We both are speculating. He may have chosen to run out the door.

 

To be clear I want our nation to focus on keeping guns out of schools. Armed officers are the last reactive line of defense, but we need to be more proactive.

 

We can't keep drugs and cell phones out of jails and prisons...what could possibly be put in place to keep guns 100% out of schools and off school buses?

 

School bus shootings will be next once schools are somewhat more secure, how do we protect buses?

 

When we talk about drug problems it's always about treatment for the addict, we as a country need to get at the root of what causes a kid to even think of shooting up a school and treat that.

The SRO was brave and did his job.

 

However, this development undermines the idea that all we need in our schools is a “good guy with a gun.” For all we know the shooter did all he wanted, and was not affected by the SRO.

 

I never said "all we need in our schools is a good guy with a gun".

 

I'll completely disagree that the shooter did all he wanted and was not affected by the SRO. In fact, I think it's a bit ridiculous to think that. Not sure what you've seen in other school shootings that would even begin to make you entertain such a notion.

We can't keep drugs and cell phones out of jails and prisons...what could possibly be put in place to keep guns 100% out of schools and off school buses?

 

A school’s clientele is a bit different. I bet jails keep guns out.

 

School bus shootings will be next once schools are somewhat more secure, how do we protect buses?

 

Maybe. I don’t think so, but arming the bus driver is probably a bad idea.

 

When we talk about drug problems it's always about treatment for the addict, we as a country need to get at the root of what causes a kid to even think of shooting up a school and treat that.

 

I agree more research is needed, but we do have 20 years of data that tells us that school shooters tend have different reasons, come from different socio-economic backgrounds, but are almost entirely white males.

 

Schools need more student support. More opportunities for students to get involved and more opportunities to get help when needed. Unfortunately there is not a straight line from those services to test scores.

I agree more research is needed, but we do have 20 years of data that tells us that school shooters tend have different reasons, come from different socio-economic backgrounds, but are almost entirely white males.

 

Schools need more student support. More opportunities for students to get involved and more opportunities to get help when needed. Unfortunately there is not a straight line from those services to test scores.

 

Jails do for the most part keeps guns out, do we need to search every student every day the same way a inmate is searched upon being processed into jail? You know...strip search, pat down, squat and cough...all that fun stuff inmates do, we can do that to all kids daily?

 

I agree arming bus drivers isn't a good answer. It's also not feesable to put a police officer on every bus either, but just one bus shooting and everyone will be calling for just that thing to happen.

 

Mass school shooters have been predominantly white, but overall school shootings span the spectrum of races. There are many more incidents where one kid shoots another kid than the mass shootings where one kid targets several.

Jails do for the most part keeps guns out, do we need to search every student every day the same way a inmate is searched upon being processed into jail? You know...strip search, pat down, squat and cough...all that fun stuff inmates do, we can do that to all kids daily?

 

Why would we do that when schools are just looking for guns? Jails are looking for all contraband.

 

I agree arming bus drivers isn't a good answer. It's also not feesable to put a police officer on every bus either, but just one bus shooting and everyone will be calling for just that thing to happen.

 

Cross that bridge when we get there.

 

Mass school shooters have been predominantly white, but overall school shootings span the spectrum of races. There are many more incidents where one kid shoots another kid than the mass shootings where one kid targets several.

 

Very true. I think we are dealing with two separate issues as far as why is concerned.

There is no one approach that will solve everything.

 

1. Limiting access, metal detectors, armed guards, and possibly CCW for selected teachers addresses how to best protect children in school from a shooter coming inside the school building. It does not address how to prevent a person from getting to the place where he is willing to go to school and shoot people.

 

2. Addressing mental health issues is another single-focused approach that works on some things but not others. But it would be helpful to improve on how school officials, law enforcement, mental health workers, etc. are to respond to a person giving off the kinds of cues the shooter in Parkland gave. I think the people in Parkland failed by repeatedly giving this kid a pass. We could always improve the availability of better mental health treatment.

 

3. Societal/cultural changes are something else to be looked at. What has changed in our culture that people are willing to go to a high school and shoot people they don't know (in the case of current students) or people they knew once, (in the case of teachers or administrators)? There was a time in our country that this didn't happen. It might be advantageous to look and see if there are some things we do now that we didn't then, ideas we now reject, or ideas we now embrace that we didn't then, and see if there are cultural/societal factors that have led to a rise in violence. Then address these. This is where I think the largest factor lies. We had mental illness before. Is there a higher incidence of violence now than before and if so, why? Why are people willing to go to violence on a larger scale than before?

 

I believe we need to look for the root causes and these will most likely be related to family, morality, spirituality, and worldview. Societal ills have been addressed in the past with success in reversing harmful trends. 18th century England is a case in point. The rise of the Wesleyan revival (with the aid of some Calvinist brethren like George Whitefield who closely associated with the Wesleys) resulted in much cultural reform, including child labor practices, treatment of prisoners, addressing alcoholism, the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, addressing cruelty to animals, etc. I probably have lost many of you here, however, family, morality, spirituality, and worldview, address the heart and it is out of the heart that evil arises.

 

No one approach will address all these things. The approach needs to be multifaceted. And even with that, we won't completely eradicate evil. Our children will always need to be protected in one form or another.