Yet another US School Shooting

Margs

The American Constitution (set in stone apparently) was drawn up in the pioneering days when the settlers and colonists were fighting wolves, bears and shooting the Natives in a relentless land-grab.

Why on earth they cling ferociously to the destructive 'right to bear arms' is beyond me. The shoot-first-ask questions later philosophy seems to suit modern Americans though.

Viscious circle difficult to break - so many guns out there that even law abiding feel the need to have protection. I believe that some states now ban the repeating and only allow handguns and hunting rifles for certain groups and clubs, and with safe security. But it is going to take years to get the now banned ones out of circulation.
But nothing is going to stop the criminally stupid parents of a mentally ill guy allowing him to have and then take his gun to shoot little girls without doing anything about it. They should have been put in prison with him.

The school I volunteer in has high locked gates and doors, and lockable internal doors throughout - no way of running amok (I have enough trouble just going to the loo!). Many US and even UK inner city schools have metal detectors at the front door these days.

That's everyday life in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.
Aka The United States of America.

The Gun economy is real big business in the States. Billions.

So it won't be going away any time soon.

Guns breed guns. If l lived in the States l would probably have a gun to protect myself. Mainly because everyone else seems to have one.

fancythat

Going off on a tangent, but I presume gun carrying is normal behaviour to Meghan Markle, so she cant understand why armed security isnt standard in the Uk.

As you were.

Whatever next.

Maybe Meggy will also start selling a range of small Pink Sparkly hand guns as part of her ailing business portfolio. You know the Fairy range.

She is so shameless that she will make a shilling, sorry dime from anything.
🎁👑🔫🧚💰

I agree valdali.

When Trump was elected for a second term I canceled a trip to the US thereby losing a hefty deposit. I chose not to travel to the US for either visits or to holiday until Trump is no longer the US president.

Bridey

Awful,
If i lived in America i would home school.

If I lived in America I would leave.

"A well regulated Militia" is one thing. The owning and bearing of guns by private citizens who would never submit to the restrictions and training that make a militia "well-regulated," and the shooting of said guns when they are personally feeling frustrated and resentful about some minor annoyance are quite another.

Psls don't judge America based on a minority. While most approve of the "right to hear arms" (I'll want protection if the mobs attack- as they did on January 6th- and this wknd in France- and the UK has its own history of bombs....), a clear majority want gun control (background checks, frequent permit checks to assess for mental health, no combat weapons, etc). American society stronly emphasizes individual rights, along w reposnsibility. TRUMP, MAHA, and MAGA have distorted everything about America. But their influence is thankfully waning. Pray along with most of us that centrists will take back our Congress and Courts- and that incentive to violence is OUTLAWED.

Yes, nanna8, I recall the suggestion that teachers should be trained, and classrooms equipped with guns - loaded, presumably, as the gun would be of no use without ammunition.
As a former teacher, I couldn't help but think of the old phrase " What could possibly go wrong?" with a loaded gun in
a cupboard at the back of a room full of children or teenagers.

You still can Tenko my grandson sent me a pic of rifles for sale in a supermarket aisle in USA.
If the deaths of so many children doesn't bring about change then nothing will. Gun ownership is so ingrained and the NRA is so powerful that things will just continue in the same way.

It won’t change unfortunately. Especially when you can buy a gun in Walmart , or you could the last time I was in the states . Many years ago I saw a documentary about gun ownership and a gun shop had a wall of photos of children killed in school shootings and in accidents at home.
Prospective buyers were shown this wall of photos and many changed their minds .

fancythat

I cant see it changing either.

I stopped even talking about the subject for a while.

I cant see it changing either.

... nope, me neither. In fact, I believe it to be impossible. It's too ingrained - and too profitable for the US firearms industry.

I just looked-up the numbers - the core gun and ammunition business generates roughly $28 billion in annual revenue.

Also, profits have surged in recent years.

Something I wasn't aware of - civilian spending on firearms apparently exceeds the amount the US Military spends on providing troops with the weapons . This is fuelled by a mix of recreation/political shifts/self defence concerns, which allegedly allows both dealers and manufacturers to enjoy high markups and rich profit margins.

What chance do children or their teachers have in such a rewarding environment - the best they can hope for is a few flowers, candles, and prayers after they've been shot and the news of the shooting disappears off the daily media headlines.

While a majority of Americans appear to love their guns more than their children, how can anything ever change?

I cant see it changing either.

I stopped even talking about the subject for a while.

There are no words to describe this utter nonsense!!! My heart breaks .
The right to bear arms is so deeply entrenched I cant see is ever changing. It beggars belief!!!

nanna8

I seem to remember Trump suggesting teachers should be armed. All I could say is OMG !

I think that might have been the reaction of quite a few of us nanna8.

It's insane - but there's a dreadfully apt logic to this suggestion at the same time. If teachers are unarmed, how do they deal with intruders shooting at random?

That's what makes American 'gun culture' so absurd.

I suppose schools could employ armed-guards to cover all entrances and exits plus build high, unnavigable, walls around schools . Imagine dropping off your fresh-faced 7 year-old in his colourful sweater and cute trainers at a complex that looks more like a top-secret military training establishment though...

Utter madness.

I seem to remember Trump suggesting teachers should be armed. All I could say is OMG !

Dickens

Imagine if some random starts shooting at people in, say, a supermarket. Other, well-intentioned, individuals who are also armed, draw their weapons - some creeping around because they are not near the active-shooter so are trying to identify him.

Then, another person, hearing the commotion from outside - also armed - enters the supermarket to deal with the situation.

... how does he, in an instant - if he sees other men with guns in their hands, actually know whether or not they might be the perpetrator?

These shooting incidents happen so suddenly and unexpectedly, there isn't time to weight-up the situation.

I think it's absolute madness. There are, allegedly, more guns than people in the US. And so many of them are in the wrong hands. Americans seem to believe that more people with guns is the answer...

It is utter madness!

MaizieD

That really doesn’t make it any better. If neither of them had carried guns no-one would have died.

Precisely!

BlessedArt

This is the 21st mass shooting in the US this year so far. It’s so normalized in the States that by tomorrow this horrific travesty will be off the radar of most Americans.

I can’t imagine taking my child to school on what started as a typical Thursday and receiving the call that these parents did. It’s so unfathomable. The weapon used by the murderer was purchased by his mother. I don’t know the details. I won’t pretend to. But I do wonder how one can raise a child and take no notice that he was in such a mental state that it couldn’t be seen that having a weapon of mass destruction in the house was a bad idea. In none of these instances so far have the teen mass shooters been youths who no one would suspect. There are typically signs that would alarm decent parents, hence the legal cases now holding parents accountable lately.

According to Charlie Kirk and the rest of the right wing in the US, these lives are worthy sacrifices to maintain the right to bear arms. The individual who put the shooter down was a legally carrying citizen. I suspect this case will be heralded by gun lovers and haters alike. God bless the children of the US. The country is nearly an asylum run by the insane. Those poor children and teachers.

That’s horrifying!

Imagine if some random starts shooting at people in, say, a supermarket. Other, well-intentioned, individuals who are also armed, draw their weapons - some creeping around because they are not near the active-shooter so are trying to identify him.

Then, another person, hearing the commotion from outside - also armed - enters the supermarket to deal with the situation.

... how does he, in an instant - if he sees other men with guns in their hands, actually know whether or not they might be the perpetrator?

These shooting incidents happen so suddenly and unexpectedly, there isn't time to weight-up the situation.

I think it's absolute madness. There are, allegedly, more guns than people in the US. And so many of them are in the wrong hands. Americans seem to believe that more people with guns is the answer...

That really doesn’t make it any better. If neither of them had carried guns no-one would have died.

It was an armed member of the public who shot the assailant. If he hadn't done so it's likely other children would have been murdered.

I read about a couple of Americans who are living in England and they have a school age daughter.

They said that the fact that she has to wear uniform, which they find odd, is more than outweighed by the fact that they no longer worry about receiving messages from the school about 'an incident.'

The said they didn't realise how it was always at the back of their minds.

Well I don’t know what colour it was but I used to have an American penfriend (female) who never went out without her gun in her handbag. How she thought she would get it out in a shooting situation I m not sure. Totally bonkers

... meanwhile books are continuing to be removed from the shelves of libraries in schools. I think AI has been tasked with 'deciding' which should be banned according to whatever criteria has been decided 'unsuitable'.

"Jane Eyre" is the latest banned book - in Texas I believe.

Imagine being more frightened of children reading books than of them being shot...