Wagon Train Advocacy

 

Wagon Train Advocacy

Wagon train advocacy…what the heck is that?

Bear with me.

At a social gathering at my sister’s residence a few months out from the massacre at Columbine, one of her friends remarked if they heard one more word about Columbine they’d puke! 

We were all talking about Columbine at the time. 

The silence following that remark was deafening.

I wanted to use some pretty ‘choice’ words in response, but being the nice, kind, polite kind of guy I am (you’re just going to have to take my word for it), I restrained myself.

I said nothing. My glare pretty much conveyed what I was thinking though.

Given the devastation that the Columbine massacre had inflicted on my family, the repugnance of that person’s remark was not lost on any of us.

Needless to say I’ve had no contact with this person for many years. It’s likely that will never change.

So, where am I going with this?

In the months following the Columbine massacre media coverage was constant. So were the solicitations of advocacy groups that seemingly popped up out of nowhere. 

Those groups came at us from every direction imaginable.

Some of these advocacy groups took advantage of the ‘notoriety’ of this incident. Media coverage did not help.

Most of these groups were legitimate. A few were not.

Most of these groups had noble aspirations. Some did not. In fact, some of these groups’ solicitations were pervasive.

After awhile, the sheer number of advocacy groups got to be more than a bit overwhelming for some folks…like the person I mentioned earlier, for example.

Some folks simply had had enough. 

Given what’s going on in this day and age, I gotta ask has anything really changed since Columbine. 

There’s been a significant up tick in the number of mass shootings. 

Has anyone tallied the number of advocacy groups that correspond to each of those mass shootings? 

Can’t answer? Neither can I.  

From the February 15, 2018 issue of Westword: 

“The Parkland incident was at least the 208th school shooting to take place in Columbine's wake.”

So, we can answer how many school shootings there were between Columbine and Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD). But we can’t definitively answer how many advocacy groups formed in that same timeframe?

A few of the advocacy groups that sprang up following the MSD massacre:

• Fred Guttenberg’s Orange Ribbons for Jaime. His daughter, Jaime, was murdered.
• Andrew Pollack’s Americans for Children's Lives and School Safety (C.L.A.S.S). His daughter, Meadow, was murdered.
• March For Our Lives.
• Stand With Parkland.
• Families vs Assault Rifles (they do not have a website - the link provided is to their Facebook page. They also have an Instagram account by the same name).

Those are only a few that I could find….for one massacre…only one.

Following mass shooting incidents that gain national notoriety on some level, new groups form trying to raise funds to advocate for their cause. That's a statement of fact.

Many of those groups couch their fundraising efforts in trying to make a difference in gun violence prevention and/or school safety. That’s a statement of fact, as well.

Many of those groups view their own efforts as ground-breaking. They’re not. In fact, they’re not the first to go down that road. Sadly, they won’t be the last.

That is not meant to disparage. Nor is it meant to discourage.

It is, however, a mistake on their part to try and go it alone in my humble opinion.

Many have no clue how difficult their mission(s) will be.

According to the executive director of Families vs. Assault Rifles, Matt Gohd, in an article from the Miami Herald :

“None of us had a grasp of how difficult this would be,” Gohd said. “We needed more resources, more people.”

According to the article, Families vs. Assault Rifles is “regrouping”.

That’s really too bad, but it isn’t the end of the world for them.

I've been saying for decades now post-Columbine that gun violence prevention and school safety advocacy groups need to stop going it alone following these massacres and band together. 

Think of it like a wagon train wending its way through hostile territory and dangerous environments. Survival of the community of wagon train members relied on their support for each other. After all, there’s strength in numbers.

Wouldn’t that same principle apply if gun violence prevention and school safety advocates were to wagon train together and use it to their advantage? 

Wagon trains – strength in numbers – stronger advocacy – it could work.

My two cents.

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God, Guns, Guts, Glory: Part 1....."GOD"

God, Guns, Guts, Glory: Part 1....."GOD"

Gotta wonder how some people think sometimes.

When discussions on the issues of religion, gun violence, gun safety, gun rights, war, peace, the 2nd Amendment, the Constitution, movies on snipers, patriotism, arming teachers, eliminating gun free zones, concealed and open carry, and so many more go in the direction of God, Guns, Guts, Glory, and one sits back and really takes stock of that very short, very concise, very glib statement, how should it make one feel?

God, Guns, Guts, Glory....How does that statement make YOU feel?

Comfy? Cozy? Safe, perhaps?

My question to you if you feel any of these is why? I mean, really look inside yourself to answer that question. Why? 

Why does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel comfy? 

Why does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel cozy? 

Why does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel safe?

Conversely, does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel uncomfortable?

Does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel squeamish? 

Does God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel a little less safe, perhaps?

Would God, Guns, Guts, Glory make you feel uncomfortable, squeamish, or perhaps a little less safe....even a little bit....especially if it could be proven to you there are people who buy into this concept, the concept of God, Guns, Guts, Glory? Perhaps hundreds of them? Perhaps hundreds of thousands of them?

Truth be told, the numbers are more likely in the millions of people buying into the concept of God, Guns, Guts, Glory.

That so many buy into the concept of God, Guns, Guts, Glory makes me feel a little uncomfortable, feel a little squeamish, feel a little less safe. How does it make YOU feel?

There is actually a website called God, Guns, Guts, Glory. There are also multiple Facebook pages by the same name. Some leave guts out - others do not.

Twitter? Yep.

Pinterest? Oh, yeah.

Online stores? No problem.

An example of the image you can have put on a t-shirt, coffee cup, fridge magnet, or anything else you might be able to think of:

Good thing there wasn't an image of Guts included - that could get kind of gross, eh?

Yep. They're all there. Except the only God in this entire menagerie appears to be the Christian God. No God of anyone else - just the Christian God.

So, let's start with GOD - Christian GOD!

Damn, but there are a lot of people that seem to have this perception that Christian God is a man - a white man - a white man with a beard - a white man with a beard who seems to love and hate all at the same time.

This deity has, according to the Bible, been kind of a genocidal maniac at times. I mean, he's ordered men here on Earth to kill thousands, to spare no one, not even the women and children. Is that why some people of the Christian persuasion today don't seem to have a problem with killing others in Christian God's name?

And yet, to hear tell, like in Sunday School, church services, Bible School and the like, this deity is kind, benevolent, and will save us if we only follow him (or could it be her?).

Don't you dare follow any other God, though, or there'll be HELL to pay!

Well, DAMN, but that just kind of rankles now, doesn't it? If it doesn't, it probably should. After all, envy just happens to be one the seven deadly sins. Christian God isn't envious, now is he? If it's good for us, shouldn't Christian God also follow his/her own rules? I mean, c'mon!

But, how many Gods are there? I mean, really? How...many...Gods...are...there?

How can we follow only one God when there are so many Gods to choose from?

I've been told there is only one God - the Christian God. If that's true, then why do so many people in so many places, of so many ethnicities, of  so many cultures, of so many denominations, of so many sects worship Gods other than the Christian God? Think about that.

For those Christians following this blog, in my last post Religion - Uses and Abuses, I provided research data on somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 different denominations within the Christian faith alone. Adding to that confusion by pointing out that Allah, Yahweh, and Christian God are all the same God, the God of Abraham, and what we have here is a failure to communicate - between and amongst faiths, denominations, and sects.

Could it be? Could it possibly be that the problems we see today regarding religious extremism are part and parcel of that failure to communicate? Not only between faiths, but also denominations and sects within those faiths?

Take Christianity. It's already been noted there are somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 Christian denominations. 

But, what about Islam?

Muslims apparently don't go by the word denomination. Rather, they go by the term 'sects'. Seems there are only five Islamic sects according to World Atlas. Seems a little odd, doesn't it? Sorry....rhetorical.

So, Christianity: up to 40,000 denominations. Islam: five sects.

Now let's see how those of the Jewish faith compare. Doggone it! They don't have denominations either. Sects, yes. Denominations, no. And only five sects at that.

What's wrong with that picture? Nothing, when you come right down to it. Numbers mean nothing in the final analysis. What matters is ideology and rigid dogma. Why? Well, in the end, it is people, not Christian God, not Allah, not Yahweh that actually write and then interpret religious documents. Could it be the people who do that, the men and women who wrote/write and then interpret religious documents are the problem? After all, they are only human.

And therein lies the dangers associated with extremist groups within every religion of the world.

My two cents.....

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Religion - Uses and Abuses

While this blog post doesn't specifically address the issue of Roe v Wade and abortion rights, indirectly the things I'm offering herein do. Given that the U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to overturn Roe v Wade, I'm hoping what is being presented  will bring a little bit of perspective as to why so many folks appear to be focusing in on how religion and religious beliefs appear to be guiding at least some of the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court in their decision-making process. 

Some people say everyone needs religion. Others say not so much. When does it become problematic one way or the other? I believe it becomes very problematic when someone tries to force-feed their version of religion onto others.

I read somewhere there are something like thirty to forty thousand denominations classified as part of the Christian religion worldwide. Think about that for a second - or take as long as you need to digest this nugget of information. It's actually pretty intimidating on its face.

Why are there so many? Are their beliefs really that different from each other? Within each denomination there are other sub-denominations. Why is that? This is just so very confusing on so many levels. And it's not unique to Christianity, either.

Each and every religion teaches some form of peace. And, yet we have war between and amongst these religions - vicious all out atrocity filled genocidal war. That just doesn't make any sense to me. I saw a cartoon that illustrated this conundrum perfectly:

Slogans like the following are commonplace:

God, country, guns! Yeah, baby! More guns! God wants it that way. You ain't a patriot if you don't believe in God, country, and guns - for some, not necessarily in that order.

God hates fags! Gotta say, this one makes me sick to my stomach.

You're going to HELL if you aren't a born again Christian! Say what?! What IS Hell, anyway? The Pope, himself, is saying there ain't no such thing.

Hatred isn't exclusively Christian, either:

Buddhists target Muslims in Sri Lanka. Buddhists target Muslims? Buddhists are supposed to be peaceful, meditation kinds of guys. This can't be right. But, it IS.

Violence in Hinduism. Hinduism? Don't they believe in reincarnation? Don't be stepping on those insects, hear. They might be a relative.

Are these truly religious values? If it is, I gotta wonder........

So, where am I going with all of this?

By now, many of you following my blog know I'm a Columbine Dad. We're a Columbine and Platte Canyon family. Our journey of healing has been long and arduous to say the least.

Following the massacre at Columbine High School, my life and the lives of my kids were turned upside down when my first wife took her own life with a gun six months later. After that, our wheels came off completely.

In my loss and confusion, I turned to religion for answers - the religion of Christianity to be specific. The denomination doesn't matter for purposes of this writing.

I wasn't a very religious person before these events, and I really didn't have time following them to be very religious either. I didn't go to church very much before, and the only time I went to church after was for my first wife's funeral.

I started reading the Bible. I vowed to read it all the way through.

Prayers became a nightly ritual for me: "God! Give me some kind of a sign, anything at all, so that I'll be able to survive this torture and still be there for my kids."

Every single night, these words, thoughts, and emotions were communicated through prayer. Every...single...night.

But, I'll be very honest here - I didn't get any answers - at least conscious answers.

There were no miracles for me, or so I believed at the time. For my daughter there were many. For my Son, his escape physically unharmed was a miracle in and of itself. For me? I still live with survivor's guilt because I was so very far away when all of this went down at their school.

There were no overt signs that God was even listening when I tried to talk with him, especially when I looked back at how our personal lives suffered following the suicide of my first wife. I guess it would be fair to say I was just a little bit angry about what had come our way. But that might also be an understatement, too.

I'd struggled with my beliefs and my doubts ever since I was a child. None of that mattered now, though. Churches of many denominations came to our aid. None of them cared that my family wasn't of their church or religious denomination. Everyone pulled together and helped any way they could.

That's not to say there weren't any controversies. The crosses erected and torn down because they included the shooters who wrecked havoc on so many lives is just one example. There were many more I won't go into here because the one involving the crosses is a stickler for me, personally. And, no, I won't talk about it here.

Still nothing from God, though. Waiting, but no word. No sign. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Extreme gratitude for what everyone did? Very much so. Some kind of sign that God, somehow had a hand in all of this? Not so much.

One could say the churches and other organizations that did so very, very much for everyone affected were acting through God in doing their incredibly generous, caring aid and assistance. I guess that would be logical. I just wasn't feeling it, though.

I looked at the people who were doing all of this and marveled at their generosity, at their caring, at their genuine concern for us. Even shed some tears of gratitude for what they did for so long. For some reason, though, I didn't feel that that was coming from God. I saw it as coming from their own hearts through that free will so many now talk about when it comes to God's relationship with mankind....that free will that allows human beings to either be kind and loving to each other as is the case with most human beings. Or, that free will that allows some human beings to commit terrible, vicious, violent atrocities against some of their fellow human beings....like the shooters of Columbine, for example. That's what I saw. That's what I kept on seeing. And that's what I'm still seeing to this very day.

Wow, this is getting way longer than I intended it to. The reason I'm posting this here now, today, so long after the actual massacre we experienced is because I still feel a need to continue to try and find answers and to try to banish my own demons somehow regarding my own Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, my ongoing doubts about so many things, and my need for some modicum of closure of some sort.

Then, my miracle happened. Her name is Katherine. She is the one most important, singular thing that happened in my life that moved me forward, personally. She brought a sense of spirituality, of inner beauty, with her I had never experienced before. It didn't rely on religion. It didn't rely on a church. It was within her. She exuded spirituality and an inner beauty, and she shared both of them willingly with anyone and everyone she met, including me. This wonderful woman did more for so many than anyone will ever know except for a small inner circle of family and friends. Expressing gratitude to her for what she did, and continues to do for so many, both inside and outside our nuclear family just doesn't seem like it's enough somehow. She leads by example. She lives the kind of life she hopes others may be able to also live. And, more importantly than that, she tries every day of her life to help others realize their dreams for themselves. She is an extraordinary woman in so many, many ways. And I love her dearly for who she is and for everything she does.

Now, I'm going to ask some questions. I hope those reading this can find it within themselves to look at these questions honestly and contribute their own thoughts, perspectives, and experiences.

Question #1: When someone, anyone, suffers a traumatic event, is it commonplace for them to search out religion in their grief and their confusion? If so, why? If not, why not?

Question #2: Is it possible that churches, themselves, sometimes take advantage of those types of situations, or are their intentions pure in helping the way they do? Again, if so, why? If not, why not?

Question #3: If mankind has free will as granted by God, do some also use that free will to do harm to others secure in the knowledge their acts, no matter how heinous they may be, will ultimately be forgiven anyway?

These aren't easy questions to answer honestly. I don't know of any churches anywhere that don't have some level of outreach and charitable activities. But, in my experience, I also know of some churches that did some pretty awful things following the massacre that has come to be known simply as one word...Columbine.

I turned to religion for help. In doing so, one might say I found my own individual spirituality. It didn't ultimately include belonging to a church or embracing a specific religion or denomination. My spirituality is still under development thanks to those who love me as much as they do - my wife, my kids, my extended family and friends. And I do thank God for all of them.

Religion can, and much of the time does, include spirituality. They are not, however, mutually exclusive nor inclusive. From my perspective, the following is so very, very true:

And all of this is why I'm so confused and worried about the current situation at the U.S. Supreme Court. It's not limited solely to Roe v Wade being overturned. There are so many other rights at stake beyond abortion. If anyone out there thinks otherwise and that those rights are safe, I would posit they haven't been paying attention.

My two cents.....

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Quiet Rooms

 

Quiet Rooms

This blog post is dedicated to the injured survivors of the mass school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Little has been published thus far about them. I ask everyone to understand the survivors warrant our attention, too.

Hospitals have many rooms including what physicians call quiet rooms. 

A New England Journal of Medicine article titled The Quiet Room was authored and published November 15, 2017 by Peter Masiakos, M.D. and Cornelia Griggs, M.D.

Their essay details what it’s like for physicians when they take loved ones aside to inform them their child has died. It was gut-wrenching to read:

“We introduce ourselves as the doctor who took care of their child. We take a deep breath, look into their eyes, and quickly break the devastating news — there is no reason to delay. What follows is the visceral, piercing shriek of a mother’s wailing, ‘Please God, not my baby!’ ”

But it doesn’t end there:

“We walk away from the encounter, our stomachs churning from the stale, metallic scent of a child’s blood barely dried on our clogs, our faces streaked with tears, and our hearts gripped in a vise as we tell ourselves that this senseless dying must end.”

Physicians are human, too.   

I do not believe quiet rooms are there solely to convey a message that a loved one has died, though.

My daughter survived the massacre at Columbine High School.

In the days and weeks that followed that massacre, I saw more quiet rooms than I care to remember. 

Sometime during the night of April 20, the ER surgeon who worked on Anne Marie stopped by. He was still wearing his scrubs. They had dried blood caked on them.

We went into a quiet room, the first of many. He wasn’t doing this to inform us our daughter had died. He did this to inform us of what they did in ER. I cannot speak of that here. It’s still too emotional.

His face said it all as he told us what they had to do, his eyes moist with tears as he told the story.

As dawn broke on April 21, chaos set in.....

Doctors, nurses, social workers, insurance company reps, psychologists, psychiatrists - all wanted to meet with us. 

There weren’t enough quiet rooms for all of them to meet separately with the families of the four injured Columbine students at Swedish Medical Center. 

A decision was made to implement a team approach.

Each family would meet individually with their team to discuss a treatment strategy for their loved one. 

Our team ushered us into a quiet room – actually a conference room – every day for two weeks straight.

We were consulted on treatment regimens and methodologies. Recommendations were made and we gave our consent. We felt helpless – overwhelmed, really. 

The trauma surgeon who saved Anne Marie’s life stopped by later that day to relate what he did in the OR.

We went into a quiet room. As it was with the ER doctor, I cannot speak of that here either.

He was a little less emotional than the ER doctor. I attribute that to his experience as a combat surgeon. 

A neurologist wanted to discuss the possibility Anne Marie might have brain damage and paralysis.

We went into a quiet room. 

A psychologist wanted to discuss the likelihood Anne Marie would need extended therapy for PTSD.

We went into a quiet room.

Anne Marie’s cardiologist needed to meet with us to discuss another surgery.

We went into a quiet room – the one I most vividly remember. 

He told us the pericardial sac around Anne Marie’s heart had filled with fluid. The fluid needed to be drained or the sac would keep filling and restrict her heart resulting in cardiac failure. 

He was asking our permission to drain that fluid using a long needle inserted into her chest. He’d be doing this virtually blind and with no anesthesia. 

The risks were great. The consequences of not doing anything were unacceptable.

Informing the rest of my family what lay ahead caused me to break into uncontrollable sobs. 

In the end, I can’t remember how many quiet rooms we were led into.

Anne Marie ultimately survived her injuries. That’s the miracle in all of this.

Gun violence isn’t unique to mass shootings. It’s an epidemic that knows no boundaries. 

Health professionals deal with it daily. Some are trying to do something about it.

Dr. Masiakos has become instrumental in starting a movement called ‘This is our lane” in response to a certain NRA admonition to medical professionals I have a huge problem with.

His lane is also my lane to help end gun violence.

Please consider sharing with family and friends.

My two cents.

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Call to 'Arms': Should We Really Arm Teachers And Put God Back In Schools?

 

Relax folks. I'm not advocating what the title of this blog implies. Far from it, in fact. Exactly the opposite, in fact. It's meant to be tongue in cheek, in fact. It's meant to be snark, in fact. It's also meant to help drive home a serious point about something that seems to pop up in our society following virtually every mass school shooting:

That there's one helluva lot more to these two issues than simply placing a gun and a bible in a teacher's hands.

So, that being said, and in that context, let's end this discussion regarding arming teachers and putting God back in schools once and for all, shall we? Sorry....rhetorical.

Truth be known, these two issues are heating up....again. So, this blog post may be in vain, but all y'all can't blame a guy for trying, right?!

With President Biden's recent executive actions addressing the gun violence epidemic in this country, the debate on gun reform (I prefer this label rather than gun control) and putting God back in our schools are once again front and center in the debate over said gun reform. There are an awful lot of strawman arguments out there on each of these very contentious issues although we aren't hearing nearly as much of those from the notorious National Rifle Association (NRA) here lately. Seems they're in some pretty deep doodoo as we speak. 

Even without the NRA, though, lots of folks seem hell bent on providing their own opinions.

Politicians and media talking heads come immediately to my mind when I think of gun reform discussions.....and not necessarily in a good way. Both have uttered some pretty vitriolic rhetoric in my opinion. I won't go into details because if I did, this blog post would take forever to get done. Suffice to say politicians and talking heads have been vocal regarding the two subjects of this blog post on numerous occasions.

But I digress.

Sadly, factual data to support gun reform advocacy is still in short supply. A lot of why that is can be placed squarely on the shoulders of the NRA due to their steadfast and powerful opposition to any kind of gun reform in decades past. I believe they have been singularly responsible for establishing road-blocks to gathering and analyzing gun violence data more than any other organization or individual.

There are facts, to be sure, but factual data to support one's positions, opinions, or whatever are woefully lacking. Thanks NRA....or not. 

Don't get me wrong. It's getting better, and I believe the President's executive actions will ultimately help move that metaphorical needle in that direction, especially now that the NRA doesn't seem to be nearly as much of a force for opposition as they have been in years past.

With that in mind, and in the meantime, I'm going to make what I consider to be a tongue-in-cheek proposal (the real subject of this blog post) based on some of the things I've been seeing regarding pro-gun advocacy to arm teachers and put God back in schools. Yeah, I know....it sounds like I'm beating a dead horse here, but, truth be known, those two issues are once again raising their ugly heads in discussions on social media and in political circles.

Before I begin, though, I want to make it absolutely and emphatically clear that I personally believe even the idea of arming school staff in any capacity is absurd with the single exception of properly vetted, trained, and certified School Resource Officers! 

I also believe putting God 'back' into schools is equally absurd! Why? Because God was never in schools to begin with. Putting God 'back' in schools is a play on words.....nothing more. 

Because these two issues appear to be at the forefront of quite a few 'discussions' I keep seeing, here's my proposal: 

In order for us to gather and analyze empirical data we will need to conduct a study. A study like this may or may not be scientific in its approach (likely not), but it should yield some definitive, albeit potentially flawed and controversial, data/information for us to look at. The study under consideration would include the following:

• School districts across the U.S. (in order to get a definitive cross-section of urban vs rural perspectives), on a volunteer basis, will designate one school in their district, be it a high school, a middle school, or an elementary school (doesn't matter which) as a school in which ALL teachers and teaching applicants, maintenance personnel, and administrators will be required to carry loaded guns as part of their job responsibilities. Type of guns will be determined by the individual district before implementing this directive.
• The designated schools will eliminate 'gun free zones', meaning concealed and open carry will be allowed on campus....by anyone and everyone.
• All school personnel will be required to engage in adequate training on the use of both their guns and the use of lethal force. The definition of 'adequate' training will be determined by each school district participating in this study.
• All school personnel will be required to undergo rigorous psychological evaluations as a requirement to participate in the program prior to being accepted.
• Enrollment of children of the appropriate age group for the particular school will be voluntary. Parents will be the sole decision maker(s) regarding their children's attendance at said schools.
• 'God' will be brought into these schools by posting of the Ten Commandments in conspicuous areas throughout the campus (perhaps replacing those gun free zone signs that were taken down?). Children will be required to participate in prayer sessions led by teachers. Classes in religious teachings will be required as part of the school curriculum. As to which particular religion receives the most emphasis will be decided by the school district participating in the study. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etal are just a few to choose from.

Anything else anyone can think of? I'll be glad to consider adding it to the list.

If teachers are willing to carry and go through required weapons training, there should be no difficulty filling teaching positions, right?

Likewise, if maintenance personnel and administrators are willing to carry and go through required weapons training, there should be no problem filling those positions either, right?

If participating schools and communities are comfortable with the elimination of gun free zones, the probability anyone and everyone might be packing heat on their campus shouldn't be a problem either, right?

If parents feel more comfortable having their children in this type of educational/religious environment with armed teachers, administrators, and maintenance staff, the classrooms should be overflowing, right?

If teachers are comfortable acquiring the necessary religious credentials to fulfill their roles as being able to teach whichever religion is of primary emphasis in their school, there should be no problem filling those positions either, right?

Whether we see virtually full or virtually empty buildings as a result of this study should tell us all we need to know, right?

A nationwide study like this should help put to rest any argument either side has on the issues of arming teachers and bringing God 'back' into our schools, right?

Once the results are in, we can then have every school in the country conform to the results either way, right?

Sound silly? Sound idiotic? Well, that's the intended point of this proposed study.

My two cents.

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School Safety Is An Enigma.....

School Safety Is An Enigma.....

School safety doesn’t necessarily translate into schools being safe….or as safe as they can be.

How is that an enigma, you ask?

Well, schools are supposed to be safe learning environments, but engaging in school safety activities often times can be like dragging a horse to water, but getting that horse to drink? Well, that's the school safety enigma. In other words, getting schools to do anything at all in school safety other than mandated drills including active shooter drills, ain't easy by any stretch of the imagination.

For example, listen to Ready As You'll Never Be, and you’ll see what I mean. If you'd like to read the transcript instead of listening to it, there's a link to same on the page.

This interview is with two Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) teachers who appear to believe they were as ready as possible for an active shooter in their school. 

But were they, really?

These teachers based their perceptions of readiness on training they’d received prior to the massacre at MSD. They also kind of gave the impression there’s nothing more that could have been done to prepare leading up to the massacre, hence the title of the interview.

The Sun Sentinel, a Florida media outlet, contradicted that perception by characterizing educator and police response to the MSD massacre as Unprepared and Overwhelmed.

Also from the Sun Sentinel:

Deputies who responded to Parkland tragedy hadn’t had active shooter training in years, investigators found

Those two headlines pretty much say it all in my opinion.

And one more from the same publication:

Sheriff Israel defends agency's performance in Parkland shooting

According to this article, Sheriff Israel’s stated agency policy is that deputies “may” rather than “shall” engage an active shooter. He indicated he inserted that language into agency policy himself.

Israel also blamed “bad communications” for problems that day.

As an emergency management specialist (retired), I truly don’t know if I should laugh hysterically, sob uncontrollably, or just bang my head against the wall…..repeatedly!

Following the Columbine massacre, then Colorado Governor Bill Owens signed an executive order creating the Columbine Review Commission to conduct an independent review of that massacre.

The final Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission Initial Report was published January 2, 2018. 

The MSD Report cited Columbine as one of several school shooting benchmarks for identifying and analyzing what went wrong at MSD. 

A comparison using school colors of the two schools to illustrate a few more notable (in my opinion) recommendations from each report:

The “should” recommendations made by the Columbine Review Commission changed to “shall” requirements in Colorado with the passage of two laws; Senate Bill 08-181 requiring emergency management programs in schools, and Senate Bill 11-173 requiring interoperable communications in schools.

The State of Florida created an  Office of Safe Schools in response to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and to passage of SB 7026, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. 

Does anyone besides me see what’s going on here? Confused yet?

Were Florida officials who were/are tasked with making schools safe in their state even aware of lessons learned from Columbine prior to the massacre at MSD? 

If they were aware and did nothing in the interim between the Columbine massacre and the massacre at MSD to address their own school safety planning deficiencies, might that not be a bit of a problem?

If they were only trying to address them after the fact, after their own massacre, something I call being reactively proactive, might that not be a bit of a problem? 

If being reactively proactive after the fact is the best we can do, then school safety is, in fact, an enigma….of extraordinary proportions.

My two cents.

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My Thoughts on 'Civilian' Weaponry

 

My Thoughts on 'Civilian' Weaponry

I saw an article recently in The Atlantic (What I Saw Treating the Victims From Parkland Should Change the Debate on Guns) on how damages to human flesh done by an AR-15 are different than those caused by some other semi-automatic weapons. That article sat me back on my keister more than just a little bit. Why? Because I believe my daughter is still alive today because an AR-15 assault style weapon was NOT the weapon used to critically injure her at Columbine High School April 20, 1999. Rather, the weapon used to shoot my daughter was a Hi-Point 995 Carbine 9 mm semi-automatic rifle, a semi-automatic long gun.

To be perfectly clear, I do not portray the Hi-Point Model 995 Carbine Rifle herein in any way, shape, or form as being anything but a semi-automatic long gun. I’m simply using it as a comparison to the AR-15 and the damages both can inflict based on research and my own personal analysis and experience.

The Atlantic article features a radiologist, Heather Sher, who spoke out about the injuries she saw in performing autopsies on the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre. Her descriptions of those injuries were unsettling for me because some of them were eerily similar to some of the injuries inflicted on my daughter.

My daughter suffered severe and traumatic injuries to her vena cava vein, her liver, her lungs, her diaphragm, and her spinal column. The injury to her vena cava vein is what almost killed her because it caused severe internal bleeding. The liver wound was bad, but we were told by her doctors the liver can regenerate if it isn't damaged beyond that self-repair threshold. The injury to her lungs caused one of them to collapse...more than once. The injury to her spinal column caused her paralysis. All of those injuries combined to cause fluid buildup around her heart that had to be surgically addressed in order to prevent her from going into cardiac arrest. And that's about as graphic a description of her injuries as I'm comfortable giving in this essay. Please reference The Atlantic article for comparisons in the types of wounds discussed here because some of the similarities are what prompted me to say what I’m saying in the first place.

All of my daughter’s injuries were caused by two rounds...two rounds. They came from that Hi-Point Model 995 Carbine Rifle. At the time, I didn't think two bullets could cause such damage. Apparently, and according to the radiologist in The Atlantic article, I was wrong....almost dead wrong. 

An AR-15 can, and does, inflict much more damage because it fires high velocity rounds. Those high velocity rounds arguably would have blown up my daughter’s internal organs instead of causing the damages, albeit critical damages, the rounds from the Hi-Point Model 995 Carbine Rifle inflicted.

As proof of my assertion, there are numerous YouTube videos anyone can view in which AR-15s are used to shoot rounds into ballistics gel. The one I chose to share here is of the AR-15 military equivalent, the M-16: Could You Survive Three M16 Bullets to the Chest? I chose this Smithsonian Channel video for what I consider obvious reasons. There are many more amateur videos, as well.

What an AR-15 is capable of doing to ballistics gel is horrifying simply because ballistics gel is similar in consistency to human flesh. That right there should be the primary focus of any discussion of whether or not AR-15s should even be in civilian hands from where I sit. 

The AR-15 is virtually a military grade weapon without the fully-automatic function. We can argue nuances until we’re blue in the face, but it won’t change that fact. Add in a 'bump stock', and an AR-15 is virtually transformed into an almost fully-automatic military grade weapon. The Las Vegas massacre, in which fourteen of the 24 weapons found in the shooter's hotel room were AR-15 semi-automatic assault style rifles, is proof of that assertion. 

So, please forgive me if I don't buy into the mantra pro-gun advocates and advocacy groups keep pushing that we cannot have a rational discussion on gun 'control' until those in favor of restricting or banning AR-15 assault style weapons educate themselves on same, especially when pro-gun advocates promote that AR-15s are useful for hunting and home defense (The NRA Claims the AR-15 Is Useful for Hunting and Home Defense. Not Exactly). That’s a non-starter for me, especially after having watched The Smithsonian YouTube video. I'd wager it is for a lot of other folks, as well.

My two cents.

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