My Rooney thoughts for October 26, 2014

Well, it’s happened again, here in the Northwest.  In Marysville, Washington at a local high school a distraught and misguided young man walked into the school cafeteria with a .40 caliber handgun and killed the girl who had refused his amorous advances.  Additionally, he wounded two others students before turning the gun on himself.  It’s a tragedy that’s being played out way too often, not only in Washington but all over the nation.

Ironically, on the same Friday of the above event, ballots were distributed state wide with two ballot initiatives intent on controlling gun licensing.  They would make obtaining a gun harder and it is estimated that many lives would be saved.  I think they’re right.  Anything that controls the distribution of fire arms will help prevent the loss of lives.  Our public deserves this protection; our first responders deserve this protection even more. 

These initiatives, and other well-intentioned initiatives like them, will not stop school shootings.

So, what’s the answer?  I’m not sure what or that there is a perfect answer.

The first step, I think, is to hold the licensed gun owner responsible.  It is their responsibility to know at all times where their licensed gun is.  It is their responsibility to make sure it is secure.  It is their responsibility to make sure a child, or anyone, can’t take that gun without their knowledge.  There needs to be consequences for licensed gun owners who lose control of their weapons.  What those consequences should be is something that’s open to a lot of debate.  But the fact is that without consequences for the licensed gun owner these incidences will not diminish.

Another action, one that is beginning to happen in a lot of school, is the arming of school personnel.  I hate the thought of it because I feel it sends the wrong message to our students but the fact is that it does take a person with a gun to stop a deranged person with a gun.  Here in Washington where school budgets don’t allow for a police resource office, administration and teachers are being trained to use guns.  The weapons will be licensed and concealed.  It’s a sad day that we feel this is necessary.

Parents! It’s time to step-up!  Get your heads screwed on straight.  You need to know what’s going on with your children.  In the majority of these incidents, from Sandy Hook to Columbine, the shooters were disturbed adolescents that if the parents would have stepped-up and got their child help, lives might have been saved. 

Sad fact is; we won’t completely stop these incidents.  But with parents, students, teachers, community leaders and law enforcement, we can at least mitigate these sad events.