YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ME

I was told that the Parkland school kids protesting against guns were supportive of measures that have a broad appeal and then asked why I felt compelled to speak out against them. I was told about David Hogg “He doesn’t strike me as particularly radical, yet he seems to trigger many conservatives, for some reason.” I was also told that by saying anything about them it made those of us who disagree with them makes me “look like snowflakes” we accuse others of being. And then I was told that “They are TEENS”, as if that provides them blanket protection from being opposed or questioned.

Here’s the thing. If you choose to take center stage you place yourself on a pedestal from which you can be knocked off. If you go on national TV and blame a group like the NRA for the deaths at Parkland, an organization who had nothing to do with it, then you should be questioned. If you insult anyone different than you by saying "When your old-a** parent is like, ‘I don’t know how to send an iMessage,’ and you’re just like, ‘Give me the f*cking phone and let me handle it.’ Sadly, that’s what we have to do with our government; our parents don’t know how to use a f*cking democracy, so we have to" you’ve displayed the fact that you think far too much of yourself and don’t understand the way democracy works.

If you say “…the more stress and work I put on me, the more stress and work I can deal with" and then whine when someone talks about you not being able to get into the college you want by calling on advertisers to boycott that person’s show you’ve shown that you don’t deal well with the stress and feel that anyone who has a differing opinion should be silenced by your actions. If you say about a sitting Senator "What about the $176,000 you took for those 17 people’s blood?" you’ve changed your attack once more from the person who did the shooting to someone not involved and an organization (NRA) that had nothing to do with the shooting or shooter and thus has no blood on their hands; it’s political posturing and nothing more.

When safety issues are put in place for YOUR protection and you complain about them, things like clear back packs, and you complain that "Many students want their privacy” and then say "It’s unnecessary, it’s embarrassing for a lot of the students and it makes them feel isolated and separated from the rest of American school culture where they’re having essentially their First Amendment rights infringed upon because they can’t freely wear whatever backpack they want regardless of what it is" while ignoring the fact that your goal is to infringe on the Second Amendment right of others, you show you are a tool.

When you demand safer schools and then say now your school is "like a prison" since the shooting last month, with "hundreds of police officers" patrolling the campus and follow that up with "When you have all these new police officers and resource officers coming into schools, what I'm worried is going to happen is we're going to increase the school-to-prison pipeline, which disproportionately affects students of color and lower social status," and follow that with "What happens is politicians like Gov. Rick Scott are lobbied by the private prison industry, that are private prisons paid for by the government essentially to keep these people in. That's not how we're going to fix this situation" you’re showing you’re more of an activist than dismayed teen.

In using someone involved in a catastrophe of any kind to be your spokesman you put them into something long used by the left and described as the doctrine of infallibility. What this means is the person being used as a spokesperson cannot be questioned or their opinions discussed because to do so automatically results in your being called heartless, unsympathetic to their situation or unopen to dialogue…as you are shut down from speaking. Notice how we shouldn’t be saying anything about them because “They’re TEENS” or because they were traumatized by what happened to them.

I wondered about this traumatization. In the days following the shooting we were told how traumatized they were. Raw footage of a major media group (I think CNN but I’m not sure) coaching Hogg in what to say and allowed to repeat answers was released but explained away that it wasn’t coaching, that he was nervous about being on camera and upset about what had happened. At the same time we were provided footage shot inside the school in a closet done by David Hogg where he calmly questioned fellow students about what was going on and they discussed their thoughts on gun control. No one seemed upset. Later we were told that once he was released and home, he grabbed his camera and rode back to the school on his bike in order to shoot footage of what was transpiring there. Am I the only one who doesn’t think that sounds like someone traumatized?

Here’s another question to ponder. With the exception of one person, none of those who have come out at the marches and spoken on TV repeatedly were confronted by the shooter. Where are those who were shot and survived? Why are they not getting attention? Why aren’t we hearing from them? And why are those who disagree with Hogg and his fellow activists provided the same amount of media coverage? Or are they “just teens” who no one should bother to listen to? But the reality is that maybe, just maybe, they actually were traumatized. They were the real victims both that day and now that they're being forced to relive it over and over again because of fellow students who are basking in the spotlight.

One would think that these vocal gun opponents represented the majority of those teens at their school. Except that that isn’t the case. One teacher came forward and said that “I’ve had some students approach me privately to talk to me about it, but I should note that those student activists none of them were ever in any danger during this whole thing…none of them except for the one girl Samantha Fuentes.” She went on “But I have students in my class that were shot, but you don’t see them. They have the most personal experience of anyone except for that one girl.” She also said “There have been a lot of my students that have spoken to me about it privately, and they’ve told me word for word as well as paraphrasing that these kids don’t speak for all students.” And here’s one last thing, something that no one in the media is considering or talking about that she said: “Every single day since we’ve come back to school, I have kids out in the hall crying because of the emotional toll that it’s taken, and we haven’t started to heal yet, because we’re in the news every single day, and every single day there are helicopters circling overhead.” So the kids in the school are actually traumatized and reminded on a daily basis of what occurred as much because of their fellow students grabbing that spotlight as they were by the events that took place.

What about other protests? On Friday, March 30^th, students staged a walkout at Rockledge High School in Florida. Where were the cameras? Where was the big pocket money folks who paid for the march in D.C.? Where were the adult organizers who planned out the entire event from the loudspeakers to the stages to the press coverage to organizing celebrities to setting up hotel accommodations and the rest? Or did you think “just teens” set all of that up? That it was actually “just teens” that were able to pull all of that off even though most aren’t old enough to rent a car. Another group of teens planned a staged walkout in California in support of anti-abortion activists. How much attention did that garner?

Through it all there are several facts that are completely ignored. The homicide rate in the US has dropped drastically since the 1970s as this graph using FBI statistics shows. 

Research by James Alan Fox at Northeastern University shows there is not a growing trend in school shootings. His research states:

“Mass school shootings are incredibly rare events. In research publishing later this year, Fox and doctoral student Emma Fridel found that on average, mass murders occur between 20 and 30 times per year, and about one of those incidents on average takes place at a school.
“Fridel and Fox used data collected by USA Today, the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Report, Congressional Research Service, Gun Violence Archive, Stanford Geospatial Center and Stanford Libraries, Mother Jones, Everytown for Gun Safety, and a NYPD report on active shooters.
“Their research also finds that shooting incidents involving students have been declining since the 1990s.
“Four times the number of children were killed in schools in the early 1990s than today, Fox said.
“There is not an epidemic of school shootings,” he said, adding that more kids are killed each year from pool drownings or bicycle accidents. There are around 55 million school children in the United States, and on average over the past 25 years, about 10 students per year were killed by gunfire at school, according to Fox and Fridel’s research.”

http://news.northeastern.edu/2018/02/26/schools-are-still-one-of-the-safest-places-for-children-researcher-says/

Fox also stated that the activists demand to outlaw certain guns would have little to no effect saying “The thing to remember is that these are extremely rare events, and no matter what you can come up with to prevent it, the shooter will have a workaround,” adding that over the past 35 years, there have been only five cases in which someone ages 18 to 20 used an assault rifle in a mass shooting.

A February 22 article in NEW YORK MAGAZINE said:

“Schools in the United States are safer today than at any time in recent memory. Criminal victimization in America’s education facilities has declined in tandem with the nation’s collapsing crime rate. Meanwhile, as of 2013, the year after the Newtown massacre, mass shootings accounted for only 1.5 percent of all gun deaths in the United States, or 502 total fatalities.”

Leah Libresco at the Washington Post, a newspaper that tends to lean far left, after doing research said:

“…my colleagues and I at FiveThirtyEight spent three months analyzing all 33,000 lives ended by guns each year in the United States, and I wound up frustrated in a whole new way. We looked at what interventions might have saved those people, and the case for the policies I’d lobbied for crumbled when I examined the evidence...
“I researched the strictly tightened gun laws in Britain and Australia and concluded that they didn’t prove much about what America’s policy should be. Neither nation experienced drops in mass shootings or other gun related-crime that could be attributed to their buybacks and bans. Mass shootings were too rare in Australia for their absence after the buyback program to be clear evidence of progress. And in both Australia and Britain, the gun restrictions had an ambiguous effect on other gun-related crimes or deaths...
“By the time we published our project, I didn’t believe in many of the interventions I’d heard politicians tout. I was still anti-gun, at least from the point of view of most gun owners, and I don’t want a gun in my home, as I think the risk outweighs the benefits. But I can’t endorse policies whose only selling point is that gun owners hate them.”

There is also the fact that while gun ownership has dramatically increased gun homicides have rapidly fallen. Consider this graph that shows the factual difference between the two.

  

So why do people talk about David Hogg and the other teens who are supposedly just speaking their mind about gun control? Perhaps it’s because the things they are saying aren’t based on facts but on political sloganeering. Perhaps it’s because most of us have enough common sense to realize that it isn’t just a group of grass root teens who suddenly know how to do all the things needed to stage an organized march in D.C. Perhaps it's because it's all about activism and not about real concepts that could help. Instead maybe these teens are being used as pawns by someone else with a different agenda. Someone who knows that by saying anything against these teens they can portray you as being insensitive to their traumatized personas, at least the traumatization they portray. Just because you’re a teen does not provide you free reign to call others name, to insult people, to attempt to destroy a person’s career or to silence those who disagree with you. If you step onto the public stage know that there are some who will call you out.

No one is speaking out against common sense solutions to the problem of gun violence or disagreeing with those who ask for it. But those aren’t the issues that we hear anyone talking about. Speaking out against the NRA and gun owners gets better and more press coverage. You may make a comment somewhere about mental health issues but that’s not spotlight material and you know it. And if you choose to take center stage know that it makes you open to disagreement or to be called out on your claims. So feel free to focus more on creating slogans, raising your fist and chanting. It will allow you your 15 minutes of fame and when it’s all said and done you won’t be fanning the flames of revolution but just be another spark in the pages of history that died out once the controversy ended and the cameras stopped rolling.

THE REAL SOLUTION

The discussion of gun control has come up again in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Gun control proponents launched an attack on guns within minutes of the shooting occurring.

On the left the DNC within 24 used the shooting as a fund raiser sending out emails calling for people to help go after the NRA. What they didn't note immediately was that their funds were running dangerously thin and that once you clicked you were taken to a link asking you to donate money. My own feeling is this is rather ghoulish, using the bodies of the dead to fill your pockets for political purposes.

Teens from the school spoke out. A few were more vocal than others. But that's because they'd been activists prior to the shooting. While most students in high school are still unsure of what they want to do upon graduation a few of these knew they wanted to become professional activists or news reporters. It's good to have a goal but again, a bit ghoulish to attempt to elevate your status on the bodies of fellow classmates. What if they had done what the writer of the letter at the end of this piece suggests?

On the right the NRA went into defense mode but then again they were being attacked from all sides. They defended the 2nd amendment and claimed that this was what they stood for. Those who attacked them said that the blood of the students was on their hands and yet no NRA member shot anyone or encouraged anyone to do so. That argument developed into questioning the tax status of the NRA and why they were considered a charity at all.

All charities have a goal, an intention, of what they want to accomplish. When it comes to the definition of charity I think that's one place where it gets confusing. If, like me, you consider a charity to be an organization setting out to help those less fortunate then it would be surprising to learn that the NRA is considered a charitable organization when it comes to taxes.

But that's not the legal definition of a charity according to the IRS. According to urban.org "The Internal Revenue Service refers in its publications to organizations meeting the definition from section 501(c)(3) as "charities." However, section 501(c)(3) provides that an eligible organization may have any one or more of the following purposes: "charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and preventing cruelty to children or animals."" (https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/the-legal-meaning-of-charity.pdf)

The goal of the NRA is firearm education and they encourage young people to learn firearm safety. In addition to that from their web site "Today, youth programs are still a cornerstone of the NRA, with more than one million youth participating in NRA shooting sports events and affiliated programs with groups such as 4-H, the Boy Scouts of America, the American Legion, Royal Rangers, National High School Rodeo Association and others." Their goal is "commitment to training, education and marksmanship." (https://home.nra.org/about-the-nra/) So under the IRS standards the group is testing for public safety, educating people in the use of firearms and fostering sports competitions, all of which places them in the terms of a charitable organization.

There are probably over a million organizations that qualify for charitable status under these guidelines. I'm adding a link to guidestar.org. They list charities by category there. It's amazing to see how many there are. Under "Animal Protection, Welfare and Services" for instance there are over 23,000 charities listed. The NRA is listed there as well as why they qualify. Here is their link: https://www.guidestar.org/NonprofitDirectory.aspx

The next attack on the NRA focused on their ability to donate to political concepts. The argument ignored the fact that they donated to both parties and focused on the fact that most of that money went to Republicans. What it also failed to note was that this is because Republicans tend to support the 2nd amendment while Democrats tend to want it curtailed. So the claim that the NRA was unduly influencing elections based on who they donated to was brought up. The amounts they donated depended on who you read. They ranged anywhere from $1 million to $100 million. According to opensecrets.com the amount they listed was $1,085,100. Of course this wouldn't include the amount the used on advertising but that number increases for every charitable organization that lobbies or advertises for a party or politician. The amount the NRA was negligible when compared to others.

For example look at the amount that Planned Parenthood donated during the same time period. Planned Parenthood is also considered a charitable organization under the conditions used to qualify the NRA. One major difference to note is that while the NRA takes no money from the government Planned Parenthood receives over $500 million from them. According to opensecrets Planned Parenthood spent $4,070,102. That's just shy of $3 million more than the NRA. The NRA has killed zero people during the years of 2016 which these figures come from. According to their own information, Planned Parenthood was responsible for the abortion of 800 unborns per day or 292,000 unborns in a single year.

Did you know that labor unions are considered non-profits and thus tax exempt? Teachers unions spent $32 million on the last campaign. From Huffington Post "labor unions have donated more than $132 million to super PACs and spent an additional $35 million on federal elections." (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/labor-union-election-2016_us_58223b92e4b0e80b02cd7259) Then according to the Washington Free Beacon "The National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR), a nonprofit union watchdog, found that unions spent $1.713 billion on political activities and lobbying." (http://freebeacon.com/issues/labor-spent-billion-politics-2016/) All of them tax free organizations. None of this is to demonize one group over another. But when setting criteria to consider one group wrong or evil that same criteria should be applied to all sides of the issue.

The question of a charity to donate to a lobbyists was raised, claiming it was illegal to do so. The reality is that it is not illegal at all. It IS illegal for them to donate to a politician according to the FEC. But the thing is it ISN'T illegal for them to spend money on lobbying. Not my opinion here but that put forth by the American Bar Association. One article presented by the ABA also explains why it is important for charitable organizations to be able to do so. Here is a link to them discussing it. https://apps.americanbar.org/buslaw/blt/2009-03-04/mehta.shtml

The next attack on the NRA was about them starting various items to qualify for legal status as a charity. The fact is that the NRA began teaching young people as far back as 1903, long before the definitions of a group to qualify for charitable status were even put in place. Claims of the NRA using "shady" tactics to qualify for charitable status were tossed about.

But what about the mob connections to unions? Mob members would insert themselves into labor unions and then rob their pensions blind. That didn't help the union members. In addition to that the mob would use their union clout to support various politicians either by having them vote a particular way or box office intimidation. In 1957, Senator John L. McClellan began a series of hearings that would last into the 1960s. The corruption and connections between the mob and Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa is well known and written about. And yet they're considered a charity.

Greenpeace, whose goal is supposedly to preserve wilderness and animals, has done things like spiked trees, the end result of which is damage to the property of the logging companies and injury to those workers. They've committed arson against housing developments, SUV dealerships, and chain stores and have gone so far as to bomb construction sites. And yet they're considered a charity.

PETA has donated money to known eco-terrorists. They provided $70,000 to the defense of Rodney Coronado who was convicted of arson. They've donated money to ELF (Earth Liberation Front), who the FBI says "more than 600 criminal acts in the United States since 1996." And while claiming to be all about saving animals PETA kills more animals each year than animal shelters do. And yet they're considered a charity.

The end result of all of these attacks on the NRA boil down to one thing. The NRA was not responsible for the shootings that took place that morning in Parkland, FL. The attacks on the NRA were nothing more than political pandering, an attempt to present a boogeyman to the public and foment anger towards a group that supports one side more than the other. And it accomplished nothing with the exception of raising the personal profiles of a few people leading the attack.

It's far too easy for the discussion to get bogged down in an attack or defense of the NRA and that has been one of the major problems in the discussion. It does nothing to solve the problem but does everything to line the bank accounts of those who attack or defend.

And still the outcry was that "something must be done". What so many fail to recognize is that this same outcry has been going on for decades now. Never a solution that actually applies to the situation but always an attempt to smear someone or some organization along with the same demand something be done. A major issue we face is the realization that times and the world have changed. As political commentator Tyrus noted when the planes hit the World Trade Center the world changed and the end result was the TSA at every airport in the country. Hopefully this shooting will force the hand of those in power to actually do something that helps rather than divides people.

Protests will accomplish nothing with the exception of raising the political profile of those behind it all. Rather than creating a solution it will lead to more chants, more demonstrations and more movements. Their demands are always vague and provide an opening so that even when it appears their demands have been met there is always a next item, a next agenda, to protest. In essence it provides them with an occupation rather than their helping to fix a certain problem. The problem leapfrogs to the next problem.

Walkouts in schools across the country will solve nothing. They will provide the 2-4 students who are activists minded a chance to claim the spotlight at their school and on local news. The rest of the students will join in to be a part of something or will just take advantage of the situation and enjoy the chance to be out of the classroom. Remember these were the students that following the shooting were calling in threats around the country in an attempt to get school canceled for whatever reason. Hundreds of those events happened.

No one will confront the major issue that are causing these shootings. It is the shooter not the weapon that is responsible. Mental issues that are ignored. Alienation from others. People who retreat into a reclusive world of call phones and social media at the exclusion of others. Becoming involved and interacting with each other as human beings rather than blips on a screen.

I was in high school over 40 years ago. Looking back on those days I can see things we did wrong. I can see the kids that we picked on or tormented and feel shame about it. I can see the times I was picked on and realize that the kids doing so were just stupid kids like I was. The thing is none of us ever went off the deep end and felt the need to actually, physically kill anyone. So what's the difference?

So many things. We weren't playing games where the objective was to literally blow off someone's head in a blood mist of gore. We talked to each other face to face and spent time together in person rather than face timing on the cell phone. Our parents, even when both were working, made an effort to spend time with us. We even went so far as to, Heaven forbid, sit down to eat dinner together. At the dinner table! We knew each other's parents and those parents knew us. Some (my mom) would go so far as to ream out the entire group for bad grades once they (she) had finished with their own child (me). And we respected them and knew it was in our best interests.

But something has changed in schools today. The "mean girls" have gotten much worse. Kids don't talk to one another as much. And when they do spend time together far too much of that time is spent on cell phones checking out their status on one format or another. Things that no one would have said face to face back then and that would have taken far too much effort to write on a bathroom wall are being sent out to the twitterverse or on Facebook with alarming speed and increased vitriol. What might once have been stated as someone being easy has exploded into graphic details of what someone might do in private. And the kids are not just doing things in private but taking pictures or filming it only to find themselves hacked and their private lives distributed for all to see. In essence the humanity has been degraded and dropped down to a level unlike what we experienced.

But on a rare occasion words of wisdom filter out among the masses that need shared. I came across and interesting letter that was posted on various timelines and was also featured on the website for KTSA. I can't verify that the author is real or that this simple suggestion for civility actually came from a former teacher. That doesn't really matter though does it? In the end what he suggests is something we should all consider. The suggestion provides more solutions than a decade full of walkouts and protests. So maybe time should be taken to read this letter and apply it, not just in schools but in all walks of life. If you can get out and about, apply this and let's see the results in action. It's time to stop being a part of the problem by crying out for someone else to do something and to take responsibility yourself and make a difference on a daily basis. If you don't then your real cause is not to find a solution but to gather attention for yourself.

"Dear Students,
I know you. I am a retired teacher of 24 years. I have taught you as 7th graders all the way through 12th grade. This is not a tweet or a text. It's called a letter; lengthy and substantial. Do you really want to make a difference? Are you sincere about making your schools safe? Don't walk out, read this instead. Walking out of school is easy compared to what this letter will challenge you to do.

First of all, put down your stupid phone. Look around you at your classmates. Do you see the kid over in the corner, alone? He could likely be our next shooter. He needs a friend. He needs you. Go and talk to him, befriend him. Chances are, he won't be easy to like, but it's mainly because no one has tried to like him. Ask him about him. Get to know him. He's just like you in that respect; he wants someone to recognize him as a fellow human being but few people have ever given him the chance. You can.

Next, see that kid eating lunch all alone? He could likely be our next shooter. Invite him to eat lunch with you. Introduce him into your fold of friends. You'll most likely catch a lot of flack from the friends you eat with because they don't want him upsetting the balance of their social order. After all, who you hang out with is critical to your status, is it not? If status is important to you, don't you think it's important to him also? The only difference being that he has no status because generally, shooters have no friends. Are you serious about wanting to make your school safe? Invite him to your lunch table and challenge your friends to do something meaningful with thirty minutes of their lives each day.

Lastly, are you completely frustrated by that kid who always disrupts your class and is consistently sent to the principal's office? He could likely be our next shooter. Do you know why he causes so much trouble? He initiates disruption because that's the only thing he does that gets him attention, and even bad attention is better than the no attention he receives from you and your classmates. You secretly wish he would get kicked out of school or sent to the alternative disciplinary school so that he wouldn't disrupt your classes anymore, that somehow, he would just disappear. Guess what? He already feels invisible in a school of thousands of classmates, you included. So, before he acts out in your next class, why don't you tell him you'd be willing to help him with the assignment that was just given? Or why don't you ask him to join your study group? If you really want to blow his mind, ask him for help on the assignment. He's never been asked that. Ever.

If you've read this far, you probably really do care about the safety of your school. Don't trust that walking out of school will bring an answer. Gun control or more laws is not, and will not, be the answer. You are the answer. Your greeting, your smile, your gentle human touch is the only thing that can change the world of a desperate classmate who may be contemplating something as horrendous as a school shooting. Look past yourself and look past your phone and look into the eyes of a student who no one else sees. Meet the gaze of a fellow human being desperate to make contact with anyone, even just one person. You. If you really feel the need to walk, walk toward that person. Your new friendship can relieve the heartache of one person and in doing so, possibly prevent the unjustifiable heartache of hundreds of lives in the future. I know you. I trust you. You are the answer.

And teachers, my fellow guardians of our youth, I know you too. I know the desire of wanting to make a difference in a young person's life. I know the thrill of stepping in front of a classroom of students but simultaneously intimidated by the trust bestowed upon you. I also know the crushing, sometimes unbearable responsibility that your shoulders are asked to carry. But that's why you got into teaching, because you have big shoulders. And a big heart. You're overworked (I would add underpaid, but you didn't get into teaching for the pay, so it needn't be said), underappreciated and exhausted. May I add one more item to that list? You're also a miracle waiting to happen in the life of your worst student. He could likely be our next shooter. The next time (and there's always a next time) he's ready to wreak havoc in your classroom, I challenge you to pull him aside and ask him if he's ok, if there is something bothering him and is there anything you can do to help? Your genuine concern for him may be just the miracle he's looking for. The miracle we're all looking for. I know you. I trust you. You are the answer.
A former teacher who is as heartbroken as you and trusting you not to walk out on the real answer,

David (yes, teachers really do have first names) Blair

IT'S TIME WE ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING

With the latest school shooting the outcry to do something has come forward again. It's always the same. "We have to do something!" Politicians come out and blame everything but the shooter. Some blame guns. Some blame the NRA. Some blame the Republicans. Rather than deal with the situation itself, rather than blame the shooter they search for another reason.

The first is we need to stop looking for a boogeyman other than the perpetrator. When someone says something like the Republicans and the NRA are responsible for the deaths of these children it not only is a blatant lie but a comment that just closes the doors to conversation in search of a solution. So let's stop with the political posturing, toss politics out the door and focus on the solution okay?

So here are, in my opinion, some things that need to happen.

The media needs to change it's focus. Abandon the concept that if it bleeds it leads because this is the blood of our children and you should never profit from that. Report what happens and stop making the shooter the hero of the story. Stop sharing his name and picture 24/7. Research has shown that these sick individuals read about that, emulate it, collect clippings about other shooters and alter their methods based on fact provided to them by a willing press. The same press who acts outraged afterwards.

We have a system of "see something, say something". That works fine as long as law enforcement then follows up with "do something". If someone notes something and reports it, follow up. If it continues then do something about it. If you can't legally do something then talk to legislatures about changing the laws so something can be done. At the same time we have to realize that there are only so many law enforcement members out there. We need more and they need funded. Let's make sure that happens.

Teens in locations like farms and more will be using guns on their property. But weapons like (not limited to) the AR-15 should be illegal for people under 21. If they can't drink a beer they should be armed with this. This allows for hunting for sport, for target practice and for killing predators on their property while younger.

Times have changed. We need professional security in our schools. Well trained people. There are plenty of veterans who return home who are looking for work. Wouldn't it be nice to have some of them inside a school protecting our children? The response time for most police calls averages between 3 and 5 minutes. How many lives could be saved by someone on site?

Teachers who are interested in learning how to be armed and deal with these situations should be encouraged to do so. Secure lock boxes with a weapon in their classroom would provide a weapon only the teacher would have access to if their was a need. Make it accessible only by fingerprint or retina scan if you are worried about anyone getting into it. But several times a teacher with a weapon has stopped a shooting from becoming a mass one.

There should be no soft target locations. By making them soft targets it opens the doors for those who don't abide by the law and convert them into kill zones. Maybe you feel safer that someone isn't carrying a gun in a theater with you. Then again a shooter knows that so he realizes he has a room full of targets with no opposition. Those who qualify, who are licensed for conceal carry and who have been trained should be allowed.

We need a central database in this country for data on felons and mentally unstable individuals that can be accessed by law enforcement. When someone goes to purchase a gun that database could be accessed. And by mentally unstable let's get a well thought out definition. Someone who has another person help them with their finances doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed to defend themselves.

If an algorithm can be developed to track my every move on the internet, suggesting items I might want to purchase at every web site I go to based on what I've viewed then why can't one be developed to track potential threats like this one? How does amazon know I like a particular kind of movie yet the FBI can't find out who posted a comment on Youtube. Maybe that's something silicon valley could be working on rather than the next generation of games made for children that shows heads blow apart in a blood mist.

We need to address mental illness in this country. Do not make that a political or civil rights issue. A person in need of help should get help. If the warning signs are there and ignored they do us no good. Rather than spend government dollars on things like determining why ketchup comes out of the bottle so slow (yes that was an actual project funded by our government) use that money for mental health centers. It would eliminate a number of potential shooters as well as help with the homeless problem in some instances.

Lastly while these items are all things that we as a society can request we must all also take some responsibilities ourselves. Parents need to be involved in their kids lives more than just taking them from one activity to another. Families need to sit down and talk at dinner rather than turn on the TV. Parents should know which games their kids are playing and what's in those games. The shows they watch should be monitored as well. A 10 year old has no business watching GAME OF THRONES unsupervised even if you enjoy it. It's too easy to say you love your kids and worry about them after a tragedy like this. You should do it daily not just in words but in actions. If they misbehave it is your job to correct that behavior. If they act out it is your job to punish them. If they do bad in school it is your job to encourage them and try to help them or get them additional help. And if the other parents aren't doing that set their kids straight too when they're in your home. My mom once gave me hell for a bad grade while my friends sat around the kitchen table and listened. When she was done with me she laid into each of them. Fortunately most had done okay. LOL. But she, as well as the rest of my friend's moms, took an interest in each of us.

I know, long winded as usual. LOL. But this is not an issue that will be solved by slogans, by people thinking the only solution is to ban ALL guns or by politicians looking to score points with their constituents. Some of these solutions are ones I've thought of, some I heard others state. But simply saying "something has to be done" proves to me you're an idiot. Come up with a solution, pursue seeing it happen or sit down and shut up. Otherwise you're just part of the problem.