In the wake of the latest school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, the anti-gun rhetoric is once again being spewed forth by the various media outlets.  Soon poster boys like David Hogg will be on every network but Fox. They will claim that a total gun ban, including forced confiscation of all firearms, is the only way we can protect our school children.  All the news anchors will nod sagely and a stream of victims and mourners will be paraded before us.

Let me make one thing very clear.  If I truly believed that draconian “gun control” measures would stop the madness, I would reluctantly support them.  However, emotions aside, the realities are that we cannot legislate evil away.  It is a fact of life.  It has always been there as part of the human condition, and unfortunately probably always will be.  What we must do, however, is to devise a way to defend ourselves against it.

Some measures are obvious.  Metal detectors and limited entrances for instance. But more important is to train “School Resource Officers” on methods to be alert for unusual behaviors by individuals entering the school.  Obviously, wearing a long trench coat on a hot, humid day is an example of such behavior.  If the officer at Santa Fe High had challenged the shooter as he entered the school, the result would probably been much different.  If all firearms were successfully banned and confiscated, an individual concealing a razor sharp knife or machete under a long garment could wreak havoc in a crowded hallway or classroom.

So, we must open our minds to all avenues to solve the problems we face in our society.  The media must stop glorifying the horrific acts perpetrated by these sick individuals.  That only creates “copy cat killers”, a proven fact.  The entertainment industry must stop depicting gun violence as somehow normal behavior.  The sick video games which are based on rewards for the number of people you can “kill” while playing the game must be banned.  While most young people can tell the difference and maintain a moral compass, obviously many can not.  So-called “Social Media” sites must be scrutinized for the warning signs which seem to always be apparent AFTER, but not BEFORE the violence occurs. Young people must be encouraged to tell their parents or school officials about bizarre behavior on the part of others.  The phrase “If you see something, say something” is meaningless if it isn’t followed in fact.

Finally, enough spending money on “transgendered bathrooms” and the like. The money we have should be funneled towards making the schools back into places of learning, not warehouses for unwanted children or indoctrination centers for extremist behavior.  We must give parents real “school choice”.  If they want to send their children to a school which requires standard uniforms and provides heightened security for the students, they should be given tax credits to do so.  As I have mentioned on this blog previously, it isn’t necessary to re-invent the wheel where school security is concerned.  The Israelis developed very efficient methods to secure their schools after several awful terrorist attacks on students in the 1970s.  Study and emulate those procedures, and the sooner the better.

If some parents want to stick their collective heads in the sand and focus their efforts on gun control, instead of dealing with the reals causes of  school violence, that is their choice.  However, they don’t have the right to impose that belief system on everyone else.

Where school security is involved, one size does NOT fit all.