As a grandparent, looking back, I did not have the worry about my children being the victims of a school shooting like parents nowadays. There were no lessons to be learned about how to defend a school against a violent attack. Teachers did not carry guns.
With the proliferation of military-style weapons in this country there is the greater possibility of these being in the wrong hands. Combined with the forum for frustration, anger and hate offered by the internet, the result is obvious: insanity on a mass scale. Why there is no legislative response to this national crisis is beyond me.
Making schools armed camps is not the long-range solution. A shooter has the element of surprise and usually doesn’t care about dying. We have put ourselves in this position because some “thing” has become more important than educating our children in what used to be a safe and embracing environment. We can place the blame on mental illness, yet resources are directed elsewhere. What are we defending ourselves against?
Now, I worry about my grandchildren. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for them. Like all grandchildren, there is no reason they should suffer the disregard and disorder of an adult world.
Douglas Yohman
East Waterboro
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