Stop pointing fingers, take action against violence in schools

By Hemi Ahluwalia
Associate News Editor

Screaming students, loud popping sounds, people running, the smell of smoke.

It’s 9:25 a.m. at Santana High School in Santee, Calif.

A fellow student has just pulled out a gun in the restroom and has started shooting. He then emerged from the restroom to fire shots into the hallway.

Two dead, several are injured.

This is just the latest incident in school shootings that has rocked the nation. This also marks the 14th shooting in the past six years.

Witnesses said the student said for days he would bring a gun to school and kill someone.

Why were his threats not taken seriously? This is not the first time an attacker has warned people and wasn’t being taken seriously.

It is about time that Americans take any threat of killing a person seriously. If someone makes a threat to kill our president, he or she is immediately tracked down and questioned. So why can the same type of action not be taken when a classmate makes the same threat?

Is the life of our children and teachers less important than our presidents?

Who is to blame for all of this violence?

There have been multiple studies on whether the media, parents or the schools are to blame for these violent actions that are being taken out in our schools.

Maybe it is time for these studies to stop and for someone to actually listen to what is being said in the schools.

When a threat is made, it needs to be taken seriously. Action should be taken immediately.

All the school shootings might have been avoided if someone had just taken the time to listen to what is being said. Parents, teachers and the media are all to blame for what is happening in our society.

Of course not having automatic weapons available to just anyone could also be a deterrent to school shootings.

The Constitution states we have the right to bear arms to protect ourselves, but do you really think our forefathers meant an automatic weapon?

Outside of law enforcement and the military, automatic weapons have no use in society. You don’t need a semi-automatic pistol to scare off an intruder.

These deadly weapons are continuously falling into the wrong hands: the hands of children.

How many more school shootings or children accidentally dying when they are playing with their parents’ guns do we have to have before we ban automatic weapons?

For everyone who has a child, grandchild, sibling, cousin, niece or nephew at school right now, think about how you would feel if they didn’t make it home in the afternoon.

The week had just begun. For some students, it was the start of Spring Break. But for students in a suburb of San Diego and across the nation, it was a day that would never be forgotten.

Associate News Editor Hemi Ahluwalia, is a junior broadcast journalism major from Stephenville.
She can be reached at (h.ahluwalia@student.tcu.edu).

Editorial policy: The content of the Opinion page does not necessarily represent the views of Texas Christian University. Unsigned editorials represent the view of the TCU Daily Skiff editorial board. Signed letters, columns and cartoons represent the opinion of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board.

Letters to the editor: The Skiff welcomes letters to the editor for publication. Letters must be typed, double-spaced, signed and limited to 250 words. To submit a letter, bring it to the Skiff, Moudy 291S; mail it to TCU Box 298050; e-mail it to skiffletters@tcu.edu or fax it to 257-7133. Letters must include the author’s classification, major and phone number. The Skiff reserves the right to edit or reject letters for style, taste and size restrictions.