Lone gunmen shooting innocent victims in schools and public places make the news far too often in America. We were shocked last week with the ongoing reports coming from Florida of the latest shooting. A 19-year-old past pupil of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school planned a gun attack with an assault rifle and murdered 17 innocent students and staff. He allegedly used smoke bombs to set off the fire alarm so that students would escape into the corridor where he could shoot as many as possible.

It reinforces the need to have proper supports in place for troubled students, so that they are dealt with appropriately. There can be no understanding of a mind like that and there will be no compassion for the named killer. He will rot behind bars ,or worse, but that will not make American parents feel any better about the safety of their children.

There were phone calls documented to the police authorities about this man, but they don’t seem to have been investigated. As this was going on all week, I was passing by two different secondary schools on my way to and from work. The young boys and girls were carefree and happy. Petrol blue and grey uniforms bobbed along the main street in Ballincollig, while grey and blue ones populated the footpaths near our school. Some may have been worrying about their pre Leaving and Junior Cert results. I tried to imagine what the scene would be like if they had to flee from a gunman, or what it would do to a local village or town in Ireland.

It is the result of bad laws leading to societal breakdown, where legislation is failing to protect the people of America. Legislators have a huge responsibility to make sure that when people are driven by forces beyond their control, good law will prevent them doing harm to others. American gun law is most certainly inadequate.

WEAR A GUN

Four mornings every week, I get organised to go to school. I come from the yard, shower, get ready and have a quick breakfast with Tim. I tidy up my computer and put it into my bag. I take my coat and grab the car keys from the hook on the wall. Could you imagine if my getting ready process included putting on my gun? Tim might be saying “have you got your magazine with you” and he wouldn’t be talking about Irish Country Magazine. He’d be talking about my bullets to combat a school shooter.

Donald Trump, the American president, apparently suggested that arming teachers and coaches and training them to use guns should be considered. He has come out with strange suggestions before, but this one seems particularly ill advised.

I’m a teacher, my brother, Phil, is a school principal, Tim’s sister is a teacher, Tim and I both have nieces who are teachers. Could you imagine all of us armed and ready to retaliate or take out someone if a person came in shooting at our schools? It would go wrong for so many reasons. It is a preposterous idea.

The consequence for Ireland is that we continue to be influenced by American culture; buying into their technology and fashion ideas. Gradually practices infiltrate our culture, so it is important to be aware and ready to resist such moves.

CONSEQUENCES

Last week we got a text message from our school principal indicating that we had a compulsory ‘child protection in service day’ coming up and to note the date in our diaries. Could you imagine if we got one about firearms training? What kind of lesson would that send to students and to families? It would normalise gun culture. Students would quickly learn that it was okay to have a gun. They would aspire to owning a gun. Suddenly an 18th birthday present might be a gun.

The death of a young person is a terrible blow to a family. The death of a number of young people from the same school has a terrible effect on that school community. Aiding the friends and peers to get over it and continue their education is a mammoth task for parents and teachers alike. That school in Florida will never be the same again. The photographs of the students who were gunned down will hang in the corridors. Memorial services will be held each year. A sense of safety once lost is terribly difficult to regain.

Arming teachers will do damage to American society. Teachers must be terrified of an attack and of being armed. I don’t know which would be more frightening. We learned last week that there is already tight security at some American schools. There was an armed sheriff’s deputy stationed at the school where the tragedy happened. He remained outside and did not confront the assailant.

There is only one answer and that is to tighten the gun laws. It will not happen overnight. It will have to be an incremental process. The first step should be to remove the assault weapons from civilians. Donald Trump has an opportunity to exercise real leadership on this. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has over five million members. It is not in its business interest to have assault weapons or any other guns removed from American society.

We’ve heard a lot of discussion about the second amendment of the United States Constitution which states “… the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”.

Isn’t it quite frightening to see those words contained in the American Constitution. It is clear that the road to a gun free or gun regulated society is a long way off. CL