Newtown, CT -
parents of children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School encountered an unspeakable horror Friday as reports came in of a school shooting rampage.
After the bloodbath and chaos subsided the entire nation was in mourning over the deaths of twenty children, six school faculty members, the gun assailant and his mother in a horrific school shooting.
Only some answers have arisen but the one foremost on people’s mind is the one which cannot be answered and that is; why are we watching another school shooting tragedy unfold?
The school shooting began Friday morning when twenty year old Adam Lanzaa shot and killed his own mother in their home.
He then collected additional weapons registered to his mother which included a Glock 9-mm handgun, a Sig Sauer 9-mm handgun and a Bushmaster rifle and departed for the elementary school at 9:40AM. He then forcibly made his way into the school and began shooting indiscriminately at both children and faculty alike.
News of the school shooting spree caused terrified parents to head to the school to retrieve their children. However, police weren’t allowing anyone into the school for safety reasons. Initially, it wasn’t known if the assailant was acting alone or as part of some larger group of criminals. As best can be determined, teachers and faculty did their best to protect the children.
In the case of 27 year old first grade teacher Victoria Soto, she gave her life for her students. The teacher acted quickly is response to the school shooting. She took students to the rear of the classroom and as Lanzaa drew his weapons and fired at the children, Soto threw herself in front of the bullets and gave her life. One eight year old student described how bullets were flying down the hallway next to where he was standing. At that time he said a teacher, “pulled me into her classroom”.
Adding to the tragedy is the fact that the principal, Dawn Lafferty, had just approved new security measures which if implemented would have required anyone attempting to enter the school to ring the front entrance and display photo identification before entrance would be granted. A national debate has now ensured as to how society can prevent this type of school shooting atrocity from reoccurring. The debate now centers on gun control or an assault weapons ban. Others are wanting laws modified to allow for teachers to be armed. Obviously, if a faculty member had been armed they may have been able to neutralize the assailant.
This continuing trend of bloody school shooting has prompted the response of the NRA, which initially remained silent on the issue. The NRA frequently comes under fire when a school shooting occurs as the knee jerk reaction is to impose stricter gun control measures.
Only a small set of things could have been done to prevent this school shooting as the suspect did not posses an unlawful firearm. And the firearms used would not likely be outlawed under now legislation.
- Controlling Workplace Violence and Prevent of Workplace Violence Course
- Intelligence Led Screening
- Intelligence Led Premises Protection
A school shooting like Sandy Hook should never have to happen again. With proper training and security measure put in place, your children do not have to be victims of a school shooting.
DEC