School Shootings

   I was attending my 2nd period class when Columbine happened. For those who may not know, Columbine High School was the sight of a massacre that took the lives of 12 students and one teacher. The crime was committed by two deranged teenagers who took their anger out on innocent people and then turned the guns on themselves. This event to me was the start of a chain reaction that would spark a wave of other shootings that happen over the years. It seems no matter what we do, schools can never be safe.
    Schools are generally safe but there's always that one day where unseen danger finds it's way into a hallway of innocent children and they are the ones who pay the price. An incident is always popping up in one area or another. Last year was the worst incident since Columbine and by that, I meant the Newtown incident in Connecticut. 20 children attending elementary school were violently gunned down along with six adults, some teachers and staff members. The shooter, much like the ones in Columbine would take his own life never receiving justice.
   Now just this week, a student in a Nevada middle school fatally shot and killed math teacher Mike Landsberry who was a war vet and a hero. The student came to school after a week long break from school with a semi-automatic weapon and opened fire on the teacher and wounding two other boys in the school. Following the same pattern, the shooter too would also use the gun on himself to avoid spending the rest of his life in jail. Mike Landsberry served this country serving tours in Afghanistan and was a devastating loss to his family. Why is all this happening?
   Now if you are automatically thinking gun control I would like to stop you right there. Whether your for gun control or not isn't my concern. Let's all agree on one simply fact, if a person is determined to kill someone, they will do it with or without a gun. September 11th, 2001 a group of four men managed to cause the deaths of over 3,000 Americans and not one bullet was fired. Gun control is not the issue, all it will do is make some maniac find another way to make his sick fantasy a reality.
   If you want my honest opinion then teach people how to spot danger before it happens, the truth is that's all we really can do. Trying to make it harder or easier for people to get guns is irrelevant because like I said, people will do what they can to kill you. If you see someone that may be mentally unstable or just overall a shady character, report it to the police. If your wrong about your assumptions then you apologize and try to make things right again but nothing should be more important than the preservation of life. If you see somebody that may be trouble then don't keep it to yourself, let somebody know.
   We've lost to many fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. We will never be completely safe but the more we keep people informed on how to spot danger, the more lives we will save. Teach people how to spot people who look as though they have evil on their minds and to look at their bodies to see if they're hiding a weapon. It doesn't stop with gun control or invasion of privacy. It stops when everyone learns how to look and when to speak.