Guns don’t kill people, kids do
by Michele Coelho
“Guns don’t kill people, people do.”
If that’s really true then the US should probably change the phrase to “Guns don’t kill people, kids do.”
The latest shooting in an American high school should instigate debate, not only about their national gun policy but also their problematic youth.
Once again the news of a 14-year-old high school student holding a gun against their classmates and teachers shows up in the news around the world.
This time the only victim was the boy who committed suicide after injuring two teachers and two students in the Success Tech Academy in Cleveland.
If any discussion arises from this incident, 90 per cent of it will be about the outrageous US gun policy that gives the right to every adult citizen, and apparently their kids, to have and use a gun.
Yes, part of the problem is the unrestricted access to guns, but what about those who are actually using them?
In all the cases of high school shootings in America, the shooters were angry teenagers dissatisfied with how they were treated by their classmates or their teachers.
In this case, the student had been suspended for getting in a fight outside school and police believe he went to school looking for specific teachers that had disciplined him in some manner.
It seems easy to say that he was a problematic, confused and even crazy kid who thought it was a good idea to shoot at all the people that bothered him.
But by saying that aren’t we just accepting that every kid that can’t cope with problems in life is a potential killer?
In fact, we all are potential killers but the fact that they are starting so young is frightening.
Maybe we should leave the gun problem for later and start looking for what made this boy think that killing others was the answer.
Metal detectors keep guns from entering the school but it doesn’t stop the will to kill others.
I confess I don’t really know what motivates these killers, nor do I have a solution to the problem.
But we can either assume that access to guns is a problem, and that the youth of today need extra attention, or we can just label them all as crazy and wait for the next shooting.