And Once Again---Babes with Guns

  I was just flipping through my electronic mail here, and found a letter from a friend of mine about school shootings. Then I hear that another shooting just occured at a school this morning! What the hell is going on here? Has society COMPLETELY fallen apart? What the hell are the parents doing with these kids??????

                 I have raised two daughters, somewhat successfully, I tend to think. I also own guns...hand guns, shotguns, whatever. Neither one of my girls EVER talked of taking a gun to school to settle something! Now, to be fair, they did always expect me to go there to intimidate teachers and the principal! Which I would gladly do, of course. But even then, I never used a gun to get my message across.

                In a way, I sort of hate guns, but I happen to own them, so that is a paradox...and a strange one at that. I no longer hunt, so I keep them knowing that at sometime I may need to defend my home and family against an intruder....maybe. I have been in some very 'touchy' situations before, with some very volatile persons, and have never pulled out a gun.

             Once a gun comes out, there can be only ONE END. Someone ends up shot. If you need a gun, then you have exhausted all of your options, now you must decide if you can kill someone...or let them take your gun and kill you. Neither outcome is a good one. This is just what I was talking about earlier...I won't say that ANY kind of music causes kids to do these things. I will say that MOST of the blame lies with the parents.

           My oldest daughter has moved out, started a family, and I STILL know who most of her friends are.(you can NEVER know everything). I can name my youngest girl's friends as well. I know where she is every minute of every day. So far, she hasn't gotten bold enough to skip school, but when she does, I will deal with it.

            Do I hide my guns? From my grandchildren, yes. From my girls and my wife? Certainly not! They know what guns are for, and what they can do to people. They understand that a gun is a TOOL. Like a hammer, it has a specific job to do, and that is just what it does. GUNS KILL THINGS. They are not toys, they are not art, they are not phallic symbols. They are, quite simply, specialized tools. No more, no less.

              Now, next will come the allegations that some video-game caused this young boy to do this shooting. Bullshit! Someone at that school pissed this kid off, and more than likely just pushed him aside; maybe he didn't run with the "popular" crowd, maybe he wasn't a jock. Who knows? I find it strange that this child went straight for the administration at his school, and not after students. Someone needs to do some looking in that direction.

               In my dealings with teachers here, we have some who need a break from teaching. They have had their jobs too long. You can see it in their eyes, in the way that they treat certain students. Hell, I have a nephew that was tied up, and had duct tape put on his mouth in school!! He was just a little kid at the time, first or second grade. I saw this same boy snatched completely off the ground by just one arm when he was in third grade by a male teacher.

           At the time I saw this, I didn't pay attention to the child, only the teacher. I took the child from him, and told him to pick on someone his size....and since I was right there, I was most certainly available! Only later did I find out that the child he was abusing was my nephew. It didn't matter at the time, it was a small child being man-handled by a two-hundred pound grown man. No one could just stand by and watch that.

             We need to identify kids who have short fuses. We need to teach older kids that it is wrong to tease and harm ANYONE.  We need to do away with "cliques" in schools. We need to go to school uniforms, so no one gets pushed around because of what they wear. And, mostly, PARENTS NEED TO BE INVOLVED IN THEIR KID'S LIVES!!!!!!!!!

              Don't tell me you are too busy with work. That's bullshit. I managed to work 16 hour days in a hot, dirty factory. Worked to the bone, and just as tired, I always had time for my little girls. Let's put the blame right where it belongs....with the parents. No more, no less.

 

Holla' If You Hear Me!!!