then theres the outright physical violence. These are the kinds of things that wont fly in the adult world, because in the adult world people are killed when there are physical assaults, and even as a result of insults and slights. Why should the children's world be any different? They're even less well-equipped to deal with this sort of stress than adults are. Children are certainly exposed to this sort of thing much more often than adults, so is it any wonder that a certain percentage of them get fed up with it and decided to waste their tormentors, and then themselves? When you're a child and life sucks, things seem pretty hopeless because you tend to perceive and react to stressfull situations all out of proportion to reality. But where does the meanness and cruelty come from? If your kid is a mean little bastard of a bully, its a pretty good indication that you dropped the ball somewhere as a parent. You either taught them wrong or you didn't teach them right. In many cases, parents view such things as sort of a right-o-passage..."I came thru it in one piece, so will you"...or "the world is a harsh place, best you learn that now". So, lets start teaching our children how to be considerate and courteous and feel compassion for others as early as possible...some bible study wouldn't go amiss either.

Now, something else that really bothers me is that when some of these guys snap and decide to start killing people, they use guns. I cringe every time this happens, because it just gives the anti-gun lobby more "ammuntion" to use in their single-minded quest to disarm the lawfully armed public. We wouldn't hear a damn peep out of them if the killers used bows and arrows, baseball bats or knives.

This nation was built on values that started at home with the big ten
laws and the family. Now we have in America and other countries the
"step family" . The ACLU has removed much of what the great nation
was built on. You go AL !

[joepole]

>The ACLU along with a few lawyers have been able to take God out of our
schools and off our sports feilds and it shows.

I'm pretty sure the ACLU hadn't kept God out of Amish schools. They also apparently didn't keep God (or one of his employees) out of that guy's backside when he was a little kid.

[geodood]

I'm no fan of the ACLU but it does not really impact me as a parent and how I raise my children. (other than being afraid to spank my children for fear I will be arrested, LOL) Learning how to act in society starts in the home, not in court rooms where it is way too late. Governments and Unions are not designed or equipped to teach values. Parents are in the perfect position to do that, and they have the obligation to do so.

[Al Swearengen]

Maybe there wouldn't be so many of these school shootings, and violent crime in general, if the deterents were a hell of alot more extreme. What if we started teaching our kids from day one that if they commit a violent crime, not only are their sorry asses going to hell where they'll suffer excrutiating agony for all eternity, but we'll be sending them there in the most painful, torturous and publicly humiliating ways we can think of. So, lets make some public examples of these deserving folks. Sure, in many cases, these people fully intend to check out the easy way after they've murdered as many people as possible and the SWAT guys are closing in on them. When by some lucky break we get one of these guys before he punches his own ticket, lets make a televised example of him...show everyone else who may be contemplating something similar what'll happen if we get em alive. Lets throw "cruel and unusual" out the window here...since nobody in their right mind would enjoy torturing another person to death, how about we grab the psycho killers early in their careers and hire them to do the dirty work. This gives them an outlet for "expressing themselves" ...in exchange for allowing them to remain free, they have to limit the practice of their hobby to other killers. Everybody wins!

[rhertz]

Originally Posted by Al Swearengen

When by some lucky break we get one of these guys before he punches his own ticket, lets make a televised example of him...show everyone else who may be contemplating something similar what'll happen if we get em alive.

As much as I might tend to agree, the sick truth of the matter is that many of these guys WANT to be televised and have the big lime light upon them. (like Charles Manson, etc) And no matter how wacked out the manics are, they seem to attract a small handful of misguided followers, which is probably why they crave the publicity in the first place. It's effective.

One thing is for certain, when we do actually bag one, we shouldn't give him a nice cell with books, telephone, and mail service to his possible followers, relatives, or whomever.