Op-Ed Illustrates Problem of Thinking You Have All the Answers

Like it or not, our children are dealing with a different world than what we grew up in. Technology is only part of that change. Another aspect is that society is quite different than it was, and the media’s focus on mass shootings at schools is a big part of it. Lockdown drills are part of it. Active shooter drills, too.

For better or worse, they play a role in shaping people’s views as they get older.

Then we have the experts in various aspects of dealing with these things who often think they have all of the answers.

Take this child psychologist, who was first called to speak on TV about children’s trauma after Sandy Hook. She started off saying the right things, and I agree with what she said, but then she went in a different direction.

Over the last few weeks, there were three more requests — one to speak about a shooting at a Catholic School in Minneapolis, another in Colorado, and — the most recent one — to talk about how to understand our feelings about the murder of Charlie Kirk.

I’m starting to feel at a loss for words because my subject matter expertise and the words I’ve used — the old standby lines — aren’t adequate anymore. These last few weeks have left me speechless.

School shootings, while still statistically rare, are increasing. The average yearly rate of school shootings in the US has increased from 19 per 100,000 students in 1999-2004 to 51 per 100,000 students in 2020-2024. I’ve continued to emphasize the “rare” part, along with the fact that the intense media coverage of school shootings creates a perception of a higher frequency than actually exists. But I leave out the part where the psychological impact of school shooter drills makes every child more aware of the danger. The part where gun-related injuries are the leading cause of death among children ages 1 to 17. And the reality is that if you have a child between the ages of 1 and 19 years, if they lose their life this year, it will most likely be because of a gunshot.

I’ve had to let go of some of the other reassurances, too, especially the one about adults doing everything they can to keep kids safe. We haven’t. We don’t. Whether through our lack of will to elect candidates who will champion gun control or a puzzling deference to a strict interpretation of the Second Amendment, we haven’t protected kids from increased school shootings.

Now, this just pisses me off.

It’s yet another example of how anti-gunners can’t seem to wrap their heads around the fact that we don’t see gun control as a way to keep anyone safer.

In Colorado, on the same day Charlie Kirk was killed, a kid shot two people with a revolver. This is in a state with tons of gun control, including mandatory storage laws, and it did nothing. He didn’t shoot more people because the school’s lockdown protocols kept him from reaching any other potential targets.

But there, gun control failed.

Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin used a hunting rifle, the kind that’s legal in even some of the most gun-restrictive nations on the planet. Gun control wouldn’t have done anything there.

The Sandy Hook killer murdered his mother to take her firearm.

The Minneapolis shooter expressly chose a gun-free zone for his rampage.

Time and time again, these mass murders are examples of how gun control laws have failed in their respective states. So, when people on this side of the debate see this, we realize that giving up our rights–even if we were open to doing so–wouldn’t have solved anything, so why do it? Why not allow teachers to be armed? Why not allow private citizens to carry anywhere they please, unless asked to leave because of it?

The bad guys aren’t paying attention to the law. We are, and we’re left unable to protect ourselves and others because of it.

When we advocate for such things, people like the author stand up and oppose us, then pretend they’re the ones actually trying to keep kids safe. They literally make arguments like that crap above, too, and people buy it. The media repeats it. They empower people like this to speak, knowing full well that there’s another side of the debate that this individual has no idea about.

She brings up calls for mental health resources, then has the nerve to repeat a claim that most mass shooters aren’t mentally ill.

I’m sorry, but unless you’re including gang shootings in your numbers, there’s no way they’re not mentally ill. Mentally well people don’t just decide to kill people in job lots.

But when you think you know everything, what else can you expect?

Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to lie about gun owners and the Second Amendment. 

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