Yet Another School Shooting - Comments

@ Carpe Diem !
It's not a good feeling to have. I remember being in high school (back in Freshman year would have been 2004/05 lol I'm old) and dealing with a ton of bomb threats at the school (I was in NH at the time) and now I know how my mom must have felt every time I called her from the parking lot. I just want my kids to get a good education without having to worry about if someone from their school is going to come in some day and start shooting at them. That doesn't make school fun or easy to focus on.

But I'm a really involved mom, so I know that whatever school he goes to, I'm going to be asking all the questions of: what is your protocol regarding a school shooting, do they teach children what they should do in case of such an emergency? I mean, at 4, you can't really expect them to fully understand why someone would come into the school and shoot them, ya know? My 4 year old is a very loving, outgoing child, and hasn't quite grasped the concept of people being capable of hurting him for no reason.

@ swell

Yeah I think here in America they've become so common that it's like everyone is accepting it as some sort of casual tragedy and it's honestly the worst possible thing to do, to treat something so violent as an act of normalcy.

What pet of Florida?! I'm here year round so ::lmao:

@ Pooky Binky
I can't imagine the fear ou have for sending children to school! And I by no means thing that children should know how to use weapons but if they have the general knowledge on how to identify them and know at least how many rounds one holds or something, it can't hurt. Like I said, if s shooter has a shotgun I know at MAX he has six shots before a reload. a shooter would be extremely vulnerable during a reload, depending on what kind of weapon it is. I know it only helps so much, but knowledge can't hurt.

I kept up with this on WESH last night.... Jason, the kid whose books saved his life, was really lucky. He didn't even realize he had been shot at until he got out of the library. I have pretty strong views on gun safety and such because I have two kids, one who starts Kindergarten next year (we live in Central FL), so things like this always make me sick to my stomach because I can't help but think... what if? 4 is too young to teach a child about how to effectively protect themselves against a shooter, but it's not too young to teach them gun safety. Not too long ago a young kid shot his/her sibling by accident, and only a bunch of other young kids (all under age 10 I believe) were in the house at the time.

But I agree that it's not gun safety laws that are going to keep people from getting their hands on guns because more often than not, they don't do it legally. My heart goes out to all the FSU kids and the families of the victims.

@ Airi.
I couldn't agree more about the mental health issues. I specifically didn't cover them in this blog because I didnt want to single out the shooter at FSU for his mental health issues and I feel that even those these are inherit acts of violence and what we could label as 'evil' I often seen these people as victims because they're clearly victims of their own mental health. This falls into my point in saying you can't predict who a shooter is going to be. Just as we don't always understand someone who has a mental health issue, it's nearly impossible to understand what mental health issues someone has. We as a country need to start educating on health issues as well, being that it's a hue correlation between mental instability and violence in our society. We think that having mental health issues is something to be ashamed of, therefore so many people DONT seek the help they need and it results in tragedies such as the one experienced in FSU. I couldn't agree more that something needs to be done about health mentally and the relationship it has wih gun laws.

I'm honestly a bit sad that there's been no mention of mental health by anyone I've seen talking about it. After all the blood that has been spilled..... We have learned nothing from it. Based on the articles I've read, if people were more conscious of mental health and paid a bit more attention, they most likely would have noticed something was off with May and may have been able to prevent this. It's just like with the shooting Elliot Rogers did. Had the police paid more attention and had better mental health training, that shooting never would have happened.

May was a lawyer but that doesn't mean he is exempt from suffering untreated mental health issues. More likely than not, people in his life thought he was always fine because he was a lawyer. We have this image of who should be mentally ill and lawyers don't fit that image but, to me, it sounds like May was. Articles state that he chronicled in a journal his fears of being targeted and other such things. It shows that May was in a state of crisis and, most likely, suffering from a mental illness that was untreated. It honestly sounds like May might have been suffering from an illness that causes a lot of paranoia if he was so fearful of being 'targeted'. I do wonder what sort of connection May had to the university and why he chose that location. The articles are vague but from what it sounds like... There were signs but people ignored the signs.

My point here is that school shootings in America are not just a matter of gun control. It's a matter of culture, gun control, and mental health. Until we realize this, nothing will be solved. We still shame mental health to the point where people are scared to talk about it in fear of being called "crazy" or "psycho". This man probably didn't seek any help for his illness because, as a society, we don't think mental illness can exist in lawyers. They don't fit society's "profile" of someone mentally ill just as he did not fit the "profile" of a "crazed gunman" (which further shames mental illness).

As a society, we need to change this. We need to stop handing guns out like candy. I live in California and we're a state known for having strict gun laws. I agree with these laws. We even have laws connecting gun control and mental health. For example, when someone is involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility, they cannot own or operate a firearm for fire years because they are a danger to themselves and/or to the community. I do believe we should extend this to people who voluntarily check themselves into a psychiatric facility but at least it's a start. At least we're doing something instead of ignoring it like some States do (not saying Florida does). And this is all coming from someone currently living under that ban. I cannot own, operate, or basically go near a firearm for 5 years because I was involuntarily committed to a psych ward earlier this year. I agree with this and accept it as for the best.

We need to pass a nation-wide requirement on background checks. No gun should be able to be purchased without a background check. Not even a handgun. We need stricter gun control and a better mental health system. Our mental health system is barren. Even if someone is able to overcome the shame society puts on them for being mentally ill, it's hard to get help from a system that the government is killing. We need to start putting more money back into mental healthcare and actually start caring. Honestly, all in all... These mass shootings are preventable if Americans would stop trying to ignore the issues at hand and face up to what is happening in our own country.

My thoughts are with the Florida university and I do hope things can get figured out.

jesus bloody christ
Australia has super strict gun laws like NZ so I couldn't even imagine how people in those situations would be feeling but jesus christ I am all for protecting yourself but in a sense, part of me isn't even that surprised when a school shooting does occur because it happens almost regularly, you know?

ALSO
YOU LIVE IN FLORIDA
THERE'S A VERY STRONG CHANCE I'M GOING TO FLORIDA NEXT JUNE

@ southpaw

I know exactly what you mean. Being from Florida means there are only a few schools to go to college when the time comes so it's like you know so many people at each college, especially FSU.

I really wish that people would stop thinking about what a shooter looks like and start thinking about what to do if the situation arises. So many people are like well that kid looks like they would bring a gun to school and the fact of the matter is you can almost never identify them before it happens! Something has to be done.

@ Proud Saiyan Warrior

So many other countries don't have this problem because of the lack of firearms in the country. I wish that were the case in America. Unfortunately, America is a country built upon the premise of guns and a very chaotic view on the topic of freedom. Our country has had this idea of gun rights since it's very construction and it's really coming back around to bite us in the ass. Thank you for the good vibes as well. They're surely needed.

I'm from North Florida and I go to UCF, and I know a lot of people who go to FSU - when I heard about the shooting this morning, it was a slap in the face. I never thought it would happen so close to home, if that makes sense.

There was another high school shooting a few weeks ago, too. I feel like not enough people are paying attention to the obvious dangers of our current gun-control situations, and not enough measures are being taken to prevent these shootings from happening. Like you said, there's not a specific "profile" for shooters, and that's terrifying.

I come from a country where our police don't even carry guns most of the time - My entire objection to going to America is because of how every one is armed. Of course it's your rights and all that, but Idk, We don't have those violent crimes here, very rarely is there a shooting because guns are so much harder to get.

Good vibes going to those involved <3