A father whose teenage daughter was a victim in the Parkland, Florida school shooting has told Fox that focusing on gun control is not a viable solution to preventing further atrocities like the recent massacre in Texas.
Andrew Pollack’s daughter, Meadow, was shot and killed when a gunman stormed Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. He believes we have “learned nothing” from previous school shootings because the focus is too political and on gun laws.
“They didn’t learn anything from what happened in Texas at that school shooting, they didn’t learn anything from what happened in Parkland at that shooting, they didn’t learn anything from what happened at Sandy Hook,” said the bewildered father.
“When you focus on just gun control this is what happens. It’s happened again.”
He went on to say that warning signs should have been picked up on:
“I guarantee you this kid didn’t just wake up one day and say I want to kill my grandma,” Pollack told Fox.
A gunman killed 19 children and 2 teachers at an elementary school in #Uvalde, Texas — the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook almost 10 years ago.
Most students at Robb Elementary School are ages 7-10.
It is at least the 27th school shooting in the U.S. of 2022. pic.twitter.com/6tTfxk1ox7
— AJ+ (@ajplus) May 25, 2022
“There had to be red flags that went off and it’s a big problem.”
Many other parents whose children were involved in school shootings have spoken up against the knee-jerk push for tighter gun control laws and instead insist the focus should be on mental health and changing attitudes in the classroom.
Daryl Scott’s daughter, Rachel, was the first of 12 students killed during the Columbine massacre in 1999. A month after the shooting, the devastated father made a statement to legislators. In it, Scott pointed out that there is good and evil in every human being and that America needed a “spiritual awakening” rather than tighter gun laws:
“The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers,” said Scott in 1999.
“In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I don’t even own a gun.
“Columbine was not just a tragedy, it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies!”
Sue Klebold, the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the shooters at Columbine, similarly refused to blame the lack of gun control. Instead, while acknowledging the hurt her son caused, in her book A Mother’s Reckoning, Klebold explained why she believes a focus on the mental health of students rather than guns is vital in the prevention of more tragedies:
“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people, they claim. In the tragic instance of a mass shooting, guns are merely the instruments of a disturbed mind. And in fact, the overwhelming majority of gun owners act responsibly and safely. They would never fire on an innocent person, much less a child in a school. By focusing on guns, gun rights activists say, we miss the real challenge we need to address: identifying and getting help for those at risk because they are not brain-healthy,” she told the Washington Post in 2016.
“My son was a Columbine shooter. This is my story | Sue Klebold”https://t.co/OhnVMg5TPz
— Natali Herrera-Pacheco (@_antemeridian_) May 26, 2022
“And that is the approach I have taken in thinking about Columbine and my son.
“I’m convinced that by recognizing the signs that a child is struggling early on, we can get our children the help they need — before another Columbine takes place,” added Klebold.
How many more horrific tragedies will it take before we start to change our focus?
This story syndicated with permission from Jo Marney, Author at Trending Politics
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