It never fails, anytime a school shooting occurs— as horrific as the very thought of that would be to any human being, the very next statements made are from those who want to ban guns. And they say this time and time again with full knowledge that the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the Government from banning guns without first it’s repeal. End of story. So I never could understand why these people keep saying it because it’s a completely moot point. Sure, it may sound good for talking points and political fund raising but they can make all the statements, all the false promises and all the protests they want and it won’t change the fact that if and until the second amendment of the Constitution is repealed, Americans have the constitutional right to bear arms. Now that that’s out of the way, how do we solve the problem of school shootings in the U.S.?
In order to do so we must first understand the reasons behind school shootings. What compels a young person (in most cases) to walk into a school and begin killing people (either at random or targeted.) Because it’s never just one reason or event. It’s a culmination of events real or imagined taking place in the minds of these individuals which brings them to the point where life— whether it’s their own or someone else in range of their gun no longer has any value or meaning. When it comes to school shooters, mall shooters or anyone who makes the decision to murder people at random, that is the one thing we can all be absolutely sure about.
They either do not care if they live or die once the shootings begin or they don’t mind spending the rest of their natural lives in prison. In many cases, it’s suicide by cop after taking as many people out before they themselves are killed while other shooters drop the gun and surrenders before danger to themselves gets too close. These shooters want to become part of a news cycle, have their day in court and find themselves written about infamously in history books. Or perhaps a documentary will be made depicting their sad little lives and how it’s all societies fault. It’s either one or the other. This is the usual mindset of a mass random murderer. Again, whether he or she kills randomly or they have specific people in mind, this is the mindset we have to deal with to keep this from happening again. Why? Because the most dangerous person on the planet is one who is more than willing to give up his or her own life while in the act of taking others and under that mindset, they can kill just about anyone and no written laws on the books are going to stop them.
The Rise
School shootings have been around for a very long time although the rise in school shootings have reached a point where we can no longer brush them aside as just a one-off. To see how prevalent school shootings actually were here in the U.S., I came across this website— SCHOOL SHOOTINGS in the U.S. (1900 to TODAY) Today meaning 2013 but the info is enough to make the point. Another website— Wikipedia: List of school shootings in the United States (2000–present) is a little more informative.The point being is questioning why the rise? More importantly, why the seemingly increased randomness? Again, before we can solve the problem we have to understand exactly what has changed in American society since 1900 to today that has brought about increased mass shootings. More guns? Nope, seeing as guns years ago were actually easier to procure. And remember, an individual with the mindset described above will eventually figure out a way to get their hands on a gun, one way or another.
The Contributors
As the image heading this article suggests, kids just don’t wake up one morning and decide to murder and/or give up their own life in the process. All check-marked on that image in my humble opinion played and continues to play a role in the psychological make-up of extremely confused and impressionable young minds. It’s rarely just one thing but a combination of things which create the perfect storm in the minds of these people. We’ll take them one at a time and I’ll add a few more not on the image because they’re just as important to discuss.
Social media
Probably the largest contributor. If you look back over recent history, our communications technology has grown by leaps and bounds. First was rotary dial phones hard-wired into homes under complete control by Ma Bell. Back then you weren’t even allowed to own your phone. We leased them from Ma Bell as well. Then came push button phones and the ability to own phones right around 1974 with the final break-up of Bell in 1982. Not that long ago for an old fart like me. Then came wireless phones, portable phones until a massive change taking place with the advent of the personal computer and more importantly— the birth of the internet. And what do you think happened right after that? YEP! You guessed it. Internet porn. The only saving grace back then was that it had to be viewed on a personal computer at home or in the office. I mean, it’s one thing for a kid to thank the Gods above if they came across a girly magazine back in the 60’s so they could finally gaze upon the naked breasts of slightly overweight women to watching hardcore porn on a personal computer. Personal computers and accessing the internet was expensive back then so kids rarely took the risk of going to a porn site on Dad’s computer. The advent of the smart phone completely changed all that. Now an eight year old boy or girl with access to a smart phone can watch all the hardcore porn they desire at just about anytime day or night. And just to clarify— before then, the only way one could watch porn was by renting an adult video and porn back then was nothing like the porn available these days. How do I know? Come on— I was never the porn addict but I sure as hell wasn’t a Monk either. But I was an adult and knew the difference between porn and the reality of life. Not so these days when porn is viewed by impressionable young minds. To them, that is reality.
With the addition of programs like AOL, Prodigy leading to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and now TikTok, the world itself has become like an open source for communications. Thank God I was too old and had no desire to go any further than my days using AOL. But for a kid? That also opened up a whole new form of bullying. Again— it was bad enough when bullying was basically confined to school grounds or asshole brothers and sisters because it was more or less between you and the bully. These days, it’s in front of everyone. Plastered everywhere. To weak-minded kids, perhaps confused about many things (some of which I’ll address,) spending hour after hour online, can you imagine the psychological trauma and sometimes physical pain these kids go through year after year under those conditions? And keep in mind, it doesn’t matter if what they feel is real or imagined. Your opinion also doesn’t matter. It’s real to them. Add an unhealthy view of family, sex and love— even their own identity and you have the makings of one confused, depressed and very pissed off kid. Many receiving no help or understanding from those who should know or perhaps they feel they have no one to reach out to. It’s like placing a full pan of water on high heat. If nothing is done, eventually it boils over to the point (to a kid) of suicide in some cases. In others? Life no longer has meaning or value but the difference now is they want people around them to feel their pain. To join them in paying the ultimate price they’ve surrendered to because in their mind, they’re not to blame, society is. Even if their sole excuse is that they didn’t ask to be born— they’re pissed and they’ll be damned if they’re going to leave this world alone.
No parent (or guardian) in their right mind should allow their child to own or have unrestricted access to a smart phone. I don’t care how trustworthy you think they are. It would be like handing your kid a big bowl of their favorite cookies and trust they’ll do as you ask and only eat two. To many kids, social media and smart phones are like an extremely addictive pair of drugs in the palm of their hand. Keep it on a personal computer at home where you can easily monitor their online activity and more importantly, their behavior. If you find out they are the bully or are being bullied (read an article I wrote a few years ago called The Bully. It’s just as true today as it was when I wrote it.) or porn sites beginning to show up in their browsing history? Well, that ends that. Interestingly enough, I’ve been hearing about how many Gen-Z’ers are now giving up their smart phones to what they refer to as dumb phones meaning, no internet access. Used for calls only. All I can say is, wise decision.
The Ongoing Demise of the Family
Single parenthood has been on the rise for the last 40+ years. Unfortunately, in many of these single parent families, the fathers are nowhere to be seen (physically and financially) placing the main responsibility of raising children on mothers. And it’s for this reason that most of these kids who find themselves in trouble with law enforcement are those living under conditions described above. Sadly, this appears to be the culture we live in these days.
There are no simple solutions other than I believe it’s safe to say that we all know how kids are made so one would imagine that knowing this, you also know the risks of having an unwanted pregnancy always exist to some degree the moment a woman allows a penis to enter her vagina. There are so many young women today who have absolutely no clue how to handle a long term relationship (including parenthood) with many simply believing they and their child will get along just fine without a Dad or at the very least, a male role model with many finding themselves pregnant yet again with child number two from father number two only to wonder what went wrong when their kids turn out to be so screwed up. Is this true with all single parents? Certainly not. But it’s true with way too many resulting in a serious problem for society. Especially in urban, metropolitan cities rife with gangs because that’s where many of these kids wind up. Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City are prime examples.
We live in a society where it’s just so simple to end a relationship at the very first sign of a challenge. For the women, there are just too many other men who will bed them. And for the men, it’s pretty much the same. It’s a no-fault relationship world we live in with too many kids paying the price. As I wrote somewhere in my book The Instructional Guide to a Great Relationship with a Basket of Fish (a man), I suggest the following: Don’t want the risk of pregnancy? When it comes to intimacy, stick with oral sex and toys until you’re absolutely sure you plan on being with the other for the long haul. Feels just as good (if not better) and I’ve never known a woman to get pregnant that way.
They say there’s no such thing as bad kids— just bad parents and for the most part I agree. And because I do believe that, the usual recourse we have as a society is removing the child from a toxic home environment. That’s not enough. You’re going to have to remove the child from the entire toxic environment and place him or her in an environment which gives them a much better shot at life. Best case could be a relative residing in another part of the state or at the very least, a foster environment away from urban areas with people who have had success with troubled kids.
While child protective services do have a legal right to remove a child from a toxic home, there needs to be a program in place where a parent[s] can relinquish all parental rights to a child they can no longer control. Remember, most of these kids are twice the size of their mothers and with the loss respect comes the loss of fear. Some mothers actually fear their own kids. This avenue should be implemented only as a last resort after all other avenues have been exhausted to no avail. This is important because there are single parents and families in this country who feel they have done everything in their power to raise their kids the right way and nothing seems to be working. They even go as far as contacting law enforcement including child protective services only to be told there’s nothing [they] can do. For as many red-flags are raised by parent[s], very little if anything is done leaving the parents helpless. Does a program like this exist? I have no idea, but it should.
Mental Health: Ask Your Doctor
When it comes to school shooters, there’s always one question that’s asked and very rarely answered. What’s the question? Have any of these shooters ever been prescribed SSRI’s or any other drug having any behavioral side effects including depression and most importantly— suicidal thoughts. I would be willing to bet money that in many cases regarding school shooters or any mass shootings, these shooters were in fact, prescribed behavior modifying drugs. Now, I’m not 100% sure if this following solution would be legal but I’m sure it could be voluntarily implemented.
Any family or household who has an individual residing in it taking or has taken prescription mood altering drugs having suicidal thoughts as a possible side affect for any reason should voluntarily remove all firearms from their property. Or at the very least, make them impossible for anyone else to acquire. Personally, removing guns from the property is best. Will this solve everything? Nope, but it helps.
Elementary Schools and the Promotion of Gender Dysphoria
Anyone who doesn’t believe there are many teachers in public schools recruiting weak minded impressionable young children into their ranks by actively promoting gender dysphoria in their classrooms with rainbow flags plastered on their walls, handing out porn and their required use of pronouns either lives under a rock, delusional or has never seen the website Libs of tic toc. Or perhaps some parents are totally fine with this practice. What’s going on in our public schools is serious, serious shit which I sincerely believe will contribute to the eventual destruction of not only the United States but our society as well. Gen Z is bad enough, if this continues, it will be twice as bad. I offer only two solutions to this cancer slowly taking over our public schools. First, please read the following articles: (1) The Gender Lie and (2) Solutions: Men in Womens’ Sports then remove your kids from any public school teaching this shit as soon as humanly possible. And if you have to leave the state? So be it.
Gun Violence: No Consequences for Criminals
As utterly horrific as any school shooting is, let’s just for a moment set our emotions aside and consider the following. If you haven’t clicked on the links at the beginning of this article regarding the history of school shootings, please do so now. Finished? OK now let’s place the number of deaths due to school shootings and compare them to the number of random deaths of children in just the city of Chicago or New York over the same period of time. Or how many innocent people are deliberately mowed down by some individual in a car like what recently happened during a Waukesha, Wisconsin Christmas parade. Like a gun, vehicles can be used as lethal weapons in order to kill many people at once. Do we ban all cars? Of course not. Whether you agree with the following statement or not, it remains a fact. Guns alone do not kill people. People kill people using guns— or cars or anything they believe will do the job. And while school shootings are horrible, they are rare compared to equally horrible deaths of children and young adults taking place every single day in America. But you don’t hear too much of that on the nightly news or if you do, it’s reported in passing. But if it’s a school shooting, it’s on the news for weeks. It’s like society has no problem with kids killing each other, just as long as they keep these murders out of schools and on the streets where they (according to some by virtue of their complacency) belong. And it will continue and get even worse as criminals are released minutes after their arrests due to cashless bail and activist DA’s and Judges. This segment is not meant in any way shape or form to diminish school shootings— just place them into perspective. Is there a solution? Yep! Click on the Solutions Image below.
Nothing tears at the hearts of Americans more than hearing about yet another senseless school shooting no matter where it takes place. And while we all may believe school shootings are senseless, the school shooter thought it made total sense which makes determining why some young individuals believe this way is all important. But we can’t dismiss the fact that the senseless murder of kids including adults happen every single day. Blaming guns will not solve the problems. Do we blame knives for a stabbing? Or cars when used to mow down people during a parade or just on their way to school? Is it a man’s fault for standing on a subway platform when he’s pushed onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train? Of course not. People do these unimaginable things to other people. Not the tools they used to accomplish their deeds.
I offer only four more solutions to end this article.
No more cashless bail for violent offenders (repeat or first time) or anyone who uses or possesses a lethal weapon during the commission of a crime. Full stop, end of story. I don’t care what color their skin is or their age and I’ll add that no bail at all should be offered to any repeat violent offender.
Any student with ongoing violent tendencies should be expelled from school until it’s proven beyond a reasonable doubt their behavior has been addressed by mental health professionals who are willing to sign off that the student will no longer be a problem.
Signs should be posted around school perimeters stating the following: WARNING! Lethal force can and will be used towards any individuals intending physical harm towards Students, Teachers, Staff and Guests of this school. In addition and if warranted, there should be at least one individual trained in the use of firearms and tactics in bringing down a shooter whether it’s someone in law enforcement or a member of the school willing to go through extensive training.
As the image below shows, red flag laws regarding guns have been implemented in many states. And while some may consider this a step in the right direction, I’m not 100% positive it will prevent all future school shootings. Help? Perhaps but it all depends on the actions of those on the other side of the phone calls. Red flags regarding guns is one thing. However, red flags regarding youth and a possible mental health issue which could at some point result in a school shooting is quite another. Whether or not guns are on a property at a given time plays little to no role.
Therefore, I suggest a separate hotline specifically set up to immediately respond to concerns from parents, friends and others who are desperate for someone with the authority to actually do something about what the caller perceives as an eminent danger to themselves or others by someone they personally know. The one common denominator most school shootings have is that at one time or another, authorities were made aware of an individual and either made a poor decision, or none at all. When it comes to people (especially youth) having this very dangerous mindset, in most cases, the signs are everywhere. Calls to this hotline suggestion will be taken extremely seriously. The caller will be heard and a physical response will be immediately rendered with (if warranted,) the immediate removal of the individual from the property into the hands of mental health professionals who can better make an evaluation and recommend actions. From what I understand (and I could be wrong,) authorities can detain anyone for just about any reason for 48 to 72 hours. More than enough time.
Seeing that large swaths of this country appears to have gone batshit crazy in the way they’re addressing violence, crime, criminals, homelessness and the mentally ill with some cities seemingly encouraging it all, the problems this country is facing especially in Democrat controlled areas should come as no surprise to the sane among us. The election of the new Chicago mayor says it all (as if the election of your Governor JB Pritzker wasn’t already bad enough).
As I state in all my “solutions” articles— I’m not arrogant enough to believe that any or all of my solutions are unique or haven’t already been implemented somewhere. It’s simply that I personally haven’t seen it or the results from them. What I can say is that we as a society better come up with something instead of throwing gobs of money at worthless band-aids which only makes rich donors richer. We need to understand and change the mindset of the shooter… we need rational solutions….
because walking into a school killing as many as they can without concern if they live or die is the only solution they feel they have.
