ON THE FLORIDA SCHOOL MASSACRE

JC Leahy

My own humble opinion goes like this: Donald J. Trump did not cause the Florida school massacre. The Florida shooting is very upsetting, heartbreaking. I am eager to learn more about the shooter so I can form more of an opinion about what caused this. I do agree with those who suggest that posting a reasonable number of armed personnel, police, in schools is, at this point, a no-brainer, and would go a long way towards solving this terrible problem. The Israelis have armed personnel (teachers in the Israeli case) in each school and there are no school killings. Police would be more do-able in America. However, I think that there must be deeper social issues at work in America. When I was in high school, many of us young men had guns (at home mostly) but there were no problems with school shootings. There were even shooting clubs at some schools, but not at my particular high school. We need to understand what has changed to truly solve this problem. My money is on the lack of a stable mother-and-father family, especially when bringing up boys is involved. The NRA? It's been around for a long time, is an absolute expert on safety matters, has wholesome intentions, pretty decent members as far as I can see, and is not the problem. The National Rifle Association actually offered to train school security personnel nationwide. Also, let's be too focused on the type of weapon. Without going into excessive detail, the AR-15 is not a military grade rifle, and the difference between it and many standard hunting rifles is PURELY cosmetic. In point of fact, Nikolas de Jesus Cruz could have done equal damage with a standard pump-action shotgun loaded with standard 00 buckshot and a pocketful of extra shells. (Just feed shells from your pocket a few at a time as you go, and your gun is NEVER empty.) I say (1) place a reasonable number of armed police in each school, and (2) do not allow anyone younger than 25 years old to buy any gun or possess any gun except possession with direct and immediate parental supervision. Hormones are running too high and maturity too low before the age of 25. THOSE 2 MEASURES WOULD HAVE PREVENTED VIRTUALLY ALL PAST SCHOOL KILLINGS!!! STOP with all the acrimony and foul language!! Those 2 measures could be accomplished more easily and with less political anguish and foul language than draconian gun control measures! But you still have to take a hard look at underlying social issues. Just a constructive suggestion.