tragic shootings

Is it big news in the States at the moment? It seems that every few days I watch the news, there seems to be another school shooting. I can't begin to imagine what the parents and other students must be suffering.

As a (previous) high school teacher and now mother, I can hardly bear to hear about it. I thank god it hasn't happened here...yet.

Why do you think it happens, and relatively frequently at that? I am so glad that guns are relatively difficult to obtain here. DH sometimes works on stabbing trauma, but I don't know if he has ever seen the victim of a shooting.

As a parent, does it weigh heavily on your mind when sending your own little ones off to school?

Somehow I've managed to keep the thought out of my mind. Denial? Probability? I don't know.

As sad as they ALL are, I will say I nearly threw up today while watching the helicopters hover over the Amish people standing outside of their school house. Amish do not like to be photographed - and try to stay away from the 'English' community. I want to know if this man was formerlly a part of the community, or managed to have some hatred of the community ... I simply cannot understand it.

[rainbabies]

i just read that he has nothing to do with the amish. he was a milk truck driver,husband and a father. according to the news he was taking revenge for something that happened about 20 years ago. to attack the most peaceful people ever...and CHILDREN just sickens me.

you asked how we deal with it here ...

I just got a letter from our principal talking about the 'crisis response plan', code drills, id's required for staff, visitors (the visitors get big orange stickers). And a request to remind our children to report any suspicious activity to a trusted adult.

I know the letter was intended to comfort and reassure, and the woman has probably been inundated w/phone calls over the past week - but it just made me feel more ill.

What is this world that we're living in??

[Sheherezade]

We have our crisis plan handed out at the beginning of each year - complete with instructions on what door to pick up our children at at any of the 3 evacuation sites. It does kind of freak you out, doesn't it? I'm glad they take the security issue seriously. I'm always particularly disturbed and moved by the deaths of teachers that try to stop these madmen. (There really isn't a better term for them.) I think I'd do the same. I just don't think I could let some crazy person at a group of kids. Even if it cost me my life.

I can't understand how anyone could do this. Somehow, Columbine was easier to grasp because the perpetrators were teens themselves. Adults taking vengeance on little kids? I just don't get that.

I'm always particularly disturbed and moved by the deaths of teachers that try to stop these madmen. (There really isn't a better term for them.) I think I'd do the same. I just don't think I could let some crazy person at a group of kids. Even if it cost me my life.

Agreed. I had to stop myself from thinking "Why did the teacher leave with the boys? I know she was ordered out, but ..." She was probably trying to save the children that she could ... who knows - one of those children could have been hers. It's a situation that cannot be judged.

[MrsC]

This reminds me of the case ten years ago in Dunblane, Scotland where a guy went into a primary school and shot 16 six to seven year old children and their teacher, before killing himself.

The thought of your kids school having to create a crisis plan makes my stomach turn. It's shocking! It shouldn't thave to be that way!