School Shooting at Parkland High School in Florida(edited) -by @voiceofreason
These are becoming all too common.
In news just out, it was reported that another school shooting has taken place.
This time at Parkland High School in Parkland Florida.
There is at least 14 "victims", though it is not clear how many of those have died. It was reported that at least some of them have.
The shooter is said to be a former student, but the details are still fuzzy at this time.
Parts from the release can be seen here:
A shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, involved "at least 14 victims" and many were feared dead, officials said Wednesday, adding that the suspect -- believed to be a former student -- was in custody.
The shooting suspect was identified as Nicholas Cruz, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said the suspect was taken into custody "without incident" and was "not a current student" at the school.
The high school scene was still being cleared, he added, to ensure no other threat remains. Parkland is about 50 miles north of Miami.
Some comments coming out so far on the tragedy:
"It's catastrophic. There really are no words." - Sheriff Israel
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson told Fox News, "It's a bad day."
"I have already said my prayers to give them comfort, but this is a tough time," Nelson said. "We say 'enough is enough,' but it happens again."
Senator Marco Rubio echoed that sentiment on Twitter saying, "Today is that terrible day you pray never comes."
Parkland is located about 50 miles north of Miami.
The President and others have weighed in as well, saying:
"My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims. No child, teacher, or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school."
The full release can be seen here:
As news continues to come out, it appears there are reports of at least 20 victims now.
At least 15 are said be dead.
Sad sad day indeed.
I'm not sure what the solution to these kinds of problems is, but it's a sad and terrible day for our country.
It's happening only in America? How come? Such an advanced nation.
It happens in other countries as well, just without the frequency. Unfortunately it raises questions we the people do not wish to answer, so we fumble from one to the next, dumbstruck for any reasoning.
Name the countries, please. I would really like to know.
Just school shootings...not terrorist, criminal, or cartel attacks, and after about 1995, the list of countries include:
United Kingdom, China, Hungary, Latvia, Belgium, Niger, Brazil, South Africa, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, and Norway (I may have missed one or two)
America, by far, has the most.
all my support for the familes who are suffring from whats happned and in general to all florida and usa people, tunisian fan of ameriqua , hope things get better and ofcourse our world who need us to delet that kind of behaviours
This is such a tragedy. I wrote a poem about this, titled "An Open Letter to the United States of Guns", but no matter how much we talk about it, or how much awareness we raise, without a blanket ban on guns, we ain't gonna achieve much.
This is sad to know. I watch some videos online and it just sad to see what the kid did...
A very sad day, prayers for the families that lost love ones, and the ones who lost there life
Prayers do not help, action does. Do something to prevent the next event from happening.
This is a multi-pronged approach that, when taken in full view is quite daunting...and as such most shy away, hoping that if they ignore it, it'll go away.
What they don't seem to see is that it is not going away.
Let's look at the pattern: Sometimes there is medication involved. Sometimes there is a history of family problems. I say sometimes as they may have been a factor, or they may not. What is an absolute is that they are young men, mostly white.
Young men have always been around guns. Boy Scouts, rifle ranges at schools...you could even order military hardware from the back of a magazine back in day. And yes, there were school killings back then as well. But not with frequency, and deadliness of today.
We must ask some gun questions, but first we must ask on the one common pattern involved:
What are WE doing to FAIL these young men? How are these young men learning that violence solves their personal issues? Where have they learned this? Why have we allowed them to learn this?
Please note I called the pattern "young men, mostly white". This is not to say other races are immune, or do not share the same tragedies. But what does it say about us that we mourn the dead of one killing, and ignore the dead from another?
Gun control will be addressed. There is a "blue wave" approaching American politics, and millennials are now the largest voting block...if they want something changed, they only need to organize.
I have an idea which stems from what the Chicago police are doing.
Here's my thought: A student reports to a school official their concern over a fellow student. The school directs a volunteer group of male adults to make contact with the young man, and access/intervene/be a role model. The volunteer group can then recommend to the school their findings, and authorities can make decisions on help and guidance.
The idea is to surround the young man with positive, and successful role models.
Not sure it would work, but would love to give it a try.
I would love to see some of your suggested approach. Any action towards helping the situation (which is NOT NORMAL) will be good. Any action at all.
Any step in the direction of reasonable, thoughtful gun control will also be good.
No one wants to take 'gun rights' away, but a tragedy consists of the person (mentally ill or otherwise), the access to mass-killing weapons (AR-15 or otherwise), opportunity (location/targets etc). You only need to take away one of the three to prevent the next tragedy.
The person (mental health or other otherwise) is hard to determine and impossible to predict/prevent at any moment (even with medication/counselling/mentoring/help). That person can snap at any moment in time. Or that person is just plain evil and not mentally ill (we have some of those here, whether we like it or not).
The opportunity (going to school) is unavoidable. They are KIDS!!! It is a SCHOOL!!! (I have kids of school age, and this FRIGHTENS ME every day)
So, the most logical way to handle is the access to weapons. There is no reason for military-grade weapons whatsoever. Want a handgun/rifle for personal safety? yes, ok. Hunting rifles, yes, ok. I may not personally own one but I respect those who wish to own one. But why is a military-grade weapon needed unless you actively serve?
Easy access to guns is a huge problem...unfortunately we only have to look to Los Angles and Chicago to see the infiltration of guns into the inner city by the government. This is an issue that has been around since the 80's. Any digging on the matter and you will find accounts of train cars filled with guns stopped in Compton, the doors open for all to take. Or Chicago where boxes of guns are left in alleys to be found by passer-bys.
But these are conspiracy theories, so let's deal in facts. It is "easy" to build, from scratch, your own gun. Back in the day these were called zipguns. Now, with modern manufacturing, and I'm not even talking about 3d printing....just modern tools you can purchase cheaply at a Harbor Freight, you can build an AK-47 or an AR-15.
Note I used the word "easy". There is skill involved, machining and such, but nothing a motived learning can't pickup. Machine shop in high school would be enough for most.
I guess what I am getting at is that to solve the Killing Problem requires more than fixing the Gun Problem. Yes, we need to fix easy access, but more importantly, we need to fix the reason young men kill.
How unfortunate, humanity has really gone barsak.
It happened just too frequent in US, what is wrong with those people and the leader ? Reading news they are relaxing the control of firearms, this is not helping at all