Gun Control: Correction Starts in School

By Iesha Westmoreland
Writer, Contributor

When I see the breaking news of all these mass school shooting, I am reminded of my days at school. We had bullies like any other generation, but this is crazy. Bullying taken to a whole new frightening level. When did students become so demonic? The level of hate and conviction to risking the lives of the innocent is disgusting.

Hearing this horrible news makes me glad I do not have children. I would hate to have to worry about my kids getting shot at school. That is supposed to be a place of learning and empowerment, not fear and negativity.

What went wrong? I would like to know why have metal detectors been installed in the lower socioeconomic areas and not in the upper-class schools. When you ask government officials all they can blame it on is gang violence. Little do they know, many gang members in the grade school years do not bring their gun to school. They do not want to risk the wrath of their parents.

Parents in the inner city have more of a tendency to be more stern than a white parent. Therefore, the parents put more fear into their children that allows the child to second guess any outrageous thoughts. These tragedies have been done by adolescents who attend school every day, but have difficulty finding a group of peers they can connect with.

A great majority of the shootings were done by young Caucasian males. One fact that could pose blame on the school’s gunman are the individuals ease of getting an assault rifle. Let’s be real… more upper-class Caucasian children have a better chance of affording one. A “black kid” in the inner city is more likely to experience more financial hardship and a gun is the last thing they are trying to get. Just like what we see on TV, is true in reality. The richer white kids are more spoiled and use to getting their way. In the attempt to stop the gun violence in schools. Inner city African Americans are used to oppression and setbacks. When they encounter it in school it just rolls right off their backs, they shake it off and keep moving.

I propose law enforcement officials provide educators with the psychological report of the previous gunmen to show warning signs. So, the psychological report is a great tool teachers can use. When the teachers are in school they can do something so the student does not lash out. I believe all this shooting and terrorist threats is done for attention.

I proclaim we should give every child in grades 1-12 a yearly scared straight lesson. This can be done by sending upper class students to their opposite status’ school districts. All students in all schools should be required to go on a field trip to their states prison or county jail. The kids that do this think they are above the law. Maybe their parents have money, or are high profile individuals of that community, so the disgruntled students feel they get a “get out of trouble free card”. No, they need to see that with every action there is a reaction. They must see the consequences of their actions. Hell, take them to the morgue, open their mind to the situations their anger-fueled emotions cannot allow them to see.

Ideas like these can be used as a starting point for the correction of these shootings. The police should comprise a criminal profile that can be compared with all school gunman. There are patterns between all these cases and police departments, or a national branch of law enforcement, should make a profile of what school layouts should look like to help the children, and possibly stop a potential disaster from occurring.