another school shooting

Jackie012007 wrote: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23171567?GT1=10856

Anthony275 replied: weird thing is, i was thinking about one happening today

Calimama replied: It's so awful. Makes me scared to go to school.

Jackie012007 replied:
tell me about it. I worry more about sending Carly to school in the future. Those poor families!

Calimama replied:
Miabella's never leaving the house.

Anthony275 replied:
she went out today....

Calimama replied:
I didn't mean it LITERALLY.

MoonMama replied: That is so awful!

Jackie012007 replied: the worst part is - msnbc posted a forum type thing where students could put their names and let their families know they were okay - because the phone lines are so jammed from people calling in and out - and there are a bunch of idiots arguing over gun control back and forth on it . These poor parents keep posting, telling them to stop wasting the space and they just ignore or insult them. What the heck is this world coming to??

I had already thought about homeschooling Carly if we are still living here by the time she is school-aged (horrible school system) - now I'm really thinking about it seriously.

sparkys2boys replied: So sad. Its not even safe to go to school anymoe. Makes you wonder about your kids growing up and sending them off

gr33n3y3z replied: So sad .....
Why do ppl. have to do that

lisar replied: That is so sad.

mckayleesmom replied:

ZandersMama replied: I'm not letting my kids out ever unless I am holding their hands.

3xsthefun replied: That is awful.

Kentuckychick replied:
That is horrible. And I'm sure they will spill the rhetoric of "freedom of speech" and all that. The truth of the matter is that any reasonable, kind and respectful individual knows that there is a time and a place to display that right... and then... there's a time and a place to shut your mouth and allow these families to be able to find out if their children are alive and safe.

It saddens me to realize what a sick world we live in sometimes...

jcc64 replied: I agree that it was an inappropriate time and place to vent strong feelings about gun control. But I think when people are traumatized in such a radical way, their reactions are not always measured, controlled, or even socially acceptable. I'm sure everyone involved was raw and angry and shocked and grief stricken and so on. We all have times when we are better or less able to control our virtual mouths, even right here in our little PC world, and I would suspect that the people at that school just didn't know what to do with all of their feelings.
Having said that, everytime we have one of these mass killings, I do wonder why we cannot have a legitimate conversation about the easy availability of guns to mentally ill people. We've had the arguments here over and over again- I can predict exactly how it will all go and who will say what. The thing is, we all tiptoe around the fact that guns are at the heart of the amount of destruction that one crazy person is able to unleash in a short period of time. The world will always have crazy people- but why do we have to make it so much easier for them to do harm to our children. We can't hold our children's hands forever, at some point, your kids are going to be out there in the world, like it or not, and they could be the one sitting next to the nut with the gun next time.
I am not, I repeat, I am NOT suggesting that we take everyone's beloved firearms away. I know that the majority of gunowners are responsible. I know that someone that wants to get a gun will get one regardless of the law. But that doesn't mean we have to throw the doors open wide and invite all the freaks to the party, kwim?? Drugs are illegal, and yet that doesn't seem to stop those who want them from getting them. And yet, we don't use that argument to do away with drug legislation and mandatory minimum sentences. The same goes for guns. We as a society have to find a balance- a way to protect the constitution while simultaneously protecting our children, who are unable to protect themselves. It can be done, but there has to be a willingness to compromise somewhere. Why can't we do that?

Kentuckychick replied:
I haven't actually seen the message board so I probably shouldn't have assumed this, but I assumed that those leaving these messages weren't individuals from the school or the families involved...
That said if it were people who've actually been through the experience and are angry and are venting... that's one thing.

On the other hand, if it's random people, like you or I who are removed from the situation at this time going onto that message board and spewing our points of view, that's when I would say it's completely unacceptable.

And I whole heartedly agree with all that you said about discussions about guns and gun violence and gun laws. The discussions are often horrible. We're all adults and there's no reason we can't have differing opinions.
They've already said on the news that this young man was able to go in and buy that gun two days ago and that there's no way they could have done the appropriate complete background checks required by the Brady law... that's not to say they would have come up with anything... but it just shows that buying a gun in this country can be and is often way to easy. It doesn't mean I'm saying you shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun... it just means that I believe some things seriously need to change.

Celestrina replied: I also feel sorry for the gunman's father. Seeing your son's name and picture all over the news, knowing what he did to all the other kids then himself. He has to be asking himself "where did I go wrong?", when from the sounds of it his son was mentally unstable. His yard is has to be full of reporters wanting a sound byte.

Kentuckychick replied:
Yeah... the news media sickens me too. I know when my brother went to Duke and they were going through that whole Lacrosse debacle he said the media would literally badger students everyday on the way to classes. He said that the president of the school and their professors were just telling them to simply say "no comment" and walk on but he said that he had plenty of words he wanted to say to them and none of them had anything to do with the news.

No matter what his son did... he's still dead and this family needs privacy and respect. It was because of the news media who released her information in the last school shooting that the shooters sister had to completely uproot her life and quit her job. They are grieving to and deserve respect.

A&A'smommy replied: how scary... you can't go anywhere anymore without fear!!

:.Mrs_Mommy.: replied: I worry constantly about my children going to middle and high school. Last year we had 2 lockdowns of the entire school system. The first one there was a man with a gun (it turned out that it was a hoax) and the second one there was a bomb threat (turned out to be a smoke bomb in a locker). Just a couple weeks ago there was a high school student who hung himself at one of the middle schools in the football field.

It really terrifies me when I think about my children being in these environments. I just hope when they are old enough for middle school and high school we can find a small town or can afford a private school for them all.

We live in a fairly small city, around 60,000, and it is still to bad for me here.

HuskerMom replied: It is really scary because it could happen anywhere. My brother said there was a bomb threat at UNO on the 14th in the building where he would've been. They went through the whole building and didn't find anything. Then they said it was safe to go to class that day but he skipped anyway.