Armed guards at schools

[scotinmass 588]

And it isn't just kids. Why are people who are down on their luck choosing to off their families instead of deal with their problems? How many times do you hear of a guy losing his job and he ends up killing his entire family over it? Or going to work and killing some of his former coworkers.

The mentally ill in this country have an easier time getting a handgun than getting help.

When I went back to work after New Years a police cruiser was sitting across the street. It turns out they were going to fire one of the guys who worked in the stockroom because he had been drunk at work just before Christmas. He is a serious gun enthusiast and has a big arsenal. The bosses were worried he would go home and get his guns so they paid the cops to stay outside for the rest of the week.

Nothing happened.......so far!

[aaydrian 479]

I don't like guns and am all for gun control but you have a point. Society is way more f*cked up now than it was 40 years ago. There is more to these mass shootings than just having too many guns. Just banning guns isn't gonna solve all the problems. We need to look into why kids nowadays are not right in the head.

It goes back to whoever raises children and how they are taught to solve problems plus I think it's an American thing. Yes kids now are 'worse' than before but where I'm from guns are easy to get yet nobody is shooting up schools or other public places.

[Karee 4,189]

It's hard to get used to when this "reality" seems to be an American reality, not a global reality. There is unspeakable violence everywhere, yet it seems to happen on such a bigger scale here. Or at least more often. Not in civilized, comparable countries anyway.

No argument from me there.

Although there is Dunblane, Norway, Port Arthur, and Montreal just to name a few. So it does happen in other places. Maybe not quite so much as it does in the U.S. Or maybe the media just goes bat$hit crazy when it happens here. Hard to say.

[sjr09 155]

I don't like guns and am all for gun control but you have a point. Society is way more f*cked up now than it was 40 years ago. There is more to these mass shootings than just having too many guns. Just banning guns isn't gonna solve all the problems. We need to look into why kids nowadays are not right in the head.

It all starts at home,parents are not as responsible in the up-bring of their children like in the past. Kids and young adults now days have no respect.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

No argument from me there.

Although there is Dunblane, Norway, Port Arthur, and Montreal just to name a few. So it does happen in other places. Maybe not quite so much as it does in the U.S. Or maybe the media just goes bat$hit crazy when it happens here. Hard to say.

Like I said, violence can and will happen anywhere. It's just the frequency here. But that's coming from me, who grew up in Canada. I lived in a fairly big city, but never worried about violence. Yes, crime still happened. But all throughout high school, even after Columbine, nobody ever worried that it could happen to us.

Even in the "bad" areas, I never felt threatened. And here, it seems people feel threatened enough to the point that they will carry a gun with them just in case.

It's not an attitude or a mindset that I was raised with, so it's definitely not one that comes naturally and it's one that I have a hard time accepting.

I think in Canada in 2011, there were 10 incidents all year where more than one person was killed. 10. Less than 160 people were murdered by firearm. It's just different. And I don't know why.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Evylin

[scotinmass 588]

No argument from me there.

Although there is Dunblane, Norway, Port Arthur, and Montreal just to name a few. So it does happen in other places. Maybe not quite so much as it does in the U.S. Or maybe the media just goes bat$hit crazy when it happens here. Hard to say.

After Dunblane handguns were banned and it's very hard to get any kind of gun and you must have a very good reason for needing it. So far it's not happened again.

[scotinmass 588]

Like I said, violence can and will happen anywhere. It's just the frequency here. But that's coming from me, who grew up in Canada. I lived in a fairly big city, but never worried about violence. Yes, crime still happened. But all throughout high school, even after Columbine, nobody ever worried that it could happen to us.

Even in the "bad" areas, I never felt threatened. And here, it seems people feel threatened enough to the point that they will carry a gun with them just in case.

It's not an attitude or a mindset that I was raised with, so it's definitely not one that comes naturally and it's one that I have a hard time accepting.

Nobody could ever have imagined in their wildest nightmares that it would happen in Dunblane. But it did.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

My high school back in the late 70’s ( flash back) had security guards, large school. But then gun shooting was unheard of only a few skin on skin fights.

Were you deaf?

1970s

• February 2, 1971: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Teacher Samson L. Freedman, 56, was shot to death as he left Morris E. Leeds School, by Kevin Simmons, 14. Freedman had suspended Simmons earlier in the day for cursing in the hallway.
  
• November 8, 1971: Grove, Oklahoma School custodian, Jim "James" Underwood brought a .22-caliber revolver to school hidden in a brown paper bag. School principal, T.J. Melton, 49, was shot in the left shoulder, left ear and in the top of his head, according to published reports. He died around 9 a.m. and Underwood was charged the next day with first-degree murder.
  
• November 11, 1971: Spokane, Washington Former MIT student Larry J. Harmon, 21, entered St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church on the Gonzaga University campus armed with a .22 caliber rifle. Harmon killed the caretaker, 68-year-old Hilary Kunz, and upon merging from the church, wounded four more people before police officers shot and killed him. Harmon was described by his father as a religious fanatic who believed that he had seen the devil and that Christ was an imposter.
  
• January 5, 1972: Washington, DC Fifth-grade teacher Margaret Brooks, 57, was shot to death in front of her students by her estranged husband James A. Brooks.
  
• January 17, 1974: Chicago, Illinois Elementary school principal Rudolph Jezek, Jr., 52, was shot to death in his office by Steven Guy, 14, a former student said to be angry at being transferred from the school to a social adjustment center.
  
• December 30, 1974: Olean, New York Regents scholar Anthony Barbaro, 17, armed with a rifle and shotgun, kills three adults and wounds 11 others at his high school, which was closed for the Christmas holiday. Barbaro was reportedly a loner who kept a diary describing several "battle plans" for his attack on the school.
  
• September 11, 1975: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma U.S. Grant High School student Randy Truitt was shot and killed by James Briggs at the school, leaving several others injured.
  
• February 12, 1976: Detroit, Michigan Intruders shot five Murray-Wright High School students after an apparent dispute over one of the intruders girlfriends.
  
• June 12, 1976: California State University, Fullerton massacre Custodian Edward Charles Allaway, 37, opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle in the library on the California State University, Fullerton campus killing 7, and wounding 2.
  
• November 10, 1976: Detroit, Michigan Second grade teacher Bettye McCaster, 45, was shot to death in front of her 29 students at Burt Elementary School, by her estranged husband, Al Lewis.
  
• April 7, 1977: Whitharral, Texas High School principal M.O. Tripp was shot to death on the front steps of the school by Ricardo Lopez, 17.
  
• February 9, 1978: St. Albans, West Virginia A 15-year-old student was shot and killed by another student at Hayes Junior High School.
  
• February 22, 1978: Lansing, Michigan After being taunted for his beliefs, a 15-year-old self-proclaimed Nazi, kills one student and wounds a second with a Luger pistol.
  
• May 18, 1978: Austin, Texas John Daniel Christian, 13, son of Lyndon B. Johnson's former press secretary George Christian, shot to death his English teacher, Wilbur Grayson, 29, with his father's .22 caliber rifle in front of approximately 30 classmates. John Christian was never prosecuted and is now a practicing attorney in Austin, Texas.
  
• January 29, 1979: San Diego, California Brenda Ann Spencer opens fire on Grover Cleveland Elementary School from the window of her home across the street, killing 2 adults and wounding 9 others, 8 of whom were children.

[scotinmass 588]

[/b]

It all starts at home,parents are not as responsible in the up-bring of their children like in the past. Kids and young adults now days have no respect.

Very true.

[Karee 4,189]

After Dunblane handguns were banned and it's very hard to get any kind of gun and you must have a very good reason for needing it. So far it's not happened again.

I would venture to say that handgun ownership there was nowhere near the rate is is here. Also, there's the whole 2nd amendment issue here. A few strokes from Obama's pen isn't going to change anything. Neither is the NRA.

I noticed when I was in the UK, I never saw a cop with a gun. Here in the U.S., I've never seen a cop WITHOUT a gun. I'm sure there's a reson for that.

[scotinmass 588]

I would venture to say that handgun ownership there was nowhere near the rate is is here. Also, there's the whole 2nd amendment issue here. A few strokes from Obama's pen isn't going to change anything. Neither is the NRA.

I noticed when I was in the UK, I never saw a cop with a gun. Here in the U.S., I've never seen a cop WITHOUT a gun. I'm sure there's a reson for that.

I'm all for a gun ban in the UK because it works and people accept it. Most of the people who go hunting are snotty upper class types who do it to show how cool they are.

Since I've moved here I've seen how big a part of the culture guns are. Hunting is a way of life for a lot of people. The vast majority of gun owners are responsible and are not a danger to anyone. I don't see any reason for citizens to own assault rifles or anything that is designed to kill lots of people very quickly. Only soldiers and law enforcement officers need that. I don't see why anyone would have a problem with background checks before they buy a gun unless they know there would be a reason why they would fail the background check.

And all this talk about needing guns to overthrow the democratically elected government is just scary and sound like treason to me.

[sjr09 155]

Were you deaf?

Not one in your list was in my State, City or School. With that said I'm not deaf, can you add anything positive to the change in topic below. If not please move on.

"What can be done in our schools to protect our most vulnerable. Pros and Cons"

[Karee 4,189]

And all this talk about needing guns to overthrow the democratically elected government is just scary and sound like treason to me.

Despite what some nuts go on about, that would last about 5 seconds. The only things they hate more than muslims in this country are traitors. I don't care how many whackos Piers Morgan beats down on his TV show, or nut case congressmen from Texas go on TV, reality is nobody is going to be overthrowing any elected government in the U.S.

IMO Obama is probably one of the worst presidents of all time, but he was elected fairly. That's what counts despite all the nuts on TV and the radio. I'm an American, and he is my president. Bottom line. That's not changing for 4 years.

[scotinmass 588]

Despite what some nuts go on about, that would last about 5 seconds. The only things they hate more than muslims in this country are traitors. I don't care how many whackos Piers Morgan beats down on his TV show, or nut case congressmen from Texas go on TV, reality is nobody is going to be overthrowing any elected government in the U.S.

IMO Obama is probably one of the worst presidents of all time, but he was elected fairly. That's what counts despite all the nuts on TV and the radio. I'm an American, and he is my president. Bottom line. That's not changing for 4 years.

If I was American and Peirs Morgan was tying to tell me how to run my country I'd probably want to shoot him too!

[Karee 4,189]

If I was American and Peirs Morgan was tying to tell me how to run my country I'd probably want to shoot him too!

I pretty much quit watching that guy. Not because he's British, just because he has an agenda. I used to think CNN was pretty middle of the road. I guess middle of the road doesn't get ratings. I wonder what Larry King thinks of his old show now.