Where Are Answers to School, Mass Shootings?
Here we are again – writing and reading about a school shooting. Another school shooting.
Another. Damnable. School. Shooting.
We know the details. A Minneapolis Catholic Church and school, Church of the Annunciation, was the site. An all-school mass took place during the first week of classes. An 8-year-old and a 10-year-old died while sitting in church pews. Eighteen others were injured.
An 8-year-old and a 10-year-old.
What is wrong with our world?
According to news reports, this was the fifth shooting in U.S. schools since this new school year began Aug. 1.
AUGUST FIRST!
Fifth!
Since!
Aug. 1!
Let’s ask again, what is wrong with our world?
According to CNN, this was the 44th school shooting this calendar year. Half took place on college campuses and half in K-12 schools.
This is the 36th week of the year. We have had 44 school shootings. Think about that for a second. More than one a week.
44 school shootings.
18 dead
74 wounded
Just this year.
Just! This! Year!
Expand beyond schools and it’s worse. In the U.S. this calendar year, there have been 270 mass shootings with 269 dead and almost 1,200 wounded.
Beg your pardon for the repetition, but what is wrong with our world?
In the wake of this most recent – AND FAR TOO OFTEN – deadly shooting, we’ve all heard the same talking heads call for more gun control laws. Could we shut down the damn political talk just this once?
Please?
The answers are not in statehouses. Not in D.C.
Eighteen dead, many of whom were children. What else do we need to know? If anyone thinks a political answer is the solution, please check out the definition of insanity – doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.
Political rhetoric won’t fix the problem. The problem is not guns, laws or anything politicians can legislate.
The problem is people.
People who don’t parent their children. People who abdicate parenting to video games. People who don’t crack open the door to a church, or their heart to God. People who value power over good governance. People who think talking solves problems.
Guns. laws. Talk.
Not. The. Problem.
People. People. People.
The gun control crowd says take away guns. Conservatives say make penalties more severe. Others say harsher laws don’t help, we need more hugs. Hugs? Death penalties? I don’t know. (I do know that the book we’re supposed to be living by says if you break enough rules you don’t get a hug. An eternal fiery consequence is pretty clearly spelled out.)
Whether the root cause is pure evil or mental health we are desperate for an answer. Government’s track record in addressing and fixing either is spotty at best, We need to look in our homes. Look In our churches. Look to parents, grandparents. Us. All of us. We have become a nation that relies on folks who were elected for answers. When are we going to wake up?
Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically in The Times. Timmons is the chief executive officer of Sagamore News Media, the company that owns The Noblesville Times. He is also a proud Noblesville High School graduate and can be contacted at ttimmons@thetimes24-7.com.