Do we have any solutions to offer?

[Lenny_D]

This was a horrible tragedy and there is no way someone can explain what caused it. Truth is there was no "reason" involved in this mans choice to destroy so much. All we can do is offer up prayers for the families and friends of the victims.
People are looking to blame the mother of the perpetrator, guns, high capacity magazines, video games and the way the mentally deficient are treated or more likely not treated. It's the way we are programed as human beings. There always has to be a reason. I don't think there can be a reason for such an atrocity. I believe there is evil in this world and this case does nothing but bolster my belief.
Mayor Bloomberg has already started the rhetoric. I just saw that Senator Manchin from WV, whom has called himself pro gun, declare that 3 rounds in a magazine were all that are needed and assault weapons should be issued to police and military only.
In this time when our thoughts and prayers go out to the parents of those children and families of those brave teachers let us watch what we say and stick to our beliefs. Let us be humble but strong and calm while the more emotional look to "fix" this by "taking" that. Truth is there is no fix for evil. We can only prepare for it.

 

[Buffalohunter60]

"Criminal Beware Zone" Deadly force will be used to stop any agression or threat to the students of this facility. Armed guards are on duty here.

This is a start.....there are many Vetrens in our country that are retired and have grand children.....I guarentee that many of us will vollenteer our time to protect our most precious resource and the future of our country. Many of us shoot on a regular basis and are competent with firearms. We have faced agression before and will not run from it. We have the ability and the will to stop any attacker from harming our children and we will not sit by and let anyone think they can come into our schools and harm our children. We need to stand up and make a difference. We may not be able to change someone behavior or set their mind right...but we can stop their coarse of action with determination and well placed bullets. I know I would donate some time and help organize a group of Vets to protect our children. I am open to a background check and being screened and open to additional training if necessary....but I do know how to confront an attacker and mess with his plan. That gives our government time to sort this out and come up with a plan. This is something that Vets and Leo,s can do to to make a meaningful difference in a situtatioin that needs to be addressed. We need to be Pro-Active and not wait for some weak solution that is not going to stop the next attacker or make any difference at all. I do know that another law is not going to do what needs to be done. If we are fit to defend our country, we should be able to defend our children from Domestic enemies.
This will happen again...not a matter of "if" but a matter of "when". EWe can either bury our head in the sand and pray it will go away...or we can "prepare" and deal with the next one and make a difference in the outcome....schools are soft targets and that needs to change. We will always have evil among us, can't change that, but we can deal with it and we need to do that. Obama is right about one thing...this needs to change...we can and need to change it to preserve our freedom.

 

[Mike McLellan]

Teachers in Israel are armed and trained in the use of those arms. Killers are going to kill. We cannot stop that. We can, however, reduce the body count if we have the means, at hand, to neutralize the killer. In this latest case, I believe an armed and trained janitor could have saved a lot of children's lives.

 

[Sebago Son]

The answer is so simple, but the left is not interested in hearing it.

-Harden the target.
-Provide mobile and flexible defense.
-Make recompense for the act so consistently reliable as to make the attack unthinkable or at least so expensive so as to be unattractive.

 

[snubbyfan]

Teachers in Israel are armed and trained in the use of those arms. Killers are going to kill. We cannot stop that. We can, however, reduce the body count if we have the means, at hand, to neutralize the killer. In this latest case, I believe an armed and trained janitor could have saved a lot of children's lives.

I'd clean toilets and carry a sidearm.

 

[Memphis]

And while "they" are at it why don't they just ban robbing banks. That would save all that money that gets stolen and would keep the tellers from getting hurt. Problem solved!

Your welcome.

Roger

 

[2hawk]

I started a thread with with these links last night, but if you want to see solutions these are the best suggestions I've found. School boards and administrators would be well served to heed the warnings and take the suggestions offered.


Active shooters in schools: The enemy is denial

Great article from a daylong seminar presented by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman.

Also at the same site, a response to the Newtown tragedy:
Active shooters in schools: Should teachers be trained by police firearms instructors?

 

[StatesRightist]

Yes, there is.

Reexamine and reform this country's failed educational and mental health systems.

Then fall on your knees and repent for being so apathetic that you've allowed God to be taken out of our Country.

Problem solved, it's no mystery or rocket science.

 

[Delos]

Murder rates across the nation have been steadily dropping over the past 40 years; the trend is definitely downward. Check out this official data:
Murder Rates Nationally and By State | Death Penalty Information Center

Anytime the murder rate drops it only means the drug gangs are getting along better. Or bigger gangs have taken over bigger areas absorbing the smaller gangs. Or that major gangs have closed membership (kids need to kill someone to join -- it prevents undercover police from joining)

I know the housewife problem. TV mysteries like Murder She Wrote always show some white guy jealous of someone or blackmailing someone (Wrong). The big city drug gangs have top control of the murder rate. Usually the highest is one of only a few cities. Back when I was reading such it was either Chicago, New Orleans, Oakland, or Stockton (if memory serves).

Not all that long ago I lived in a low population California county where the Russian Mafia was dumping bodies off one of our rural bridges into one of our lakes. I doubt if they ever proved where they were killed. Probably the much bigger cities/counties where they lived and worked.

I have no doubt our politicians will disarm the honest people (victims), not those driving the murder rate.

Years ago now someone did a study on the numbers of killings a kid has seen on television before the age of 5 years. I forget if it was in the larger hundreds, or thousands.

I will not even start on the violence in children's so-called cartoons.

 

[Pasifikawv]

I started a thread with with these links last night, but if you want to see solutions these are the best suggestions I've found. School boards and administrators would be well served to heed the warnings and take the suggestions offered.


Active shooters in schools: The enemy is denial

Great article from a daylong seminar presented by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman.

Also at the same site, a response to the Newtown tragedy:
Active shooters in schools: Should teachers be trained by police firearms instructors?

The above are excellent articles. I really recommend that folks take the time to open the links and read these well drafted gems from PoliceOne.

Thanks 2Hawk for the links.

 

[Stephanie B]

Yes: Reopen/rebuild the system of mental hospitals that this country once had. Newtown, CT, for instance, once had a state mental hospital that had 4,000 beds. It closed almost 20 years ago.

States closed those hospitals in order to save money. The plan was, back then, to replace the hospitals with residential-based treatment centers, but for the most part, that was not done. When a family can't care for a mentally-ill family member, those people often wind up on the streets and then they fall into the criminal justice system.

In essence, we have turned our prisons into warehouses for the mentally-ill. So the budget-line-item has gone from the Department of Health to the Department of Corrections. I doubt very much that that was an improvement for anyone concerned. The families of those who are so afflicted don't want to see their loved ones in jail for being sick. So they do what they can, trying to treat them at home if they can, and knowing that eventually, that young boy or girl is going to end up in prison.

Trying to do something about guns in the hands of such people without addressing the crying need for a better system of treating mental illness is like trying to treat a bone fracture by prescribing aspirin.

 

[george minze]

This has been one of the more thoughtful and intelligent conversations about a event that has no explaination, rhime or reason. This will not go away, and maybe it shouldn't. What went trough this sicko's mind, probably we will never kinow.....The answer is not going to be easy. It is very hard to look at a extremely emotional event with no emotional bent. The fall out has just begun.....

 

[donniedee]

they need to enfore the gun laws ALREADY ON THE BOOKS...hammer those caught whenconvicted criminals, you can not PREVENT THIS TYPE OF INCIDENT cops there detectors will deter the avge person not the active shooter

 

[zip777]

Although not a solution one thing that would help is to keep firearms locked up. Gun safe - trigger lock or other means. They even make quick access safes like the Titan pistol safe that can be accessed in about 3 seconds for those who are concerned about SD situations. In BOTH the last shootings it is my understanding that the legally obtained firearms were stolen from family or friends. I'm sorry but with a mentally challenged young man in the house there is NO REASON why these firearms should have been so easily accessible! Some people may argue that it could "slow them down" somehow but I just don't buy that. We have to be RESPONSIBLE OWNERS. We have to make sure firearms cannot be accessed by those who shouldn't be handling them!!

 

[andrewb70]

Interesting comments from a police chief:

County Police Chief Recommends Arming School Personnel « CBS St. Louis

 

[walnutred]

One of my Aunts is a retired school teacher. Right after this happened she emailed out a picture of what looks like a 1st grade class on a field trip. Bringing up the back of the line is either a teacher or teachers aid with a M1 carbine slung over her back. The caption read "In order to make their classrooms safer Israel put firearms in their schools. What was the goal when we banned them in ours?"

I know the situations are different between here and the Mid East. There are people in and around Israel who oppose their way of life and would like nothing better than to pray on defenseless children even if it means it is a suicide attack. That could never happen here.

 

[AZretired]

I agree that improvement of the mental health system would help some as would enforcing the laws already on the books. However, history is full of mass murderers and other nuts so I don't think the problem will ever be totally solved. I intend to continue to carry wherever I can and hope for the best and contribute to the NRA.

 

[JJEH]

From KSWO7News

KSWO7News posted this on facebook:

Lawton Public Schools' Communications Director Keith Mitchell has issued the following statement regarding school security, in light of Friday's Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.

"The Lawton Public Schools feels that providing a safe learning
environment for its students is one of its highest priorities. To that
end, security measures are in place to maintain the safest enviro...nment possible. Among the measures we utilize are regularly scheduled intruder drills in accordance with state law, and we implemented an emergency phone notification system a year ago so that we can quickly and reliably pass along important information to parents in the event of a crisis. Many additional security measures are in place, but in order for these to operate successfully, a high degree of confidentiality is necessary. To discuss them publicly would undoubtedly compromise those safeguards. We can state with certainty, however, that any time an event such as the one last Friday in Connecticut occurs, we compare it with the procedures we have in place and make any adjustments necessary to improve our ability to prevent, or react, to those situations."

Even tho our kids don't go to this school, I thinks it's just another blah blah bubble because concerned parents expect schools to act.

 

[CoMF]

Hmmm... How about parents teaching their kids the value of always treating everyone with a modicum of respect and dignity? Or not perpetuating a culture which glorifies violence for the sake of violence? What about reaching out to people who are mentally distressed and giving them a venue with which to seek the help that they need before things like this happen? I dunno... Call me old-fashioned...

Incidentally, back when I was in high school, after we received a few bomb threats we started having an armed security guard. I would ditch pep rallies and talk to him in the lobby. Nice fellow. IIRC, his sidearm was a 3" or 4" barreled Dan Wesson revolver.

 

[sonora]

How could a mother been so iresponsible not have her weapons secured in a safe when she knew she had a deeply disturbed son. She had plenty of warning signs. This is simply common sense. Sonora