ok and hehe sorry this is my last copy and paste, its from another teenager who had something to say...his two posts combined the second is in reference to my second post
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1st post:Here's my point-of-view as an 11th grader in a US public school system.
While I believe that the cause of the school massacres lies fully in the individials(s) taking part, guns gave these people the means to carry out their plots.
While some argue that if there were no guns, the offenders would simply use another weapon, I believe that it would be very tough to match the damage done by guns with a different weapon.
Bombs - Takes a lot of planning on the part of the offender. First one must posess knowledge of how to build an effective bomb. OK, I know, you could probably find this on the net. What would an employee think of a high schooler buying small quantities of fertilizer? Also, where does the offender build this bomb? It would be tough to keep quantities of fertilizer and diesel fuel hiden from any parent short of blind. Then comes the task of transporting and placing an explosive device in the school. My school does not allow backpacks in classrooms since we had a wave of bomb threats following the Columbine massacre. Provided the student was "smart" enough to build an effective bomb, it would be very tough to build, store, transport, and place. And it's still not guaranteed to effect anyone when or if it does go off.
Knives - This takes a physically capable person to execute. While someone armed with a knife may catch someone off-guard, they wouldn't last long against the mob of students retalliating. Sustained injuries would be much less serious.
Poison Gas - Just obtaining it and transporting it inconspicuiously would all but rule out this means.
Car: My school has a small concrete ledge running around most of it. Any attempt at a car suicide would do little more than kill the driver and shake the school a bit. In any case the wall would absorb most of the impact energy, and there are no parts of my school where someone could crash through a wall into a largely populated area.
Guns - Easily obtainable from a parent or parent of a friend, etc. Easily concealed beneath clothing or stashed in a messy locker. Needs no special physical atrubutes to operate. Can be precisely aimed at other students and can be made instantly lethal with a little care. Nobody in the school will have the means to supress the offender. Very efficient way to kill.
So what do I think the answer is? I believe the responsibility lies in several places. First is in gun owners to not leave guns accessible to kids without supervision. This won't by a long shot cut teens off from guns, but it's a start. Next is the general behavior of students. Why anyone would tease or pick on another student until they reach their breaking point is beyond me. Students need to learn to accept others for who they are and if they don't like what they see they should just keep it to themselves instead of trying to verbally (or physically) destroy the person and push them to the edge. Parents need to become more aware of what their kids are up to and be more willing to listen to their kids. With parents gone so much, kids don't have anyone at home to confide in or to talk to about their problems before they get to the breaking point.
I'm not sure that I would have turned in the kid who committed this recent massacre had he joked about it beforehand. Obviously those who dismissed his claims knew him well enough to know how to take things from him and didn't believe it to be a true threat. Any teen with a little common sence would report a massacre plot if the warning signs were obvious, best friend or not. I really think you'd have to have background information about the offender in order to make any judgement of the jokes he made and the expected behavior of those who heard them.
Just my $.02 from my perspective for now...
2nd post:Thanks <S>
I went back and read your post in-depth. I usually skim over long threads to get the main points.
I agree that it is super-easy for teens to get their hands on drugs, weapons, etc. so unless something changes you need to teach kids to respect others instead of trying to cut them off from all sources of contraband, which I view as nearly impossible.
I think we've all had our low points in life. My Freshman year was my "downer" year and I'm glad I made it through OK. The opinions and words of others can relentlessly rip you apart at this time and emotions run high. In Junior High and High school you must transform from an all-trusting and naive elementary student to one who can take verbal and physical abuse and know not to dwell on what others might think of you or what they do to you. Some don't take this rough transition well as can be seen in the "outcasts" who perform these massacres. Perhaps students are getting too large of a dose of the acclaimed "cruel" "real world" too soon, and in their limited experience revert to acts of violence as the solution. then end..
Mosse11 if you do read through this and get to this part just want to tell you that I a 17yr old considers it an act of cowardice too, and that the kid would never goto NARCs and rat on someone else, that would just lead to worse treatment its better to be pcied on then be considered a fink out there beleive me, just tell me this would you have gone to the teachers and would have told em? doubt it, btw the teachers do when they see it usually try and stop it but you really think they gonna do this stuff in front of teachers? yeah right!
Pup out
PLEASE READ THROUGH MY POSTS THEY HAVE INSIGHT FROM THE PEOPLE WHO ARE LIVING IT NOW [This message has been edited by Pup (edited 03-06-2001).]
