Yet another tragic loss of innocent life today in Santa Fe, Texas. Yet again! As a school nurse, and one who is close to your children and my children, every day during school, these senseless losses tear at my heart...and yet again, it happened today - again.
So here is the relevance of my post to "allnurses." Nurses are, probably, the most accomplished and innovative, critical thinking, problems solving, life saving, "git-er-done," people on the planet. It appears "the experts" have contributed only to reliving the definition of insanity in regard to school shooting; doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Sometimes it takes someone from the outside looking in to find the golden key.
I am requesting your ideas, recommendations, suggestions, thoughts, etc., regarding what you think would prevent future school shootings; as you would a head to toe assessment, identification, and intervention of your patient, so to speak. Or from any other relationship you have to school age children.
I am requesting genuine input. Sarcasm and political attacks are not welcome. If you don't have a contribution you think would be helpful, please don't.
If this turns out how I'm hoping it will, I intend to print the entire thread and mail it to the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott; opinions from nurses from around the world - how to stop the insanity of school shootings!
To be quite honest, and I mean this in the most non prejudice way. I believe that many of these young people have a warped sense of entitlement. They feel entitled to be accepted, to feel how they want to feel, to think how they want to think, without being rejected. Kids have been bullied forever. African kids are bullied ALL the time!!! I went to school (in the early 2000s) in a very rough neighborhood, with Blacks and Latinos. I personally knew people who brought weapons to school or hid their weapons outside the school on a daily basis. I've seen kids get jumped and bullied. I've seen kids get jumped and urinate on themselves with the whole crowd laughing at them, and still came to school the next day. This was a reality for many of my friends in similar communities. No matter how many times we (referring to people at my school) were bullied, rejected, or outcasted, no one EVER said they wanted to bring a weapon to school to hurt anyone. Maybe we need to start examining what's going on within this specific demographic - young white males - and why they hold this attitude of: if I am sad, depressed, rejected, or bullied, I am ENTITLED to kill others, in order for them to feel my pain.
IDEA: Implementing metal detectors would be a great start...just my opinion, in addition to violence prevention strategies, like they do in inner city schools.
Have you watched "The Chi"? Great show and it portrays the realities of inner city living, poverty, and all the related stuff kids grow up with in poor neighborhoods.
Maybe schools should start mediation programs where children can speak to one another and air out grievances before it gets to the violent level, especially since bullying and miscommunication seem to be the underlying cause in most instances. Mediation should be conducted by a group of their peers since that's who children seek approval from, and the peers usually know more about what's going on among themselves than the adults in the school. However, an adult should oversee the mediation. They should also make the resolution, if one is achieved, be privy only to those involved, with the exception of parent notification. If there is no resolution in mediation, or if there is a perceived threat and/or someone has mental health issues that need to be addressed, the adult in the room can refer the child to the school counselor, who should then contact the parents and/or refer the child to local mental health services.
I read this article at the beginning of my day and now ready to try and contribute. It made me sad that we have to come up with a plan to keep our kids from killing each other but i took a concensus at work and this is what we thought. Btw i wor in a psychiatric er and have doctors social worker and pna's involved with this answer. We think that those who are suppirted by certian monster lobbies in the Senate and Congress should set aside some of that PAC money to 1. Hire more teachers to decrease the amount of students in their classroom. The teachers are afraid for their own life when there are 32 to 40 kids in their room and they must redirect them from being out of control. This would mean more schools, teachers and all that would run the school. 2. The counselors in the schools are even fewer numbers than the teachers and they have those same kids. They don't even have time to give career advice to the kids anymore because of their caseload. 3. There is going to HAVE to be money for mental health. I live in a city of 800,000. The hospital i work in has 7, yes 7 beds for children and adolescents. The private psych hospital of course has more but we also know that it is children who live in poverty and often don't have insurance especially since the Obama care has been cut. And finally, we must have stricter regulations on weapons. I hear you gun advocates, I have my own gun. But when we regulate driving far more than guns it really needs to be looked at. Maybe the same amount of regulating because we know where there is a will there is a way. I apolgoze for the length of this. My first loss to suicide was by gunshot to the head. My grandson will be starting school soon. I am truly scared for him.
The boy who shot up Santa Fe got the guns from his legal gun owning father. Just like folks who drive drunk. They have a license and a weapon and the mentality that it will never happen to them.
Specializes in L&D; GI; Fam Med; Home H; Case mgmt.
I don't think there is any one singular cause of these shootings, but I believe one of the most obvious and stark causes is the breakdown of the family.
Specializes in L&D; GI; Fam Med; Home H; Case mgmt.
Broken families cause far, far more damage than most people will admit. Sure, there are a bunch of us who came from divorced parents, blended families, childhood trauma, and we didn't turn into mass murderers, but along with the soaring divorce/single parent rates now, there is also less support from the community, more isolation, declining social mores, increased violence in every conceivable area in kids' lives, widely-available obscene/violent Mediaography (which causes its own brand of misery), sky-high substance abuse, easier access to firearms - it all leads to the perfect storm of rage and a lack of conscience. Guns are most certainly NOT the crux of the problem, though they clearly provide a means to great harm - but until our society learns what love really is, what marriage really is, what selflessness really is, and begins valuing and strengthening the nuclear family unit, this is all going to get much worse.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
I don't think there is any one singular cause of these shootings, but I believe one of the most obvious and stark causes is the breakdown of the family.
The problem with this story is it doesn't really have a basis in fact.
James Holmes (Aurora theater shooting) - intact home
Eric Harris (Columbine) - intact home
Dylan Klebold (Columbine) - intact home
Kip Kinkel (Thurston) - intact home
Corey Lehnert (Le Seuer Henderson) - intact home
And HELLO!! The Sante Fe high school shooter whose name I'm not going to try to spell - INTACT HOME
These are just the ones I happen to know in my brain. I could actually do some research and find dozens more. In other words, the percentage of people who commit or attempt mass shootings who come from "broken homes" is likely statistically equal to the number of regular people who come from "broken homes".
Here is a novel idea that will take some additional research that we currently don't have. This is a bit of a long-winded explanation, but bear with me.
Is it possible that today's children are different from yesterday's? I don't mean in family values or culture or upbringing, but BIOLOGICALLY different.
Aaron Lerner, Patricia Jeremias, and Torsten Matthias, "The World Incidence and Prevalence of Autoimmune Diseases is Increasing." International Journal of Celiac Disease, vol. 3, no. 4 (2015): 151-155. doi: 10.12691/ijcd-3-4-8.
Anecdote: My oldest son is now 20. When he was in 2nd grade, his teacher with 40 year experience said, "When I first started teaching, I could easily handle a class of 40. Now, I'm struggling with 20. The kids are different now. I'm convinced it's our environment."
Where are our studies on autoimmune diseases and the environmental factors that may have a role in it. Our food is genetically modified, our air is filled with waves that we can't see and know NOTHING about the effects on our bodies, our waterways are contaminated, and we sit in traffic inhaling fumes. Why are our girls and boys hitting puberty earlier and earlier? Why do we have a growing incidence of autoimmune diseases in the developed world?
Do we really think that none of this has affected the growing bodies and brains of our children?
We need to found out what type of damage our technological advances can cause. We simply don't know, but we are seeing the effects of without cause.
Vaccines likely do as much harm as good. Our world is polluted. That teacher said it all. Not to mention, of course, all of the paperwork/record requirements that teachers face today is probably much greater than it used to be.
In various fields I have dedicated my 30+ years in the workforce to helping people in crisis situations. With that in mind I say this to all of the "gun grabbers": In all that time I have not met one person that has been the victim of a forcible felony that were proud of their previous decision ~not~ to own a gun.
Pandora's Box has been opened long ago and there is no way to put those things that escaped back into the box. There are an average of 285 regulatory gun laws per state and felonious criminal elements still have access to guns. Do you think putting further restriction on law abiding citizens are going to prevent any further acts of violence? Do you think that enacting more legislation is going to cause the felonious criminal element I speak of to just hand "Okay, this is it - let's hand 'em over."? The pragmatic approach is to strengthen the security of our schools, proactive mental health services, and a focus on enforcement of laws already on the books. In those thirty years I have seen some horrible things and I don't plan on being a victim. When you can convince me that "Everyone" has given up their guns, I might be convinced to give up mine.
I look at what is different now compared to 1970, 1980's. Gun access was much easier then, in fact there were guns in student's vehicles a lot of the time. Schools were much easier to enter then, open door policies. I went into one high school in 1987 because I loved the architecture and wanted to see the inside, not one person stopped me. Despite all these red flags, school shootings did not occur. Back then, the number of dual income families was low, especially in suburbia, where most of these shootings are now occurring.
Now, most children are raised in dual income homes out of necessity and/ or greed. Greed need not be monetary in nature, it could be the need to validate one's life. I see a huge amount of parental selfishness that puts the children in a situation where they are raising themselves. Most have upper middle to lower upper income levels, but their parents are focused on their own lives and the children are not in the periphery. The dirty little secret that is the common thread for these shooters are absent fathers, either there is no male in the home or the father is emotionally absent.
The emotional toll of these absentee parents is immense, I know, I had a child in my home for seven years that was emotionally abandoned by his mother. This child has serious mental illness issues. The problem is, the psychiatric community is quick to allow victimization and slow on accountability. This child has threatened people with deadly weapons and not once has his hospitalizations addressed the aggressive behavior, only his feelings. We are failing these kids at a base level and allowing them to develop into the names that have become too commonplace in this new era. We need to get back to accountability and stop the victimization attitude that pervades our society.
I HATE guns. I HATE the NRA even more. I want stricter gun contol, but I have come to the realization that things will not change. The gun culture in this country has proven time and time again that their right to have hand guns, shot guns and semi automatic rifles far outweighs the right of American children to attend school safely. I am so GD tired of their circular arguments about how guns don't kill people, good guys with guns, just look at Chicago. After Newtown, when nothing changed nationally, I gave up. If a pile of 20 dead six year olds who were shot cowering in their classroom's bathroom changed nothing in this country, than NOTHING will ever change. It could be 1000 dead preschoolers and these a holes will send thoughts and prayers and do nothing because God forbid they can't buy more of their precious guns. It makes me very upset that this country is so in love with violence, torture and weapons, but it is completely ingrained in American culture, things will not change. People place value in violence, while things like healthcare and education are dismantled. The only solution to these tradgedies is to fortify schools, metal detectors, police, just like when going to concert or sporting event. That's the only thing these NRA jerks will agree to, and at least something needs to be done. I hate what our country has become, a violent, amoral, ignorant cesspool. For those on the other side, try to find a way out, find a country that values education and health and love. America is divided and at least to me, the outlook for our nation is not good. :'(
Wow, really?
Simply hating the NRA and/or people who own guns will not solve this problem, AND it sounds like maybe you should do a little home work/research on the NRA. The problem in Chicago is the not just guns, its the criminals who have the guns and you cannot stop this, even if you ban guns they will still get them. I don't want to live in a society in which only criminals have guns, how many more deaths/murders do you think would happen then? I really don't understand why you think this country is "in love with violence, torture, and weapons" and "people place value in violence", if you are talking about criminals then I might agree, if you mean the country as a whole then I do not agree. You are right about one thing, and that is, that this Country is divided. We should all work to fine common ground, a compromise that all can live with. Calling people jerks and a holes is not the way to bring people together or solve problems. Nobody wants to see kids or anyone else get hurt/killed, but the problem is way bigger than gun control and/or the NRA.
Kooky Korky, BSN, RN
5,216 Posts
Have you watched "The Chi"? Great show and it portrays the realities of inner city living, poverty, and all the related stuff kids grow up with in poor neighborhoods.