Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve had a busy week of working, running, and writing even though we were able to sneak up north for a few days and enjoy the last bit of summer. But enough about that. Today I want to talk about what happened in Appalachia Georgia this week.
Yep, you guessed it. Another school shooting. It breaks my heart when I hear about these events. The unnecessary loss of life, and the terror the victims must experience steals the breath from my lungs.
Photo credit: Scouse Smurf on VisualHunt.comThe thing that gets me is there are always signs. This young shooter posted anonymous threats online about shooting up a school. Authorities questioned him but didn’t have enough evidence to arrest him. A year later that same boy opened fire on a school in Georgia killing four people and wounding nine more.
Photo credit: dhammza on Visualhunt.comThis is an epidemic unique to the United States, and they’re are on the rise. Did you know that sixty eight percent of perpetrators of school shootings get their weapon from a relative? In this case, the young man received the gun as a gift from his father.
What are the circumstances that create these situations? In my research, I’ve found that one of the underlying issues is disconnection. The shooter feels disconnected from his family and community.
Photo credit: Bushman.K on VisualHunt.comAs parents, we need to make sure our kids stay emotionally connected to us. The years of adolescence can be overwhelming. Teens experience a lot of firsts. First emotions, first loves, and first struggles. We parents need to help them deal with these emotions.
Photo credit: built4love.hain on Visualhunt.comEven though this rising trend upsets me, I do like the fact that the father has been charged with murder also. Just like the shooting in Oxford Michigan where the parents went to jail as well as their son, the same thing is happening in the Georgia shooting. It’s about time. Both sets of parents gave their kids a gun. They should be held accountable.
Speaking of guns. The gun used in the Georgia shooting was an AR style rifle. No child or adult for that matter needs this kind of gun. Why are they even available to the public? I know some of you second amendment enthusiasts are going to cry foul with this statement, but the fact remains it’s too easy for mentally unstable people to get guns in the United States. Until we can figure out a way to stop this, we must limit the type of gun that’s available to the public. Period. End of story.