Welcome to another edition of So Right It’s Wrong, folks. Tonight, I’m on a bit of a rant. As I am writing this, it’s 9:50 p.m. on Tuesday, May 24. This is going to be a sensitive topic to discuss, but I feel it must be. Today, America experienced yet another tragedy at the hands of a deranged gunman running amok in the halls of a school. A school! A place where Americans are obligated by law to send their children. A place that should be as safe and secure as the child’s home. Schools no longer seem as safe as they should be. And it’s not a political matter.
According to The Texas Tribune, the suspect, Salvador Ramos, entered Robb Elementary School (Uvalde, Texas) around 11:32 a.m. and began firing on students and staff. Robb Elementary teaches 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders. This monster killed 19 children and two adults. This is a heart-wrenching tragedy, not a platform for pushing policy.
If you are reading this, you likely stay current on the happenings of the world in some manner. It is also very probable that you have noticed that every time an act of mass-violence occurs, politicians fly to a podium to offer thoughts and prayers to victims and their families and then immediately follow that up with a message of how their policies would help keep this type of thing from happening.
Democrats do it, Republicans do it, and personally, I find it revolting. Tonight was no different, as Joe Biden took to the stand to deliver his condolences to the families and then question why we haven’t passed legislation banning certain weapons. If you believe that legislation is the answer, that’s fine, but regardless of what you believe, now isn’t the time to push an agenda. There’s only two acceptable things to be doing under these dire circumstances: offer sincere condolences and start enacting change that immediately and unquestionably makes children safer in schools.
When I say the president should be offering sincere condolences, I’m not suggesting that what he said tonight was insincere, but if someone truly wants to offer comfort to another person, and they’re capable of doing so (and I’d imagine a president is capable), comfort them in person. Shake a hand, give a hug and a shoulder to cry on. As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words. There are 21 families in Texas that are going through an unimaginable horror, and Joe wants to tag his policies to his attempt at comforting them. Were I in his shoes, I’d have been on Air Force One as soon as possible, flying to meet those families in person.
Aside from that, the only other thing to be done is to make our schools as secure as possible. If we have billions of dollars to send all around the world to aid other nations with their issues, surely we can invest billions into protecting our children. I don’t mean policies that may or may not change things. Creating new laws do little to actually deter someone willing to break current laws already.
Friends and I have been discussing this at length. There’s common sense practices that with funding from the federal government should be attainable all across the country, in every school. Many schools have resource officers on site, but in some cases, it’s one officer stationed in one school on a campus with multiple buildings. I’d suggest station one in each building, within eyesight of the entrance and restrict entry to one doorway. Install metal detectors, everyone coming in goes through it, with no exceptions. Simple steps can be taken to stop or at least slow the progress of an attacker in a school setting.
If a handful of regular guys from Columbia can come up with a few potential ways to make American schools safer, our politicians with their seemingly unlimited resources should be able to make changes to protect our students. It saddens me that America has become so politically polarized that we can’t just do the obvious right thing any more. I know this has been a difficult topic to discuss. No one wants to even think of the horrendous events of the day, but there’s no way to solve issues without facing them head-on with discussion.
Tragedy shouldn’t be political. Legislation isn’t the answer, but common sense, compassion, true kindness, and direct action is.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this website, its owners, or its readers.
