Recently, there was a shooting at an Omaha high school. One administrator was killed, one was injured, and the shooter committed suicide in his car. In response, Sen. Mark Christensen introduced legislation in the Unicameral that would allow teachers, administrators, and security to carry concealed weapons on school grounds. That's right, teachers...with guns...concealed...in school. Seriously.
I understand being afraid. I understand wanting to protect one's children. However, I will never understand why the hell Sen. Christensen would feel the need to put our students in even more danger by allowing guns in our schools. From what I've seen on the news and read on the Internet, Superintendents are not happy.
Problem #1: Many school shooters are suicidal. Knowing that someone will shoot them is not a dterrent.
Problem #2: I'm sure there is more than one teacher out there who is stressed out by the amount of work they have to do, the rotten kids they have to deal with, and the meager paycheck they receive for their efforts. Imagine a totally legal handgun in the hand of a teacher at the breaking point. It's a recipe for disaster.
Problem #3: The legislature is not the place for social intervention in this case. The hardships faced by children who decide to shoot up their schools are often hidden. The place for intervention is at the family level. Hell, the boy who shot the Omaha administrators was the child of a police detective and a student who was well-liked. His pain was hidden behind a seemingly happy life. There is nothing the legislature can do to fix this problem. They should stay out of it.
Let's hope the legislature doesn't pass this bill. In fact, I'd like to go a step further and hope that the whole of legislature makes a point to discourage this bill and bills like it from ever coming up again.
No comments:
Post a Comment