Early Monday morning, Americans were bombarded with the all-too-familiar reports of another school shooting. At Sparks Middle School in Sparks, Nev., two individuals were fatally shot, and two minors were injured.
Even more tragic, an eyewitness, 13-year-old student Kyle Nucum told the Reno Gazette-Journal that he saw a classmate commit the act. The suspect is reported to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
How many of these shootings are going to happen before we come to grips with some basic truths about gun violence in schools?
Since the majority of schools in the United States — elementary through high school — are gun-free zones, they are prized targets for would be mass murderers; they know no one will be there to shoot back at them.
When police officers do arrive on scene, it is at that point that the shooter usually turns their gun on themselves, or is eventually neutralized by the police.
So, we can reasonably conclude that bad guys with guns are only stopped by the presence of good guys with guns.
The time has come for us to stop kidding ourselves, and give these kids the adequate protection they deserve. Every school in America needs some form of armed security to stave off attacks from these homicidal psychopaths that feel the need to kill children.
We here at LSU are extraordinarily blessed to have never had a mass shooting. Sure, we live in close proximity to some of Baton Rouge’s rougher neighborhoods, but to this date, no one has walked onto campus with the sole intent of murdering as many of us as they could.
That in part is owed to our stellar police force, the LSU Police Department. With officers patrolling throughout campus, they are first responders for any situation, from automobile accidents to the occasional armed robbery.
They even keep what is known as a Special Response Team, or SRT, at the ready should the unthinkable happen and there is an active shooter situation at LSU.
What’s more, a large portion of us are eligible to purchase handguns and obtain concealed carry weapon, or CCW, permits. If state licensed individuals were allowed to register with LSU PD and carry on campus, it would be yet another ring of protection for us. When seconds matter, the police are minutes away.
And no, allowing concealed carry on campus would not magically transform it into the Wild West. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the crime rate for CCW permit holders is less than 1 percent for all crime.
We are afforded the highest levels of protection; why shouldn’t children be given the same? Even those bumbling idiots on Capitol Hill have constant security.
Be it off-duty police officers, private security guards, or even properly licensed school administrators and teachers, each school needs a permanent, armed deterrent from people like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two students who killed 13 people at Columbine High School in 1999.
Hell, given the number of out-of-work veterans, I’m sure that there are droves of patriots that would love to stand guard for our children every day.
There has to be action taken to circumvent these horrific events. If the safety of our children really is paramount, then our response to this kind of event should reflect that. Enough is enough.
Ryan McGehee is a 20-year-old political science, international studies and history major from Zachary, La.