What can be done to protect children from school shootings immediately?

@SW-User I agree. It sounds extreme to some but it would save lives, how is that not worth every penny and ounce of effort....I don't get it.

@Notsimilarreally the ultimate fix is to not have the weapons and to help the people who prone to do this. The argument for more safety, like a stadium type, is sometimes used by people who think that's the ultimate solution, rather than making the weapons illegal in the first place.

@SW-User Firearms are illegal in Mexico. There is far more to this than firearms.

I cannot imagine how a latchkey child with a mental or behavioral issue can grow up in America. While no one else is home, a mentally disturbed child has the unmonitored freedom to imagine, to plot, to explore the internet, to experiment and secretly find other disturbed children?

Imagine if that latchkey child lives in a single parent household with a mother or father that likewise has behavioral issues.

Imagine the above and add mind altering drugs to that household.

Dose anyone remember when the term “latchkey child/children” first became a part of the American English language?

@Heartlander I do remember latchkey becoming popular. The issue isn't either or, it's both. There's no reason to deny that access to these weapons and mental health are both a problem. It does no student or family any good to point the finger at one end and not the other. Solutions to problems are usually comprehensive.

@SW-User look across the border into Mexico where weapons ARE illegal. Do you really think it wouldn’t be the same here? We don’t seem to do better at controlling drug traffickers in the US than they do in Mexico. Crooked police and politicians in Mexico help drug cartels by enforcing weapons laws against good citizens who try to take matters in their own hands against drug traffickers..

@Heartlander I'm not comparing a country like Mexico to the US is a equal comparison. Not even Mexican people would say it's an equal or even close comparison. It's not the same. It's a faulty defense. I'm not sure why anyone would believe this. It's another fear tactic.

@SW-User So, you don’t think that gang behavior in the US compares to gang behavior in Mexico?

Have you not seen the videos of armed gangsters kicking in the apartment door in Colorado? Do you not follow the body counts in places like Chicago and New Orleans?

@Heartlander When you're looking at the impact of guns and deaths, including influence from gangs and other violent influences the percentage is 4x higher in Mexico and even higher in South American countries that are more vulnerable than the US. This is the reason you see people fleeing south American countries right now. If you're looking at LA or Chicago, many of the gangs are associated with the cartels, and yet they still have a bigger hold on the Mexican and South American countries.
What you're going off of is the fear mongering tactics, and pitting one against the other, rather than having some concern and empathy for the problems each country faces with the problem of having to deal with violence at this level.

@SW-User People are fleeing places like Chicago and LA for the same reasons why they are fleeing Mexico and Central America. It may not be as bad, but the reasons are the same. School shootings may have different underlying motivations than gang killings, but it boils down to societal failures that get worse and worse. It’s about what are we doing to raise and encourage more and more young killers?

@Heartlander You can deflect on the gangs and the cartel all you want but the post is about the schools, again not being safe because in this case, a father, bought his 13 yr old kid an assault weapon, after he had been questioned by the FBI.
This young killer, or parent, could live right down the street from anyone. This kid wasn't in a gang, he might have been bullied and abused, he was given access to weapons, knew how to use it, and chose to use it on the second day of high school.

@SW-User Underlying to this many other shootings the parents made firearms available for an unstable kid. I have no issue with charging the dad for his part in this tragedy. But to extend this a few steps, what about parents who have illegal drugs in their home? How much of our fentanyl crises lays at the feet of parents?

There is a difference between gang violence and school shootings. One is a children of the corn thing the other is a lone wolf get even thing. But what they both have in common is they are both children raising themselves issues and both where there is an absence of empathy where kids arrive at their teens and have the wherewithal to kill someone.

@Heartlander both issues need to be addressed.

@SW-User

Whether it’s giving the car keys car keys or a rifle to a reckless and threatening son, the parents have a responsibility and should suffer consequences if the rifle or car is used to murder or harm another.

@Heartlander I don't think it's that simple in regards to parents being responsible for everything but it does seem like if there's a known problem, steps need to be taken to help people, including the parents, before it gets to the point where someone is at the point of endangering others. It's not always easy to catch all of it. It's usually at the point of a crisis, rather than at the prevention level. We need more preventative measures. Like healthcare, get your annual checkups and prevention. Don't wait til you need to go to the emergency room. It might be too late.