Another School Shooting

The Month of February 2018 has seen its fair share of school shootings. Although it was only the Florida shooting that grabbed world’s attention, maybe because of the size, there were other incidents. Clearly, America has a big problem to deal with and getting rid of the guns might only be a small step.

Two other shootings that standout are one involving a teacher and another involving a 7^th-grade student. This is not because of the size of the casualties but rather what seems to have been going on in the minds of the perpetrators.

The Teacher

The first case is a 53-year-old teacher in Georgia who barricaded himself in a room and proceeded to shoot at the window. This incident was neutralized with only a girl who hurt her leg running being the only casualty.

However, the reason the teacher decided to do something so extreme is unclear. He was a loved teacher and celebrity of sort being the play-by-play voice of football matches. This teacher had previously told the police that he had a woman killed, but they did not take the matter seriously.

 The Student

A 13-year-old boy in Jackson Township planned to “hurt and destroy something bigger but my schools an easy target”. The student had a detailed plan that had up to 8 steps to accomplish his objective. The target for his attack was Jackson Memorial Middle School.

Somehow this student ended up choosing not kill other people but instead turned the .22 rifle on himself. He shot himself in the bathroom resulting in the school being under lockdown for up to 3 hours with students hiding as parents waited outside

Restricting Access to Guns vs. Improved Mental Health Care

There is really a need to regulate the access to guns more closely. If the government can monitor and regulate online gambling effectively then it should not be that challenging to do the same for firearms. But there is something clearly wrong in the minds of the people who are doing such horrible acts. This means there is a need for an efficient identification program so that all the people prone to such actions can be helped.