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What can be done?

© Beth Skinner

I firmly believe that there is not a great deal that "can be done" in terms of preventing these random school shootings. According to University of Colorado Professor Del Elliott a student has a "one in ten million chance of getting killed in a school shooting." Asking what can be done to prevent a statistical anomaly is like asking what you can do to win the lottery. Is it better to pick your own numbers or let the machine pick them? Should I pick higher or lower numbers? The chances of winning are so obscure there is virtually nothing you can do, short of buying a ticket, to win the lottery.

I do however think that allowing adults on school property to arm themselves could be a start to preventing some school violence. When the general public is well aware of the fact that federal law prohibits anyone from possessing a gun on school property you can bet that criminals are well aware of that fact as well.

It makes the school children sitting ducks. This would not prevent shootings 100% but it may deter some. It certainly would do far less harm than the more popular idea that the government should make guns less accessible to people. Unfortunately the entire issue surrounding youth violence is now becoming a hot election year issue. Legislators who in the past would not have considered the gun control measures that are being proposed are now supporting them.

Mona Charen said, on CNN, "It's not going to help anything [gun control] but it's not going to hurt either." I maintain that unfortunately this is the attitude of a number of legislators also. They figure it can't hurt and hopefully they can count on their support of these measures to win a few votes as well. It is my contention though, that these measures are just the beginning. These measures that "can't hurt" are the slippery slope that may lead to more and more gun control. Far more than any of these legislators are picturing. Obviously I'm not the only one who thinks like this either because gun sales have skyrocketed since the Littleton massacre. Buyers are saying they fear the new wave of legislation and want to make sure they have their guns before their access becomes more limited. Many fear an outright ban on guns eventually.

Many of the teenagers who attended Columbine have spoken publicly about their beliefs regarding what causes individuals to turn violent. Their anecdotal evidence suggests they don't support the various theories such as gun control and restricting violent forms of entertainment. In fact it's the "children" who seem to think the majority of the blame rests solely on the shoulders of the killers themselves. What a novel idea!

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