There have been about 300 school shootings in America since 2013. If you have little brothers or sisters, how does this fact strike you?

School Safety? That was what I was asked to talk about. What a complicated topic. Is it guns? Is it mental illness? Is it bullying? Is it society? Is it parenting? Is it family? There is no one answer. All I know is that when I was in school, I didn’t need to worry about someone coming into my classroom with a gun with the intent to shoot and kill myself and my classmates. What has changed?

Why is it now that a second grader comes home from school all excited because today he learned the best place to hide in the event that a shooter comes into his classroom. Really? Shouldn’t he just be concerned about learning to read and do his math? I don’t want to teach children to be afraid. That is not the way life should be!

To me there seems to be solutions to some of these problems. Common sense gun control would be one. I believe in the Second Amendment. The right to bear arms is a constitutional right from the very founding of our country. I grew up around guns for protection and hunting, but I see absolutely no need for military style weapons to be in the hands of civilians. Why would anyone need a gun like that, except to kill people?

Background checks to keep guns out of the wrong hands is another measure that needs to be enforced. Also, sales at gun shows need to be more closely monitored as well as guns on the streets.

Bullying is another concern; but not just bullying, more so a lack of respect for life of any kind. We treat one another with such a lack of dignity, starting from the top of the government down from person to person. Our TV, radio and movies show a lack of respect for life. We barely show any respect for family, our parents, teachers or any other authority.

Then, we wonder why life is so expendable?

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