What the F#$%?

I'm pretty close to the same age those kids who shot up Colombine high school would've been . . . and it's creepy to think that someone my age could do something like that.

It makes me glad that I'm not like that. And sad for the people who are.

surely the human race can't be as messed up as this

Oh, you havent seen nothing yet.

That's a horrible thing to have happened. I guess it doesn't matter if the guns are behind locked glass doors anymore. If a kid, like that one,wants it, he's going to get it. A safe would be a better place it seems from the stories of so many kids finding their parents guns and letting loose on the world.

Yes the guns should be locked up and securely for that matter. It takes more than just locking them up though. If you keep a gun in the house you have to educate everyone about the dangers of guns and the fact they are real and they cause real pain, injuries and suffering.

If that means taking the kids down to the range putting a pumkin on a table against a white back ground, filling that pumpkin up with red paint, painting a face on the pumpkin or putting a photo on then letting them shoot the pumpkin with a powerful enough shot to burst the pumpkin into bits against the white background - then do it! The shock value of that is real high and realistic. Showing them photos of true life injuries is also a part of that.

It is a dreadful thing that has happened, but I put the blame squarely on the parents shoulders, they did not take the time out to educated their child about the guns they kept in the house, and the gun cabinet was obvioulsy not secure enough.

I put the blame squarely on the parents shoulders, they did not take the time out to educated their child about the guns they kept in the house

I also agree on this BUT only in the cases where it was a accidental shooting. I've seen stories where a kid gets into his parents gun safe,under the bed or wherever, and is playing around with the gun and it accidently goes off and shoots another person. Those are the cases where I blame the parents. '' 5 y/o finds dads gun and shoots 2y/o brother in the head'' WTF In these kind of cases I would place 100% blame on the parents. *the thought of a 5 y/o and a 2y/o AND a gun in the same room* CRAZY!

I guess it doesn't matter if the guns are behind locked glass doors anymore. If a kid, like that one,wants it, he's going to get it.

EXACTLY!! Even if you have it in a case with the key hidden, who's to say your child was not secretly watching you one day when you put the key up.

It does not matter how well educated a child is about firearms when they are obviousely as disturbed as some of the indivisuals we have been watching on our TV's here lately. Those cases were not accidents. They left their house that day with the sole intent purpose of harming other indivisuals.

TRUE, part of the blame could fall on the indivisual that did not have their gun cabinet secure. BUT that is where(in most cases) the blame ends. It is not the parents fault that their child decided to do what they did.

I would love to be able to say that I KNOW for a fact that my child would NEVER do anything like that. They have been very well informed on the dangers of firearms.

I'm not with my child 24/7 Even though I talk to my children and try to be open with them about life in general,all I can really do is take their word when they tell me everything is OK and to watch out for signs that may lead to problems.

While my soon to be 15 y/o son tells me everything is great when I question him all I can really do is trust him,assure him that I'm always here to talk to him and again, look for signs of problems.

Yes, I would of course be completely devestated if my son were to do something like that. Would I blame myself ? No,not all of it anyways. I know what I have taught my children and continue to teach them and while I'm far from perfect I don't see what I could of done differently to avoid the situation from happening with the exception of not having a gun in the house to begin with.

Every case is different though, some parents just leave their guns out and some dont teach their children even the basics of having a gun in the house. Personally I think even if you dont own one, every parent should teach their children, who is to say that your childs friend down the street does not have one laying around.

I wish more parents would take the time to talk their children, let them know that they can always come to you and talk to you about ANYTHING.

Authorities said the teen had complained about being teased by other students and decided to confront teachers and the principal

There is no excuse for what this teen did but I can't help but wonder, let's say he is telling the truth and he really was being teased that bad and it had to of been bad to bring a gun to school, yes? , If he would of felt comfortable talking to his parents (or anyone he was close to) and then the parents could of talked to the principal and then the principal could of talked to the teen and the kids that teased him and so on and so on......

Zoo, With all due respect, you are closer in age to them than I.  If you have no clue, neither do I.

Back in my day (remember the flintstones?), we actually had a bomb go off in the school (a weepy one that blew up a couple of toilets, and cut a couple of kids).  But that was 1971, and we never had guns in school.

I really dont know what is up with today's kids.  My kids are your age, and they are into music, not guns.

The average public school is no different than a correctional facility. People go nuts and kill people in jail we say "Ah, that makes sense." Kids do it and we can't figure out why.

Visit a public school sometime. Look at what socialized child-rearing does to them. "It takes a village" you know, and of course a good village makes their schools as much like minimum security prisons as possible. What you are seeing is the result of the crushing of the human spirit and turning people into ants.

When adults ARE treated that way... bullied, cliqued-to-death, treated harshly by our overseers and having our prospects crushed by our bosses... we bring guns to work too, don't we? I recall several times a year hearing about adults that pop a gasket and go hunting in their cubical forests. You can't make humans into insects.

Sorry Zoo,  I didn't notice this before i wrote about it too   You did better with the link and quoting

It truly is messed up what's happening,  it's not a good omen for the future of our world...

Sad as hell. No other words can describe these kinds of incidents. When growing up near Boston as a kid I was continually picked on. Beaten up regulary. Mom would just turn the other way. We had no guns. Maybe a knife to protect ourselves but I did not use it. I just let it go and ran if i could from those bullies. Maybe these bullies kids or grandkids are the ones who are using the guns in schools.

I live and teach in China. Nu guns here and the kids are pretty well behaved. many have asked me about guns in schools and yet found it hard to explain. Kids are different and schools here are a bit safer. Maybe they should take a closer look at how things are run here.

"I live and teach in China. Nu guns here and the kids are pretty well behaved. many have asked me about guns in schools and yet found it hard to explain. Kids are different and schools here are a bit safer. Maybe they should take a closer look at how things are run here."

Maybe it is fear of the Chinese legal system and the thought of being rubber hosed to death in some reeducation camp that keeps them in line. Yeah, that's what we need... *snort*. No, I don't think we need to be anything like China, even if there are drawbacks to our difference.

More appropriate questions would be: "What the f.... is wrong with parents?" or "What the f.... is wrong with US culture?"

Maybe it is fear of the Chinese legal system and the thought of being rubber hosed to death in some reeducation camp that keeps them in line.

That and civilians aren't allowed guns in China. I don't think you can readily compare a country with an unarmed citizenry to one with an armed citizenry, so comparisons between the US and other countries on this issue are always going to come off a bit naff.

Personally I'm against the idea of having guns in the house when you have children. It's just not safe. But from what I'm led to understand it's very easy to get guns anyway in the US - they even have them in department stores! - so presumably that's not much of a deterrent.