THE DOOMSDAY SCENARIO: WHAT IF SCHOOL WALKOUTS DON'T WORK?
May 23, 2018
The New York Times seemed to think it was bitterly ironic that some of the students at Santa Fe High School, site of the recent mass shooting, had staged a walkout last month in support of the Parkland, Florida, students. But now, only a month later, one of the students who participated in the walkout is in the hospital from yet another school shooting.
I suppose we could revel in the irony, but, as a more results-oriented person, what I take from that vignette is that school walkouts are not effective deterrents to school shootings. I'm not sure the poems did much either.
These are hideous events that require serious proposals, not the self-indulgent mawkishness our media keep serving up.
Here are some news items that might help us figure out how to reduce the number of school shooting victims.
-- May 3, 2017, Arlington, Texas: James Jones went to the Zona Caliente sports bar and began yelling incoherently. When the manager, Cesar Perez, went to talk to him and calm him down, Jones pulled out a gun and shot Perez dead, then started shooting wildly at patrons. Luckily, a concealed carry holder happened to be having dinner at Zona Caliente with his wife that night. He shot Jones dead before anyone else was hurt.
-- Aug. 7, 2016, Linndale, Ohio: Two men getting into their car in a Dollar Store parking lot were held up by a masked armed robber. As the gunman, Varshaun Stephen Dukes, was rifling through one of the men's pockets, the other pulled out his concealed handgun and told him to stop. The robber fired at the man but missed. The concealed carry permit holder shot back, putting a .45 bullet in the robber's brain. (Naturally, he survived.) All of this was captured on the Dollar Store's surveillance camera, so no charges were brought against the armed citizen.
-- June 26, 2016, Lyman, South Carolina: Jody Ray Thompson opened fire in the crowded Playoffz nightclub, injuring three. But before he could kill anyone, he was shot in the leg by a club patron with a concealed carry license. Police arrested Thompson without further incident and no one died. Read More »