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School shooting in Colorado!

gingersmom

By gingersmom,
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hjffkj

hjffkj

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, Plum said:

😪

It sounds like the police were able to respond very quickly which saved many lives. If any police force can be prepared for these situations it would be this one. I do hope they do not share their names and faces. I was listening to the local news out of Denver and they kept focusing on finding out why. We all know why don't we? Is that really the question we should be asking?

 

I don't know why?  I can guess why, but the Denver press knows better than anyone that when they guess about the reasons behind a shooting they can get it incredibly wrong.

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hjffkj

hjffkj

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, Terabith said:

My goddaughter, who attended Columbine and still lives in the area, was posting about there have been FOUR school shootings in her community during her life.  In addition to the movie theater massacre in Highlands Ranch.  

 

That is so sad.  

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mominco

mominco

Posted
Posted (edited)

So sad!We literally lived in that neighborhood! Its a beautiful area and we lived there for more than a decade.We have many friends still living there.One lives 2 blocks from that school.Columbine,Arapahoe High school now this- not counting the other non school shootings.We know kids who have gone to all these schools.

 

Edited by mominco
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Mbelle

Mbelle

Posted
Posted

Just so sick of this and really it's not even news anymore because it happens so often.  It's a real tragedy for victims and their famlies that we don't care enough.

My dd wants to be a high school teacher.  We have tried to talk her out of it for this very reason.  It seems like it would be safer to join the military.

Since she is "dead" set on being a high school teacher we are encouraging her to go private and we do know plenty of private school teachers. 

 

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Lady Florida.

Lady Florida.

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Mbelle said:

 

My dd wants to be a high school teacher.  We have tried to talk her out of it for this very reason.  It seems like it would be safer to join the military.

Since she is "dead" set on being a high school teacher we are encouraging her to go private and we do know plenty of private school teachers. 

 

I taught high school. I left in 1997 when ds was born, two years before the Columbine shooting. If we hadn't decided to homeschool I would have gone back once he started kindergarten. There are a lot of reasons why I'm glad I didn't go back to the classroom but I never thought this would be one of them. 

Also, high schools aren't the only schools to be concerned about. Two words. Sandy Hook.  

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gingersmom

gingersmom

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Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Mbelle said:

Just so sick of this and really it's not even news anymore because it happens so often.  It's a real tragedy for victims and their famlies that we don't care enough.

My dd wants to be a high school teacher.  We have tried to talk her out of it for this very reason.  It seems like it would be safer to join the military.

Since she is "dead" set on being a high school teacher we are encouraging her to go private and we do know plenty of private school teachers. 

 

My son is in college planning on being a high school history teacher. I’m not feeling so good about it.

I’m  in Colorado and a local middle school is currently on lockout after a reported threat.

A Denver high school is closed today because someone called a hotline to report a threat.

Thus has got to end. Time for some drastic measures to be taken.

Edited by gingersmom
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LarlaB

LarlaB

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Plum said:

A Marine hopeful and other Colorado STEM school students helped disarm gunman

"We're going to hear about very heroic things that have taken place at the school," the sheriff said Wednesday of the shooting at a Colorado STEM school.

🙏😥

 

I’m local (20 miles) and have been so moved and teary eyed most of the day reading reports and stories.  Schools are on increased security, at least my kids school.  

There is so much tragedy in the world. It can be overwhelming when we just focus on the crap. But no matter the tragedy, there are ALWAYS heros.

There is evil, hatred, war, violence and tragedy in this world. It has always existed and will always exist.  It just takes different forms and impacts humanity in different ways. 

There is ALSO goodness, love, peace, courage, bravery and unspeakably humble service taking place in ALL of these situations.  So many people affected who jump and take action, jump in to serve and stand ready and poised to work tirelessly for good.

I know many front line people and pray for those, in my community, today. 

❤️

ETA:  I just received a text that DDs school was on lockout for a bit today due to armed suspect nearby- not targeted at or related to their school.  Poor kids and poor teachers.

 I said this in another thread that I live in greater Denver area and since it’s so large there is constant negative crap going on - somebody shot, beat up, assaulted, traffic etc....I’m not immune to it but used to the happenings of a larger metro area (2.8 million) we are constantly confronted with “humanity”. It sucks. 

Edited by LarlaB
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Happy2BaMom

Happy2BaMom

Posted
Posted (edited)
11 hours ago, Mbelle said:

Just so sick of this and really it's not even news anymore because it happens so often.  It's a real tragedy for victims and their famlies that we don't care enough.

My dd wants to be a high school teacher.  We have tried to talk her out of it for this very reason.  It seems like it would be safer to join the military.

Since she is "dead" set on being a high school teacher we are encouraging her to go private and we do know plenty of private school teachers. 

 

 

She needs to be a high school teacher in another country. Send her to college in another country to help pave the way. Doesn't have to be Canada (though it's not a bad thought) - anywhere in the EU, parts of Asia, heck even many parts of Latin America have affordable college tuition, low cost of living (so she doesn't have to make much), more affordable/accessible health care &, best of all, no weekly school shootings.  

The U.S. doesn't have a way forward to fix this problem. And, no, it's not just guns (though I have long loathed the loss of the ban on assault weapons), it's also our every-man-for-himself culture & numerous other things that we seem to have no way of addressing in any significant way. 

Edited by Happy2BaMom
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Mbelle

Mbelle

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, Happy2BaMom said:

 

She needs to be a high school teacher in another country. Send her to college in another country to help pave the way. Doesn't have to be Canada (though it's not a bad thought) - anywhere in the EU, parts of Asia, heck even many parts of Latin America have affordable college tuition, low cost of living (so she doesn't have to make much), more affordable/accessible health care &, best of all, no weekly school shootings.  

The U.S. doesn't have a way forward to fix this problem. And, no, it's not just guns (though I have long loathed the loss of the ban on assault weapons), it's also our every-man-for-himself culture & numerous other things that we seem to have no way of addressing in any significant way. 

My dd is a dual citizen us/aus, so she could at least teach there fairly easily.  However, my SIL is a teacher and from the sounds of it, the govt schools really have a lot of the exact same issues as ours, but at least no mass shootings!  Teaching is stressful!  

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Mbelle

Mbelle

Posted
Posted

I am wrong it is more dangerous to be in the miltary or be a public school student than to be teacher, but it's still the same environment as the students it's just that there are less teacher so less casualties.  It is slightly safer to be a student in public school than joining the military.  Military is safer as long as you are not deployed to a combat zone.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/school-shooting-military-deaths/

 

 

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6wildhorses

6wildhorses

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, Fifiruth said:

A parent warned the district of conditions within the school, and the potential for violence, and the executive director of the school sued the parent for defamation.

https://www.9news.com/article/news/investigations/fears-of-another-columbine-at-stem-school-documented-by-district-last-year/73-13ddc8c2-90c4-4919-a3c2-f1917cf941b8

 

STEM, the school district, and the sheriff's department all need to be investigated. I have firsthand experience with this school, and it's had issues from the beginning. The school district has failed to hold the school accountable time and time again. If it is found that this was yet another issue that was swept under the rug, then people need to be held accountable, and sweeping changes need to be made.

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Valley Girl

Valley Girl

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Mbelle said:

I am wrong it is more dangerous to be in the miltary or be a public school student than to be teacher, but it's still the same environment as the students it's just that there are less teacher so less casualties.  It is slightly safer to be a student in public school than joining the military.  Military is safer as long as you are not deployed to a combat zone.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/school-shooting-military-deaths/

 

 

Again, I'm not trying to discount your feelings, Mbelle. I understand them. That same child insisted on carrying bandages and first aid supplies in his school backpack because he didn't want to be powerless to help himself or a classmate should something happen. NO CHILD should have to feel that way about going to school.

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Mbelle

Mbelle

Posted
Posted

You know I have been thinking about this today.  We really do spend billions to keep out foreign terrorists and I want to know, like I want it spelled out, what we are doing to stop domestic terrorists.  I do think these  (usually) young men are every bit as radicalized as foreign terrorist.  They are preying on the innocent kids and teachers who are already battling with not enough funding and all sorts of social issues just to teach what they love.  I'm so upset and devastated about this problem.  I feel like no one cares about schools, educations, students and teachers and really long term our society.  Recently a co-worker told my dh that her daughter is a teacher and the principal asked her why she was a teacher because she was too smart to be teaching.  WHAT????   My daughter is upset because no one wants her to be teacher and almost everyone that finds out she's an educations major asks either "are you afraid you will be shot?" or "you won't make any money!"   

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Skippy

Skippy

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, StellaM said:

The pair were a female and a male, which is more unusual.

However, the female was younger, which fits a the profile of a lot of very violent crime by females - as part of a pairing with an older male. 

More specifically, local news, KMGH-TV is reporting that the female is in the process of transitioning from female to male.

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LarlaB

LarlaB

Posted
Posted (edited)

I’m local and don’t watch TV but do visit websites for local news.  Conscious or not, I can say this story is different. Hopefully a turning point. 

So many civilians/people intervened to shut this down and Previn it from being worse.  Police arrived in under two minutes.  I’m so thankful. ❤️

Ive heard and read VERY little about the shooters and couldn’t even tell you their names and had no idea one was female.  Meanwhile I know plenty about several teenage and adult hero’s in this same situation- 4 different stories. 

My kids schools (same school, but primary and secondary locations) had visible increased security today at drop off.  

We talked about what courage and heroics look like and what split second decisions reveal- and survivors guilt and what the shooters families must be dealing with (all topics led by my children).  That’s what my family chooses to focus on. My 9th grader wants to be a teacher (prob college level) and also wants to take self defense classes.  Works for me. Lead from love, not from fear. 

 

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Stacia

Stacia

Posted
Posted (edited)
10 hours ago, Mbelle said:

It is slightly safer to be a student in public school than joining the military.  Military is safer as long as you are not deployed to a combat zone.

(I am not aiming my comments directly at you, Mbelle, but rather responding to this topic/comparison you are mentioning.)

At least in the military, it is adults who are serving (most often by choice), they get paid for their service/job, and they know that being deployed to a combat zone is a possibility or likelihood. They are also trained repeatedly for scenarios involving combat, weapons, working as a team to overcome adversarial or dangerous conditions, etc...; they often have protective gear, high-tech equipment, &/or other defenses.

Why should our school-aged kids to have to navigate such violence? (And, just like military members who return from combat with PTSD, we are also saddling our students with PTSD from this. In March, two survivors of the Parkland shooting each committed suicide from the trauma, PTSD, & horrors they initially survived.)

When we're comparing the safety of our kids in our schools in our country vs. our military actively serving in combat zones & the numbers are getting close as far as gun fatalities (& semantics are being argued vs. just being upset that more kids keep being killed in a not uncommon scenario), we should be outraged, screaming, & making changes. Comparing these two things (students vs. military) shouldn't even be a thing, yet it is. It's not even apples vs. oranges but more like apples vs. rocks or some other completely ridiculous comparison. It shouldn't be a comparison that we should have to make in the first place. Ever.

It shows how seriously we are messed up as a country and with our values.

It is completely insane.

ETA: A different set of statistics regarding firearm deaths (not just school shootings but all shootings) & children in our country (bolding is mine):

Study shows alarming increases of firearm deaths in US school-age children

Quote

Firearm-related deaths in school-age children are increasing at alarming rates in the United States where homicide rates are about 6- to 9-fold higher than those in comparably developed countries. This epidemic poses increasingly major clinical, public health and policy challenges.

...

Results of the study, just published in the American Journal of Medicine, show that from 1999 to 2017, 38,942 firearm-related deaths occurred in 5 to 18 year olds. These included 6,464 deaths in children between the ages of 5 to 14 years old (average of 340 deaths per year), and 32,478 deaths in children between the ages of 15 to 18 years old (average of 2,050 deaths per year).

"It is sobering that in 2017, there were 144 police officers who died in the line of duty and about 1,000 active duty military throughout the world who died, whereas 2,462 school-age children were killed by firearms," said Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., senior author, first Sir Richard Doll Professor, and senior academic advisor in FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine.

 

Edited by Stacia
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Terabith

Terabith

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, Plum said:

I think that has something to do with the sheriff making the point of following NoNoteriety’s guidelines. As I said in a pp, if any sheriff’s dept is equipped for this, it is this one. They understand the impact Columbine has had in creating more mass shootings.

Not to mention the massacre at the movie theater...and the two other mass shootings at schools in the area

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TCB

TCB

Posted
Posted

I am just wondering if those who do not wish for further gun control do acknowledge that the amount of incidences of kids shot while at school is higher in the USA than in other countries. I had a very bizarre conversation with my dh last night in which he said that it is not true that the incidence of occurrence is higher here but rather, that it is not publicized like it is here. I honestly do not have anyone that I can think of, here where I live, that I can have any kind of rational discussion with about this, so that's why I'm asking on here.

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Stacia

Stacia

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, TCB said:

I am just wondering if those who do not wish for further gun control do acknowledge that the amount of incidences of kids shot while at school is higher in the USA than in other countries. I had a very bizarre conversation with my dh last night in which he said that it is not true that the incidence of occurrence is higher here but rather, that it is not publicized like it is here. I honestly do not have anyone that I can think of, here where I live, that I can have any kind of rational discussion with about this, so that's why I'm asking on here.

 

Timeline of Worldwide School and Mass Shootings
Gun-related tragedies in the U.S. and around the world

Quote

The following table lists notable worldwide mass and school shootings from 1996 to the present.

What distinguishes mass shootings from other incidences of gun crime—mob violence, racial lynchings, et cetera—is not entirely clear. Most commonly, mass shootings are defined as events in which a lone perpetrator or a small group of perpetrators uses firearms to kill three or more victims. School shootings by contrast have no numerical qualifier; a school shooting is any incidence of gun violence occurring at or in the vicinity of an educational institution.

The full scope of gun violence in the U.S. and abroad is immense. In the U.S. alone there were 346 mass shootings in 2017, or about one per day. Despite attempts by nonprofits like the Gun Violence Archive and by government agencies, it is almost impossible to present every mass shooting. Rather, these are modern shootings that garnered particular attention or had a lasting cultural impact. Find the date, location, and a short description of each incident.

... [And then there is a long, specific table that provides info on school shootings, the last one listed being Parkland.]

More info (not all necessarily related to school shootings, but rather gun violence which includes school shootings):

America’s unique gun violence problem, explained in 17 maps and charts
In the developed world, these levels of gun violence are a uniquely American problem. Here’s why.

Quote

[Under #1...]

This chart, compiled using United Nations data collected by Simon Rogers for the Guardian, shows that America far and away leads other developed countries when it comes to gun-related homicides. Why? Extensive reviews of the research, compiled by the Harvard School of Public Health’s Injury Control Research Center, suggest the answer is pretty simple: The US is an outlier on gun violence because it has way more guns than other developed nations.

...

[Under #3; fyi, this article was posted in November 2018, so it reflects numbers at that time...]

In December 2012, a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 20 children, six adults, and himself. Since then, there have been more than 1,600 mass shootings.

The number comes from the Gun Violence Archive, which hosts a database that has tracked mass shootings since 2013. But since some shootings go unreported, the database is likely missing some, as well as the details of some of the events.

The tracker uses a fairly broad definition of “mass shooting”: It includes not just shootings in which four or more people were murdered, but shootings in which four or more people were shot at all (excluding the shooter).

Even under this broad definition, it’s worth noting that mass shootings make up a tiny portion of America’s firearm deaths, which totaled nearly 39,000 in 2016 alone.

4) On average, there is around one mass shooting for each day in America

Whenever a mass shooting occurs, supporters of gun rights often argue that it’s inappropriate to bring up political debates about gun control in the aftermath of a tragedy. For example, former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a strong supporter of gun rights, criticized former President Barack Obama for “trying to score cheap political points” when Obama mentioned gun control after a mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.

But if this argument is followed to its logical end, then it will just about never be the right time to discuss gun control, as Christopher Ingraham pointed out at the Washington Post. Under the broader definition of mass shootings, America has around one mass shooting a day. So if lawmakers are forced to wait for a time when there isn’t a mass shooting to talk gun control, they could find themselves waiting for a very long time.

...

 

(You may want to join the "WTM Politics" club if you are looking for a place to further discuss the topic.)

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TCB

TCB

Posted
Posted

Thanks Stacia for all the information above. I know this isn't the right board to discuss the politics of it. I just wondered if there were people reading this thread who might be against gun control laws and who could say if they too agree that shooting in schools aren't more common here in the USA than other countries. I was so surprised to hear him say it. It's very difficult to ask around here where I live because almost everyone here is a strong supporter of gun rights, and to be honest nobody here even says anything about these shootings at all. They just seem to ignore them. I don't think I have heard anyone start a conversation about one when it's happened or say how dreadful it is unless I say that first and then they may agree that it is sad. But that is about as far as it goes.

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Stacia

Stacia

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, TCB said:

Thanks Stacia for all the information above. I know this isn't the right board to discuss the politics of it. I just wondered if there were people reading this thread who might be against gun control laws and who could say if they too agree that shooting in schools aren't more common here in the USA than other countries. I was so surprised to hear him say it. It's very difficult to ask around here where I live because almost everyone here is a strong supporter of gun rights, and to be honest nobody here even says anything about these shootings at all. They just seem to ignore them. I don't think I have heard anyone start a conversation about one when it's happened or say how dreadful it is unless I say that first and then they may agree that it is sad. But that is about as far as it goes.

Ime, when discussions about school shootings have happened here & then the conversation turns to gun ownership, things devolve very quickly.

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TCB

TCB

Posted
Posted
Just now, Stacia said:

Ime, when discussions about school shootings have happened here & then the conversation turns to gun ownership, things devolve very quickly.

Yes you're right. I guess no one will want to comment on that. I just don't think people on the gun rights side of the argument will be over on the WTM politics group, so I'm probably not going to get an answer.

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Stacia

Stacia

Posted
Posted (edited)
47 minutes ago, TCB said:

Yes you're right. I guess no one will want to comment on that. I just don't think people on the gun rights side of the argument will be over on the WTM politics group, so I'm probably not going to get an answer.

Perhaps.

I, too, live in an area filled with gun rights activists. I think the main arguments I consistently hear are 1) it's a Constitutional right 2) it's important for self-defense and 3) the "guns don't kill people" argument.

Imo, this is a major health crisis for our country. I am not alone in thinking this.

From the American College of Physicians (ACP): ACP Calls for Sweeping New Policies to Keep Guns Away From Those a Threat to Themselves, Others

And also: It’s a Twitter war: Doctors clash with NRA over gun deaths (bolding is mine)

Quote

...

The pictures on Twitter were an emotional response to a smackdown by the powerful gun industry lobby, which took issue with the American College of Physicians’ call late last month for tighter gun control laws. The recommendations included bans on “assault weapons,” large capacity magazines and 3D-printed firearms.

“Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves,” the National Rifle Association tweeted.

...

“It just shows that not only is this is in our lane, but this happens to us,” said Dr. Joseph Sakran, a trauma surgeon at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore who as a 17-year-old was shot in the throat by a stray bullet fired during a dispute at a high school football game.

Sakran created a Twitter account @ThisIsOurLane which in just two weeks has attracted nearly 15,000 followers. They include Dr. Peter Masiakos, a pediatric trauma surgeon in Boston, who wrote “The Quiet Room” just hours after the mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, about breaking the news that a loved one has died.

“We need to start talking about this as a public health issue. Politics aside, we have a problem that no other country has, and we shouldn’t,” Masiakos said.

About 35,000 people each year are killed by guns in the United States, and about two-thirds are suicides. That’s about 670 people per week and among the largest number of civilian gun deaths in the world.

...

“These are not just statistics. These are people, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters that are being killed,” Sakran said. “The worst part of my job is having to go out and talk to these families and to tell them that their loved one is never coming home.”

It’s not the first time that medical professionals have taken on powerful industries: auto companies over seat belts, Big Tobacco over cigarettes and toys that posed choking hazards. It’s also not the first time that the gun lobby has pushed back against the medical community or researchers it considers to be biased. In the 1990s, Congress barred the Centers for Disease Control from conducting research that advocated or pushed for gun control; while it didn’t ban research from being conducted, it did have a chilling effect.

...

 

Edited by Stacia
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Terabith

Terabith

Posted
Posted

We live in an open carry state.  (I won't even get into the racial issues of how this is enforced.)  But the other day at the grocery store, we saw a man with a gun in his pocket, at eye level with the toddler who was with him.  This wasn't a holster.  It was just loose, in his pocket.  It could have fallen out at any moment.  My husband (former Air Force) was very tempted to reach over and grab it and pull it out to try to get the man to realize how quickly and easily his toddler could get it.  The idiocy and complacency is just mind boggling to me.  

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Happy2BaMom

Happy2BaMom

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, Terabith said:

We live in an open carry state.  (I won't even get into the racial issues of how this is enforced.)  But the other day at the grocery store, we saw a man with a gun in his pocket, at eye level with the toddler who was with him.  This wasn't a holster.  It was just loose, in his pocket.  It could have fallen out at any moment.  My husband (former Air Force) was very tempted to reach over and grab it and pull it out to try to get the man to realize how quickly and easily his toddler could get it.  The idiocy and complacency is just mind boggling to me.  

 

My hubby was career Navy (retired now). There are *really* strict regulations on the bases / boats / ships re: firearms -  when they can be carried, by whom, how, how they are stored - and *really* strict penalties if those regulations aren't followed. It's the same in the Army (& I'm assuming for the other services). It just boggles my mind that professional soldiers and military leaders recognize the dangers of firearms & proactively ensure/enforce the safety of all, yet in everyday society, people assume every slack-jawed idiot should have automatic access to 24/7/365 unrestricted carry. 

(And, for the record, I don't think our school shooting problem is just a gun-control issue. I think our national obsession with violence and ego and the belief that the best way to gain respect is by establishing yourself, usually through force, as the strong one. But that's a whole other post.)

Edited by Happy2BaMom
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gardenmom5

gardenmom5

Posted
Posted

Did anyone mention already that FIVE MONTHS ago an anonymous parent wrote a letter to the district advising this might happen?  that the shooter was a known bully who would make these types of threats against students while whispering in their ears?  the school filed a lawsuit to uncover who the parent was - because the school was offended anyone would disparage one of their precious students?

these things rarely happen in a vacuum - the flags were there, and pointed out to those who could do something.  they stuck their heads in the sand.

I think this is a mental health problem, and so rarely nothing is done, even when the signs are reported. 

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Farrar

Farrar

Posted
Posted

I did see the thing about the letter. The thing is... there  were a ton of accusations in that letter. Have any of the others been shown to be true? Did students smear feces on the walls? Was the board involved in shady dealings in foreign nations? And it's not like that letter is clear about a specific threat. It's just all over the place. "This school is a pressure cooker and students bully each other" is something that could be said of SO MANY American public schools.

It's pathetic that they filed a lawsuit though. 

People with mental health issues who don't have such ready access to guns don't go on shooting sprees. 

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Mom0012

Mom0012

Posted
Posted
On 5/10/2019 at 9:03 PM, TCB said:

Thanks Stacia for all the information above. I know this isn't the right board to discuss the politics of it. I just wondered if there were people reading this thread who might be against gun control laws and who could say if they too agree that shooting in schools aren't more common here in the USA than other countries. I was so surprised to hear him say it. It's very difficult to ask around here where I live because almost everyone here is a strong supporter of gun rights, and to be honest nobody here even says anything about these shootings at all. They just seem to ignore them. I don't think I have heard anyone start a conversation about one when it's happened or say how dreadful it is unless I say that first and then they may agree that it is sad. But that is about as far as it goes.

I don’t think most people who are against gun control would dispute the higher rate of shootings in the US.  I think people against gun control just don’t see the guns as the issue. They see it as a societal or mental health issue. Of course, they care. They just do not agree with the solution being offered.

There are violence problems in other countries that are expressed with knives and acid attacks. We do not seem to hear about those here in this country in the way our shootings are widely publicized in other countries.  I hear people on these boards from other countries express fear about coming to the US because of the shootings, but my dd had the opportunity to go to the UK this summer and we chose to have her do something different, in part because of fear about the knifing and acid attacks that are occurring there. I haven’t kept up with all of this, but I believe the UK has started enacting knife bans. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/04/27/knife-crime-britain-wales-national-emergency-record-stabbing-homicides/3470942002/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/5d38c003-c54a-4513-a369-f9eae0d52f91

 

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3 hours ago, wapiti said:

 

There is a long, complex backstory to that letter, little to none of which will come out in the press.  None of that was particularly connected with the defendants.  I am a parent at this school and nothing in that letter resembles our experience.

So sorry you have had to experience this. Must be a very difficult time.

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4 hours ago, Mom0012 said:

I don’t think most people who are against gun control would dispute the higher rate of shootings in the US.  I think people against gun control just don’t see the guns as the issue. They see it as a societal or mental health issue. Of course, they care. They just do not agree with the solution being offered.

There are violence problems in other countries that are expressed with knives and acid attacks. We do not seem to hear about those here in this country in the way our shootings are widely publicized in other countries.  I hear people on these boards from other countries express fear about coming to the US because of the shootings, but my dd had the opportunity to go to the UK this summer and we chose to have her do something different, in part because of fear about the knifing and acid attacks that are occurring there. I haven’t kept up with all of this, but I believe the UK has started enacting knife bans. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/04/27/knife-crime-britain-wales-national-emergency-record-stabbing-homicides/3470942002/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/5d38c003-c54a-4513-a369-f9eae0d52f91

 

Sorry did not mean to imply that they don't care, just that they don't say anything about it, which seems strange to me as it seems usual to comment or acknowledge in some way when tragic things happen, especially when it involves the deaths of children. Not sure why they don't. 

 

ETA - The perception of these things is always very interesting. I just looked up the homicide rates ( per 100,000 ) and the homicide rate in the US is quite a bit higher than in the UK.

Edited by TCB
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chocolate-chip chooky

chocolate-chip chooky

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On 5/9/2019 at 10:34 PM, Mbelle said:

My dd is a dual citizen us/aus, so she could at least teach there fairly easily.  However, my SIL is a teacher and from the sounds of it, the govt schools really have a lot of the exact same issues as ours, but at least no mass shootings!  Teaching is stressful!  

I'm just piggybacking off your mention of Australia @Mbelle

I'm in Australia. In my extended family we have six teachers, spanning primary, secondary, state and private schools. This experience spans many, many decades and many, many different socioeconomic areas of our large city. 

Over all this time and all this experience, the only true risk I can remember anyone talking about was when a scared horse was loose in school grounds, resulting in a lockdown but no injuries to anyone.

No guns. No fear.

Why is the culture here so different? 

As you mentioned, I'm sure there are issues in lots of schools, but fear about just being there isn't one of them.

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Denver area seems to be unusually high in these events.  Besides copycatting, I wonder if there are other issues like high lead levels or something that might cause people to behave more aggressively 

even the phone call -> letter about issues at school  and response of lawsuit (instead of investigating?) seem a bit off.

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