An unthinkable tragedy, yet now so common. Where have we failed? How can this happen in our supposedly civilized society? Happy, innocent children and teachers gunned down by one of their own. My heart bleeds, and my tears flow for the souls of these poor victims and their families.
There is such a deep sadness about this. I knew folks in Uvalde before it was put on the map for such violence. Can we reclaim a time when we don't turn on those who are the most helpless? Can we make a way where more guns are no longer the answer to gun violence? Let's move to a better time. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We always kept the rifle by the front door just in case. Everybody did. The gun was the peace maker or equalizer. Japan didn't attack the US mainland because they knew we all had guns. In Switzerland, they all have guns. There is very little if any crime there. We call them rifles or pistols. Guns have never killed anyone, Never will. It's the one pulling the trigger. Folks don't understand. They let others think for them. So sad.
I grew up with my dad taking me hunting, teaching me gun safety, explaining the rules and laws about hunting, and good sportsmanship. No one hunted with a military assault style weapon. Almost no civilian had one. If you hunted with one and were caught you would be heavily fined and likely have to forfeit the gun, probably even arrested. If you shot something with it there would be nothing left of it for eating. You grew up with a rifle - just as I did - for hunting: a rifle. It might also be for protection. Not once in my dad's lifetime, nor in mine, was one needed or used for protection. It simply didn't happen. Military assault weapons are made for one purpose, that is to kill another human being as quickly as possible on a field of battle. These are not the circumstances we grew up in. I see no purpose in the legality or the sales of military assault weapons to the public. Japan didn't attack the US mainland because it was too far away, and they thought we would be defeated with the loss of so much of the Pacific fleet. I am not against gun ownership. I am against assault weapons ownership. It's heartbreaking to see what happened in Georgia. The next one will be, too. I would love for us to go back to those days when we were growing up when school shootings didn't happen. That was not because everyone had a rifle by the front door.
I know you are aware that modern military loads are far smaller and less powerful than what our troops carried in WWII? That rifle came home by the thousands and was the weapon of choice for thousands of deer hunters. Sometime, ask a gun store clerk to set a .223 and a 30.06 next to each other. A .223/5.56 mm is a capable and appropriate round for small deer, hogs, coyote and such.
I wish I could give credit to the mother who wrote this about her daughter…they were doing the back-to-school shopping. Y'all probably have fond memories of this rite. Anyway, they found the most perfect pair of shoes. They sparkled, they were rainbow-colored pastels, and they lit up! The momma was even going to fork out the extra bucks to pay for the light-up shoes. They headed to the check out and the little girl looked up at her momma and said “ I don't want those shoes.” Mama asked why? The little girl said, “if a shooter comes into my classroom, my shoes might light up and I would be the target!” This is where we’re at friends. Little girls no longer think of having the cutest clothes or hair ribbons, or shoes…they think about being a target and how to avoid it. I think we have failed our kids and for that I am so very sorry.
My condolences to the families of this tragedy! To the families of the wounded, I wish you all quick healing. To everyone at this school I wish for only peace and a future full of hope…💕
My breakfast was in my throat all day because of this. The school in Winder is an hour and a half from me, with traffic. An hour and a half from my son’s high school, the same high school where, a few years ago, two students were sent to federal prison for plotting to kill students and teachers on a hit list. An hour and a half from the high school I used to teach at, where a student hid a gun in the ceiling of a bathroom. We have failed our students. We have failed our teachers. And I’m so very sad, because this story of today will pass eventually too, and change won’t happen, because thoughts and prayers alone don’t work.
We’re in a demented upside down world. Gun rights but no children’s rights? The NRA promotes arsenals. What could happen? Oh that’s right? Access because there no laws governing storage or gun locks.
I’m sick of it. Don’t pray for the dead. Honor them with activism. Don’t vote for the morally flexible. Think. Write. Call. Support organizations that work to safeguard the innocent.
Please explain how the attempt to regulate an object is going to change the hearts of people. It is not possible. The only cure is much harder and has long been rejected by our betters.
My son is 14 and attends public school. I don't know what to do except tell him I love him and encourage him to be kind and generous, help others and look out for those who are being bullied or who are having a hard time fitting in and try to be their friend. I also tell him to stand up for himself and make his voice heard. My heart breaks for the 14 year old suspect. How awful that this was the only solution that he could come up with to get attention. My prayers go out to the families and kids at the high school and in the community.
Oh , but you really DO know what to do where your son is concerned! All of the values you’re instilling in him are going to build the fine and wonderful man he will become.
I also admire your compassion for the shooter, which is difficult to do. Prayers for alll🙏
I am sorry kids are feeling this terrible possibility of going to school and having to hide to stay alive. We had fears of Russia and practiced drills of nuclear war but these were not one on one facing a shooter as it is today. I will keep praying it will get better but I am not hopeful, what in the world can prevent this continuing to happen. There is no way to police every school. But ... I will always pray for better safer days. Children need to be CHILDREN.
There are so many more weapons in the United States than ever. And little to no vetting of the backgrounds of the purchasers. The kid who murder those little ones in Texas was 18 and because he didn’t have the cash got instant credit to buy a weapon only useful in a war zone. These aren’t the guns our fathers had - hunting rifles or shot guns, these are weapons that can fire so many rounds in seconds that no one can even hope to escape or disarm them.
As for who has the guns? Why aren’t they secured? How on earth does a 14 year old who is not living on the frontier or isolated on a farm get a weapon? Gun locks might be a good first step.
Federally licensed firearms dealers are required to do background checks but this doesn’t apply to private dealers. Also, guns can be purchased legally and then sold to people who would not be able to purchase them legally.
Ok, and guns will always be purchased illegally. That’s why I think putting more focus on the shooters might be helpful in stopping them. Legal or not, guns aren’t going away.
Sean is right to remind us of the remember whens!!! It’s a good time to tell and show children, of all ages, “We see you!” “Our hearts hurt for those of you who went through this terrible awful tragedy that happened today!” “We care enough, about you, to work on making the changes that will make the violence stop!” “We want you to be safe!” “Feel safe!” “Try, really hard, to keep on being a kid!” “Even when it’s hard!” “You’re going to be a kid who makes a difference!” “We love you!!!”
Thanks. This is my neighboring county. We homeschool, but my daughter went to the homecoming dance there. Her best friend graduated from there. Youth in our church go to school there. It's certainly close to home.
Heart breaking each time you read or hear about these sad but not unexpected incidents. I am at a loss for anything to say in response except Pray and continue to search for a remedy / solution / means of eradication of the evil that has come into our world and our lives.
Try counting how many commandments he broke. The devil has come to steal, kill and destroy. The bible has historically been the best selling book that only a few folks read. In the last days, they will gather preachers that only tickle their ears. We will reap what we sow. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities in heavenly places. Daniel prayed for 21 days. I was once in combat in the Army, I was expected to die for him. I got out and joined God's army, where my Captain died for me. In the USA, we have turned our back on God. Can't pray in schools since 1973. The Commandments taken down. Gangs ( the Bloods, the Crips, 5 percenters), MS 13) roaming our streets. Yea, we have work to do.
Now I’m hearing that in May 2023, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center got several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location. The threats, which were posted to an online gaming site, contained pictures of guns.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office located a possible subject, a 13-year-old boy, who denied making the threats. They spoke to the teen’s father, who said the family did own hunting rifles but the teen did not have access to guns. At the time, there was no probable cause for arrest.
Then the family moved away from Jackson County.
Now, the FBI has confirmed that the 13-year-old was the same teen arrested in connection to the shooting that killed four people at Apalachee High School in Winder GA this morning.
Thoughts and prayers aren’t working! When are we as a nation going to wake up and admit this and DO SOMETHING??? Common sense gun laws DO make a difference! We’ve seen it in other countries, yet people in our country, under the influence of the NRA, tighten their grip on the guns they fear will be taken away (they won’t) and refuse to even consider there might be a way to begin to legislate our way out of this madness. Don’t our children deserve that? Signed, former teacher with a broken heart 💔, mother of a guidance counselor, grandmother of 4 precious children who are still in public school (pre-K through high school) and 1 in college
An unthinkable tragedy, yet now so common. Where have we failed? How can this happen in our supposedly civilized society? Happy, innocent children and teachers gunned down by one of their own. My heart bleeds, and my tears flow for the souls of these poor victims and their families.
There is such a deep sadness about this. I knew folks in Uvalde before it was put on the map for such violence. Can we reclaim a time when we don't turn on those who are the most helpless? Can we make a way where more guns are no longer the answer to gun violence? Let's move to a better time. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We always kept the rifle by the front door just in case. Everybody did. The gun was the peace maker or equalizer. Japan didn't attack the US mainland because they knew we all had guns. In Switzerland, they all have guns. There is very little if any crime there. We call them rifles or pistols. Guns have never killed anyone, Never will. It's the one pulling the trigger. Folks don't understand. They let others think for them. So sad.
I grew up with my dad taking me hunting, teaching me gun safety, explaining the rules and laws about hunting, and good sportsmanship. No one hunted with a military assault style weapon. Almost no civilian had one. If you hunted with one and were caught you would be heavily fined and likely have to forfeit the gun, probably even arrested. If you shot something with it there would be nothing left of it for eating. You grew up with a rifle - just as I did - for hunting: a rifle. It might also be for protection. Not once in my dad's lifetime, nor in mine, was one needed or used for protection. It simply didn't happen. Military assault weapons are made for one purpose, that is to kill another human being as quickly as possible on a field of battle. These are not the circumstances we grew up in. I see no purpose in the legality or the sales of military assault weapons to the public. Japan didn't attack the US mainland because it was too far away, and they thought we would be defeated with the loss of so much of the Pacific fleet. I am not against gun ownership. I am against assault weapons ownership. It's heartbreaking to see what happened in Georgia. The next one will be, too. I would love for us to go back to those days when we were growing up when school shootings didn't happen. That was not because everyone had a rifle by the front door.
Lander, thank you for your post.
Thank you for clearing up the falsehoods that Matt stated.
Talking points, all of them.
Your posts are the ones I always look for.
I know you are aware that modern military loads are far smaller and less powerful than what our troops carried in WWII? That rifle came home by the thousands and was the weapon of choice for thousands of deer hunters. Sometime, ask a gun store clerk to set a .223 and a 30.06 next to each other. A .223/5.56 mm is a capable and appropriate round for small deer, hogs, coyote and such.
Guns before God?
How pitiful to go through life so fearful.
Thoughts and prayers.
Amen.
I wish I could give credit to the mother who wrote this about her daughter…they were doing the back-to-school shopping. Y'all probably have fond memories of this rite. Anyway, they found the most perfect pair of shoes. They sparkled, they were rainbow-colored pastels, and they lit up! The momma was even going to fork out the extra bucks to pay for the light-up shoes. They headed to the check out and the little girl looked up at her momma and said “ I don't want those shoes.” Mama asked why? The little girl said, “if a shooter comes into my classroom, my shoes might light up and I would be the target!” This is where we’re at friends. Little girls no longer think of having the cutest clothes or hair ribbons, or shoes…they think about being a target and how to avoid it. I think we have failed our kids and for that I am so very sorry.
My condolences to the families of this tragedy! To the families of the wounded, I wish you all quick healing. To everyone at this school I wish for only peace and a future full of hope…💕
My breakfast was in my throat all day because of this. The school in Winder is an hour and a half from me, with traffic. An hour and a half from my son’s high school, the same high school where, a few years ago, two students were sent to federal prison for plotting to kill students and teachers on a hit list. An hour and a half from the high school I used to teach at, where a student hid a gun in the ceiling of a bathroom. We have failed our students. We have failed our teachers. And I’m so very sad, because this story of today will pass eventually too, and change won’t happen, because thoughts and prayers alone don’t work.
We’re in a demented upside down world. Gun rights but no children’s rights? The NRA promotes arsenals. What could happen? Oh that’s right? Access because there no laws governing storage or gun locks.
I’m sick of it. Don’t pray for the dead. Honor them with activism. Don’t vote for the morally flexible. Think. Write. Call. Support organizations that work to safeguard the innocent.
Amen!!!!
Please explain how the attempt to regulate an object is going to change the hearts of people. It is not possible. The only cure is much harder and has long been rejected by our betters.
My son is 14 and attends public school. I don't know what to do except tell him I love him and encourage him to be kind and generous, help others and look out for those who are being bullied or who are having a hard time fitting in and try to be their friend. I also tell him to stand up for himself and make his voice heard. My heart breaks for the 14 year old suspect. How awful that this was the only solution that he could come up with to get attention. My prayers go out to the families and kids at the high school and in the community.
Oh , but you really DO know what to do where your son is concerned! All of the values you’re instilling in him are going to build the fine and wonderful man he will become.
I also admire your compassion for the shooter, which is difficult to do. Prayers for alll🙏
I am sorry kids are feeling this terrible possibility of going to school and having to hide to stay alive. We had fears of Russia and practiced drills of nuclear war but these were not one on one facing a shooter as it is today. I will keep praying it will get better but I am not hopeful, what in the world can prevent this continuing to happen. There is no way to police every school. But ... I will always pray for better safer days. Children need to be CHILDREN.
PEACE AND LOVE FROM BIRMINGHAM ✝️💜🇺🇸
And yet guns have always been available. Maybe we need to focus on the ones doing the shooting and why they do it.
There are so many more weapons in the United States than ever. And little to no vetting of the backgrounds of the purchasers. The kid who murder those little ones in Texas was 18 and because he didn’t have the cash got instant credit to buy a weapon only useful in a war zone. These aren’t the guns our fathers had - hunting rifles or shot guns, these are weapons that can fire so many rounds in seconds that no one can even hope to escape or disarm them.
As for who has the guns? Why aren’t they secured? How on earth does a 14 year old who is not living on the frontier or isolated on a farm get a weapon? Gun locks might be a good first step.
In 2022, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a law allowing residents to carry handguns in public without a license or background check.
Federal law requires a background check to purchase a gun.
Federally licensed firearms dealers are required to do background checks but this doesn’t apply to private dealers. Also, guns can be purchased legally and then sold to people who would not be able to purchase them legally.
Ok, and guns will always be purchased illegally. That’s why I think putting more focus on the shooters might be helpful in stopping them. Legal or not, guns aren’t going away.
Heroin is always going to be here.
Let’s legalize it.
Just showing that your argument is illogical.
It is not legal to make straw purchases. However, the Biden admin does not wish to prosecute gun ownership violations, starting with his son.
But it is SOOOO much easier to blame guns & firearm companies!! If we blame them, does that mean we get to skate being active?
And before guns there were fists, rocks, clubs, knives...
Not weapons of war, have they.?
Sean is right to remind us of the remember whens!!! It’s a good time to tell and show children, of all ages, “We see you!” “Our hearts hurt for those of you who went through this terrible awful tragedy that happened today!” “We care enough, about you, to work on making the changes that will make the violence stop!” “We want you to be safe!” “Feel safe!” “Try, really hard, to keep on being a kid!” “Even when it’s hard!” “You’re going to be a kid who makes a difference!” “We love you!!!”
Such sadness...
My teacher heart is just broken!!! 💔💔💔💔
Thanks. This is my neighboring county. We homeschool, but my daughter went to the homecoming dance there. Her best friend graduated from there. Youth in our church go to school there. It's certainly close to home.
Heart breaking each time you read or hear about these sad but not unexpected incidents. I am at a loss for anything to say in response except Pray and continue to search for a remedy / solution / means of eradication of the evil that has come into our world and our lives.
Try counting how many commandments he broke. The devil has come to steal, kill and destroy. The bible has historically been the best selling book that only a few folks read. In the last days, they will gather preachers that only tickle their ears. We will reap what we sow. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities in heavenly places. Daniel prayed for 21 days. I was once in combat in the Army, I was expected to die for him. I got out and joined God's army, where my Captain died for me. In the USA, we have turned our back on God. Can't pray in schools since 1973. The Commandments taken down. Gangs ( the Bloods, the Crips, 5 percenters), MS 13) roaming our streets. Yea, we have work to do.
The devil is here, running for President.
He has unloosed evil and caused hatred and chaos.
He’s fooled so many who think they are Christians.
And Matt, anyone can pray in school.
Prayer is talking to God.
It’s the hypocrites who want to make it public, not private.
Public education has been simmering for decades. It boils over more often over the past twenty five years.
Can school shootings be stopped?
Now I’m hearing that in May 2023, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center got several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location. The threats, which were posted to an online gaming site, contained pictures of guns.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office located a possible subject, a 13-year-old boy, who denied making the threats. They spoke to the teen’s father, who said the family did own hunting rifles but the teen did not have access to guns. At the time, there was no probable cause for arrest.
Then the family moved away from Jackson County.
Now, the FBI has confirmed that the 13-year-old was the same teen arrested in connection to the shooting that killed four people at Apalachee High School in Winder GA this morning.
UNBELIEVABLE.
The Parkland school shooter was also on the radar of the FBI…and they quit surveilling him, too.
Parkland, as in junior college in Champaign Il?
High school in Parkland, FL, Nikolas Cruz was the shooter.
(Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School)
Thank you, Leigh, for this info. I obviously missed knowing about this tragedy. I will add Parkland FL to my Prayer List🙏
Thoughts and prayers aren’t working! When are we as a nation going to wake up and admit this and DO SOMETHING??? Common sense gun laws DO make a difference! We’ve seen it in other countries, yet people in our country, under the influence of the NRA, tighten their grip on the guns they fear will be taken away (they won’t) and refuse to even consider there might be a way to begin to legislate our way out of this madness. Don’t our children deserve that? Signed, former teacher with a broken heart 💔, mother of a guidance counselor, grandmother of 4 precious children who are still in public school (pre-K through high school) and 1 in college