Wow! This is alarming!

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What was a cheesy horror flick 25 years ago is now reality. Not generally here in the UK though.

Before taking time off to be a mom I was a teacher in an urban school with a serious gang problem. The issues of guns in schools, or any weapon for that matter, is multi-faceted and belongs as part of a larger debate about social mores and how the surrounding culture (family / community / country / and global society) deals with other issues. Guns in schools are one symptom of several very large problems, problems which need to be addressed directly as taking the guns away is the equivalent of giving a tylenol for cancer, it doesn't deal with the underlying problem. I am not saying that guns in schools should be tolerated, but by focussing solely on the gun one ignores the root of the problem. Why do students feel the need to carry guns? (The answers to this vary depending on community). What is the role of the school in providing safety, counselling, violence prevention, etc? If the school is deemed to play a significant role then should it take the money out of that alloted towards educational purposes or should the school receive additional funding? If the guns are to be found outside the school (in the community) as well, then is homeschooling really an option? What about parents who would like to home-school but can not due to their own educational or economic status? This is an issue into which we could delve much further, but as D.W._a_Mom has said, it goes beyond the scope of the parenting board.

In addition, I also just want to say, and only for my own rant, that I don't find guns in schools nearly as alarming as razor blades in schools. Girls could hide them in their hair so they looked like barrets on the metal detector, or kids with braces would stick them in their cheeks. One swipe in a crowded stairwell and a victim would be permanently difigured with no evidence linkable to the perpetrator. I knew at least two girls, normally very quiet submissive passive kids, who carried boxcutters on them to avoid being raped going to or coming home from school.

I didn't mean to start a gun debate. Sorry. I just thought the parents in here would be concerned at the numbers I originally noted. I am. My AS son was bullied terribly at school. He would have been a prime target for another kid with a gun.

If guns are not they're own problem, then neither are drugs. But we do everything in our power to keep drugs off the street. We seem to do everything in our power to keep guns on the street.

Seems awfully contradictory to me.

Should I move this thread to another forum? I don't know how to do that.

I think I disagree with the last post, the one about an aspie being the target of a kid with a gun. Barring some out-of-the-ordinary instances, I don't think bullies want to flat-out kill their victims. Their biggest "concern" is to make their victims as miserable as possible, and they don't need guns for that. Now, I don't think that guns belong in school. Still, I do think that some limited use of non-lethal self-defense devices, like tasers or tear gas sprays, should be permitted. Having zero-tolerance policies like expulsion for hitting only gives bullies more rights than victims.

I've known that guns were not toys since early childhood. I know how to shoot one if I absouelty have to. My parents have their carry consele licence and if a certian store has a "no firearm" policy there refuse to shop there. My father says that criminals purposely look for places with a ban on guns because they will be the only ones that are armed. If this idot in the white house gets rid of guns, there are going to be increases in gun related violence, not decreases. Criminals aren't going to follow a law or policy. They never have and never will. Back in the old days when kids were allowed to take a swing at the bully there were never any school shootings or at least very few. Of course kids are going to relailated if they can't get the person to stip picking on them or if nothing is done about it and told THEY are the bullies. If my parents didn't take me out to homeschool me, I would have gone on a rampage and started shooting everyone at the school and then shot myself. If I ever have kids of my own, they are going to be homeschooled from kindergarden.

I once heard about a kid being stripped searched by teachers in school because they thought he had gum and he was already a scapegoat. Being able to violate a child for any reason will only lead to them being allowed to be stipped searched for anything or simply because a teacher has something against the kid or is a pedophile. If I could have my way, there would be no more schools and all kids would be homeschooled. If a parent was unsure how to teach a certian subject or was purely ignorant, they could call and request for a tutor. Prospective tutors would come to the house and be interveiwed by the parents and the child. If they decided a teacher was a bad match for a child or simply an ass even after they had already picked them, the parents could call again and arrange for a diffrent tutor. These tutors would be provided for free via taxpayer.