Here's How School Shootings Can Be Stopped

The short answer is yes. Yes there is common ground but it will take us a moment to get there. Lets begin.

Whenever gun violence is reported in our society both political parties rush, not to the defense of current and future victims, but to the defense of their own partisan positions. In the spirit of truth I want to begin this article by informing readers that my political views are conservative. I read articles where writers try to appear to be politically neutral while in reality they are either left or right leaning. I am right leaning. I hope that in revealing my political preference I am not alienating readers with left wing political beliefs. I want everyone to read and assess the points I attempt to make in this article for one specific purpose, and that purpose hinges on a personal belief I have regarding the issue being discussed in this forum. I believe that regardless of our political associations, Democrat or Republican, Conservative or Liberal, even Socialist or Capitalist, no reasonable American wants to continue seeing classrooms attacked by psychotics with automatic weapons, or any weapon for that matter. However, and please hear me on this point, to engage in discussions with friends and co-workers you would never know that people on opposite political sides actually do agree on this issue. Conversations about this emotionally charged issue almost always descend into accusation and name calling. The day after the Parkland Florida Shooting took place a colleague said to me, "17 kids are dead but at least fundamentalist Christians get to keep their damn guns." How do you respond to that? "Well if you liberal crazies would allow teachers to carry a gun then the gunman could've been stopped by the teacher!" And so the conversation goes. My observation, I think of it more as an epiphany, is that once the conversation goes there, once I retaliate against the one who insulted me or blamed me, then the focal point automatically shifts from "what can we do to keep our kids safe?" to "how can I make myself look smarter than the person who just insulted me?" At that point there is truly no hope of moving the conversation forward. Pundits, politicians, news anchors, and in fact most people in general have been regurgitating the same arguments for 20 years. "Stronger firearm laws! Gun control! More money for mental health!" The fact is these are all peripheral issues that have nothing to do with protecting our kids.

This issue came to a head under the Clinton administration. There had been a 2 year rash of school shootings culminating in the grizzly Columbine massacre on April 20th (Hitler's birthday) 1999. 20 years have passed and all that has been happening is an escalation in gun violence in our schools. This is unacceptable and it is time for the citizens of our communities, indeed of this whole country, to hold our politicians accountable and to demand real measures to be taken that will protect our children. There is a truly bi-partisan answer. I've been researching the issue and have found logical reasoning and historical evidence to make the case. At this time I would like to lay it out for your consideration point by point, step by step.

1. Discussions drifting into putting more funding into mental health, gun control, establishing grief counselors as President Clinton mentions in the video below, are all irrelevant. Focusing on the idea of stricter gun laws- if a law were enacted tomorrow completely forbidding the sale of any kind of gun, assault rifles, hand guns, shot guns, et al- it simply would not matter. The genie is out of the bottle. The FBI estimates that there are some 200 million privately owned firearms in the U.S. Those guns are out there and there is no way to round them up. Are we talking about gun restriction or gun confiscation? This simply will not happen. The state trying to disarm this nation would result in a civil war. Again, politicians have been talking about this for years with no progress whatsoever. It will not happen and even if it did, more life would be lost in the ensuing citizen resistance than in all the gun violence in the country. This is simply not viable, not realistic. The whole discussion is a distraction that wastes valuable time and resources that could instead be used for the one measure that truly would make an impact, a measure we will come to shortly.

As I said earlier, conservatives and liberals actually agree on this issue. Neither wants to see children harmed and both want to see SOMETHING done to curtail if not outright end school violence. This truth is lost when accusations fly and name calling replaces legitimate discussion. Both groups need to accept the fact that they BOTH care about the well being of our nation's children. Having said that, it is my opinion that there is one important group that does not care as it ought. That group will be named in point #3.

The group that does not care. I dread sounding like a radical conspiracy theorist, but I really believe that our politicians either do not care or that they do not care enough. I don't want to be divisive by hurling verbal firebombs, I know that is a drastic statement, but consider the facts. This has been going on for 20 plus years with no progress. I believe democrat politicians use these tragedies as a vehicle for promoting gun control bills in order to please their constituents all the while knowing gun control measures will do nothing to stop gun violence. I also believe republicans like to use the issue to further their careers by pleasing their constituents as well. These tragedies give them the perfect platform to give lip service to their dedication to the 2nd amendment and Americans rights to bear arms. Neither side makes progress in regard to protecting our children! How can both sides say they care yet do nothing to improve the situation for 20 years? They are either stupid, ignorant, or not interested. I opt to believe the third option. See why in point #4.

When was the last time you heard about a senator or member of congress losing a child to a school shooting? Is it never? Yes, never. Know why that is? It's because they send their children to private schools with armed body guards and the schools themselves have armed security.

When was the last time you heard about a crazed or mentally ill gunman attacking a police station? Is it never? Yes, never. The reason is that so called mentally ill gunman aren't stupid. They attack soft targets. They attack "gun free zones" because they know they will meet no resistance. I think that neither you or I are naïve enough to believe that our government officials aren't privy to that information. Our government knows exactly what it would take to all but halt gun violence and not only won't they do it, they won't even talk about it. We have an example, a model that we could copy and see the same results- a school system where gun violence is all but obsolete. That example is discussed in point #4.

Israel suffered the Ma'alot Massacre in 1974 wherein 22 children were slain by Palestinian terrorists. Israeli's have a penchant for a "never again" mentality. They quickly created and implemented government actions directed at establishing safe schools. Practically over night 1 armed guard was installed for every 100 children and have seen solid results ever since. Gunmen simply do not attack places where they know they will meet resistance. This is a matter of history and of fact. Why couldn't our government enact similar protocols immediately under the auspices of a national security issue? They could. The issue of whether or not citizens should be allowed to carry guns can be kicked down the road and discussed later. It's BEEN discussed for 2 decades, isn't it time for our politicians to stop discussing and actually DO something?

I am sympathetic to those among us who raise the valid point: "Do we want our children growing up in a policed environment where armed guards patrol the schools? Do we want them in a war zone?" I have heard these questions and I think there are reasonable answers. Have you ever been to a concert, amusement park, or professional sporting event? If you have you've seen armed security. Does it make you feel in danger? Of course not. We feel safer when we see armed, trained professionals present for our protection.

The only thing worse than being in a war zone is being in one and not realizing it. This is where we are today. Our children are at risk and we need to protect them. Liberals and conservatives agree on this. It's the politicians that need to get their act together.

We need to do what works. We need to have armed professionals guarding our schools. Here's what you can do to get the ball rolling.

1. Call your local school and inquire about what security measures they have in place.

2. Volunteer. Most schools have parents, clergy, and police officers that come in to greet students and keep an eye on things during busy morning hours.

3. Call your elected officials and tell them that as a concerned citizen it is your expectation that they will support immediate legislation granting funding for armed guards to protect our schools. Be nice, not critical like I've been in this article. I'm much more diplomatic when I deal with these people. They won't read this article anyway. I realize we get more with honey than we do with flies.

I know the above photo of Clint Eastwood is just a meme, but I think it is a fitting way to conclude this hub. Thank you for reading. I hope we can all work together by putting pressure on our elected officials to do what is needed for the protection of our students in the classroom. The Israeli's have figured this one out. Surely they don't love their children anymore than we Americans do. Lets prove it by doing everything we can to get our schools guarded and protected.