guns in school

[tinkerlion]

First-grader has loaded gun in school

By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writer

A 6-year-old first-grader will probably be suspended after he was caught Tuesday showing a loaded .38-caliber pistol to other students during lunch and breakfast breaks at Cumberland Elementary, Metro school officials said.

It was the second time in as many days that guns have been seized from students at Metro schools. On Monday, two 15-year-old ninth-graders were arrested on charges of carrying a gun at McGavock High School, Metro police said.


The incidents come as three deadly school shootings during the past week led the Bush administration this week to call for a federal summit on school violence.

In the Cumberland Elementary School incident, the child was caught after his friends innocently asked the teacher if she wanted to see the gun, school officials said. The teacher looked in the student's backpack and called police when she found the weapon.

Metro schools officials yesterday blamed the child's family for keeping the gun within the child's reach.

"This is not a case where an irresponsible child acted here," said Ralph Thompson, Metro schools' assistant superintendent of student services. "This is a case where we had parents that just needed to be careful. All parents need to be careful where they leave their weapons, particularly in a situation where they are easily accessible to these children."

Detectives from the Metro Police Youth Services division are investigating whether adults will face criminal charges for keeping the gun within reach of the child.

The student will probably be suspended under state and local zero-tolerance laws, Thompson said. The case will be referred to the Tennessee Department of Children's Services for investigation, he said.

In the McGavock incident, one of the two arrested students said the unloaded gun, which had been passed between the two, was brought to school for protection, police said.

Discovery of the firearms comes at a time when schools nationwide are on heightened alert against gun violence.

On Monday, a gunman entered a tiny one-room Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Penn., and shot several young girls after lining them up against a wall. Five girls died, and Tuesday several others remained hospitalized.

On Friday, a troubled teen killed his school principal in rural Wisconsin after being disciplined for tobacco use.

Two days earlier, in Bailey, Colo., a gunman took several girls hostage in a school classroom, sexually molested them and then killed one of them, before turning the gun on himself.

During the previous school year, 12 guns were found inside Metro schools, school officials said. That number came close to the 1999-2000 school year, when a record 13 guns were recovered, Metro school officials said. •

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061004/NEWS03/610040406



this is just crazy. i remember the horror of columbine. it happen just a year after i graduated high school and i was blown away. now it seems like it's almost common event. all too often when i look at the drudgereport i see news of another school shooting.

what do you think, is this a more common occurance now, or did i just have my head in the sand before?

[Barefoot2Dream]

A 6-year-old first-grader will probably be suspended after he was caught Tuesday showing a loaded .38-caliber pistol to other students during lunch and breakfast breaks at Cumberland Elementary, Metro school officials said.

Probably? WTF? Maybe he's only 6 years old but come on, they'll probably take some sort of disciplinary action? If my 5 year old son took a gun to school I certainly hope the school would do something about it. Damn straight as his mama I would!

When my son started kindergarten this year we had to put together a whole emergency plan for him & his diabetic needs in case his school was ever in lockdown. It seemed to me like such an unlikely scenario until this last week or so. But then this week a school in a neighborhood near me was on lockdown because of a student on campus with a gun. I guess if it can happen in a one-room school house in an Amish community it can happen anywhere.

[sway2sway]

It's been a bad week. It's scary and depressing. when I think of it all, I start to sweat, I feel that wave of nausea swirling, something akin to what a panic attack might feel like, I'm guessing. My brain just goes into overempathy mode, I imagine being a child in the situation, I imagine being a parent, I imagine being a friend. I start to cry, then I make myself snap out of it. Then my mind drifts back to things like "lubricant found in the bag, wire straps, girls aged 6-12 lined up at the blackboard". It's just so un-everything.
To me it seems like the gap is widening between the emotional haves and the emotional have nots, it's like an uprising of feudal serfs, oh hell, I don't know, I wish someone knew.
love.

[the duke]

:confused: this is what I find difficult to understand...Bush has said there's a need to address school security and school violence....do you think that if gun control was looked at things might be different???

Nowhere else in the developed world can I think of that people freely carry guns around for protection...it's ridiculous!

I was at school in AL when columbine happened...it's strange to think nothing like that would happen here....I dunno, you american's are screwed up :rolleyes:

[tinkerlion]

i don't know if gun control would do it or not. if there were more restrictions on guns there would be an uproar about that.:rolleyes: the town i live in actually has a law that you must own a gun. it's an old law that isn't enforced, but still technically a law. of course i won't allow a gun in the house.

i don't know. you're right, we americans are all screwed up.

[sway2sway]

I wrote a whole bunch of shit, then my cat jumped on the keyboard and erased it all with one fell paw. (IF I had a water gun I'd shoot the bugger-and that's no joke).

I think gun control laws would make a difference in a lot of ways. I don't think laws are gonna stop the homicidal maniac. If something is illegal, if you really want it, the laws are of little consequence. There was a shooting at a college in Montreal just last week or the week before, as well.
I read something by a criminology professor tonight. He said it's human nature to look for a scapegoat in times of turmoil. In this type of case, it's blaming prolific gun ownership, video games, movies, bad parenting, drugs/alcohol, or overcoverage by the media (creating an air of complacency and copycattism- or is that copycattery, or double pussery).
He suggested it is far simpler than any of that. His suggestion was that this rash of school shootings has come about because summer is over and classes are back in. I'm not sure it's that simple, but I'm not feeling lucky enough to hazard a guess.

[ramble on rose]

I try not to watch the news to much, but it seems lately whenever I turn it on there has been these gun problems in school. The shooting at the amish school really got tto me. It just sends me into a whirl-wind of what if's. I have a little girl, and it scarea me to think something could happen to her, the odds are in our favor i feel, but one never knows. Mr. R and I were watching the micheal moore movie and he states that in our country guns kill over 10,000 people a year in our country, other countries are barely in double digets for gun killings. Wtf is wrong with us? Why would people want to shoot children, and what is wrong with our youth? I can think of a number of things wrong with us and our focus in this country but I don't like to get into that kind of shit. It is a scary thing to think about when you have kids in your life. Wether you are a parent an aunt or uncle a cousin or a teacher or whatever it is scary. The way the world is, is one of the reasons I do not want to have more children, too scary. then I wonder way we cannot put more money into ourselves in this country, but we can give away one million dollars on a game show or in the lottery. Why is it we cannot take some of this money that we use to drain our brains with mindless tv and fix up a town or feed some folks or strengthn a community or secure a school?? It alomost makes me want to home school, but I know I cannot shelter my child from the world. I just try to keep myself active in what goes on in her school and prepare her as best I can for what the world is like without taking away from the few years of innocence she has. All this nonsense does is give me stress, as if i do not have enough to stress about in this life. Always gotta take the time to breath and enjoy. One love.

[lietuvaite]

do you think that if gun control was looked at things might be different???

Nowhere else in the developed world can I think of that people freely carry guns around for protection

exactly. bowling for colombine adresses this issue. i don't remember the statistics, but the number of murders in the U.S. is ridiculously high compared to all othr countries.

[ramble on rose]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15142930/?GT1=8618


check this article out. Talk about the insanity of carrying guns for protection. A Wisconsin official thinks teachers and principals should be able to carry concealed weapons in schools. Nuts, this world is nuts.

[sway2sway]

I really like this one Sauce posted a while ago by Bill Hicks.
I swear, we aren't the crazy ones.

"The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace."

[the duke]

we had a massacre about 10 years ago, where a crazy dude went on a killing spree in a little town in Tasmania. He killed 35 people injured a bunch of others, and right after that our gun control laws were changed. There was a gun amnesty and people turned in their guns that they didn't need according to the laws...and for that, i think we're a better country for it.

Rose, it's a sad sad day when you realise that you don't want to bring a child into the world because it's too scary...that's an issue I have at the moment...

[ramble on rose]

Duke, it really is. I have trouble with it at times because I know my little one would be a great sister. But with all the bullshit in the world it is scary to think of more people to be responsible for and protect. We all need to find our ways to deal I suppose.

[Barefoot2Dream]

the old quote about "to have a child is to have your heart walk about outside your body forever" is soooo completely true.

But I fee having children is an act of faith. Faith that the world is going somewhere good. Faith that in our children's lifetimes it will be a better place than it is now. The world outside seems to show us all to often the contrary but I like to think thus far I have spent my life being a better person, doing what I can to make this a better place. I am raising my kids in the hopes that they someday can continue my legacy (small as it might be). If we stopped having children out of fear, who would win?

~one love (to hear my kids say it is sooo much better ;) )

[ramble on rose]

that is a beautiful way to look at it barefoot. I wish I could have that kind of faith, but man is it hard.

[sway2sway]

yeah that is a beautiful perspective Barefoot. I don't think I've ever heard that quote before either, it's definately apt. I'm all about faith, hope and goodness-wrapped up in a hard candy shell. once in a while the shell cracks and the insides ooze out, but it's only ever been temporary.

someone emailed me this article yesterday, it's about how the Amish are dealing with the shooting tragedy within their community.
************************************************** ********
The Amish of Lancaster County, often seen as living in an idyllic but
archaic past, have given a powerful example for the future. Their actions
since the school shootings that killed five Amish girls provide one of many
ways to prevent such tragedies.

Previous school shootings, notably the 1999 murders at Columbine High
School, have led to calls for any number of useful, preventive measures,
such as tighter security, more federal gun control, antibullying training
for young children, more parental vigilance in communities, and closer
screening of wayward students. And perhaps, as a result, many shootings have
been prevented.

Those Old Order Amish who live a secluded life near the school at Nickel
Mines, Pa., have a different idea.

Their faith in the power of forgiveness led them to invite the widow of the
non-Amish killer, Charles Carl Roberts IV, to the funeral for four of the
slain girls. One Amish woman told a reporter, "It's our Christian love to
show to her we have not any grudges against her."

This isn't surprising. It is common for the Amish to invite car drivers who
have killed one of their community members to the funeral. Such a
compassionate response reveals a belief that each individual is responsible
to counter violence by expressing comfort - a sort of prayer in action.

After Monday's killings, the grandfather of one of the slain girls went to
the home of Roberts's father, consoling and hugging him, pouring forth a
love and innocence of the kind remembered of the girls in the school. "He
extended the hope of forgiveness that we all need these days," said a
Roberts family spokesman, the Rev. Dwight Lefever of Living Faith Church of
God. "'God met us in that kitchen."

Such examples of forgiveness are often inspiring because, to many, they are
so difficult and so rare. After previous school shootings, some families of
victims have also sought to extend forgiveness to the killers of their
children. The Amish, although known for a rigid shunning of members who
adopt other ways, are emphatic about forgiveness, perhaps making it easier
for them. It's one way they've held their communities together since the
18th century.

Like everyone, the Amish also seek justice for a crime, even as they
struggle to forgive. Even so, as Abraham Lincoln said, "I have always found
that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."

Such qualities are a corrective to the tendency to see evil as a real
possibility and fear of it as necessary. "I don't understand it," said one
Mennonite woman, speaking of the shooting, "but it's not from God. He wants
us to love one another." Forgiveness helps resist the impression that humans
can act like animals. It spreads a sensitivity to the needs of others,
especially those whose inner torments might lead to shootings.

Some Amish saw Roberts as someone in need of help. Despite the guilt of his
act, he was probably a man who needed to regain his child-like innocence,
and heal his anger and the mental demons of the past.

While Roberts is now gone, the Amish example of forgiveness is a reminder
that real safety lies less in acting out of fear to prevent violence and
more on qualities such as forgiveness that better connect people. Such
compassion reduces fears and reaches those prone to violence

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1006/p08s01-comv.html

[japhy]

Duke, it really is. I have trouble with it at times because I know my little one would be a great sister. But with all the bullshit in the world it is scary to think of more people to be responsible for and protect. We all need to find our ways to deal I suppose.


I totally agree, it is freakin nuts and technology makes it even nuttier with online predators, myspace stalkers, etc....definitely things to be aware of and discussed but overall mankind is good, and that's what we need to keep remembering, even though we may need to be reminded sometimes(atleast I do!)........and adoption could always be an option too, save an unwanted life, plenty in Amer. that need saving.

[lietuvaite]

Now that's forgiveness....
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/07/amish.mourners.ap/index.html

i heard that on Dateline last night. that is incredible

[the duke]

yeah it's amazing that they pledge forgiveness rather than hate...imagine if other things were like that....:p