Newtown School Shooting

It's less than 12 hours after the horrific shooting, of 20 elementary school children and six staff, at the the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, and people across the state and nation are still trying to process the information - that the murderer was the son of an elementary school teacher there, he used a cache of assault weapons in his killing, he had a history of mental illness, he shot the kids at close range, and more is likely to come.

As a teacher, we prepare for shooters in buildings, an unfortunate reality. We have lockdowns. We practice what to do to keep children out of harm's way if there is an intruder in the building. But the problem was, the assailant in this case gained access to the school despite a locked front door. Perhaps he was known by the front desk person or office staff, and was trusted. He allegedly shot and killed the school principal in the office and then made his way to several kindergarten classrooms, where, apparently, he shot and killed every child in one. His mother, a kindergarten teacher there, was apparently not working and was shot at her home. Why the man would go to her workplace and carry out this violent act, killing young children, is unknown.

All across the country people are talking about the unspeakable crime, putting themselves in the place of grieving parents, praying for them. This afternoon, I was thinking of all those Christmas gifts beneath 20 Christmas trees which will remain unopened in Newtown. The unimaginable sorrow for these families. You think that a school is among the safest places you can send your child. And Newtown is among the safest communities in Connecticut.

The debate over guns is taking center stage, as it should. I, for one, believe that humans, as a collective species, have not demonstrated that we are responsible enough to own guns. I'm sorry. It is true that many legal gun owners have owned guns for many years, blah, blah, blah, but what is it going to take for gun laws to change - another elementary school schooling, maybe a shooting at a church, a library? Frankly, it doesn't get any worse or senseless than a shooting in an elementary school classroom.

What should happen as a result of this tragedy?

1. Metal detectors in all schools, coast to coast.

2. Immediate cease production of all automatic or semiautomatic weapons for civilian purposes in the United States.

3. Strict scrutiny of criminal records of gun owners. These people commit a misdemeanor, they lose their gun license.They drive with a suspended license, they lose their gun license. Gun owners have to realize that having firearms is a privilege.

4. Amend the second amendment. It was created during a far different time, when people owned rifles. not AK-47s.


Gun advocates are saying today that people calling for tighter gun laws are having a knee-jerk reaction to this event. Bullshit. How many more shootings of this magnitude will it take for a change to be made? It is true that there are massive numbers of guns in the hands of people who shouldn't have them. The black market is also flooded with these weapons. If the best thing that our government is doing is holding gun buyback programs, we are in gerious trouble. And right now, that is the only thing that seems to be happening.

It is time to create laws that limit the types of weapons civilians can possess. And it is time to finance and prioritize a system that monitors those people who legally have guns. It is not too late to act. But if we don't, we are inviting another tragedy just like this one.