STUDENTS PRACTICE THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS ACROSS AMERICA

This is my debut outta the closet – as a writer. I am inspired by the courageous students practicing their Constitutional right of freedom of expression in speaking up for their school remaining safe from random gun-related school murders, last month throughout Galveston County.
Mr. Trump’s response to the Santa Fe massacre was a diluted, vague “We’ll see what we can do … statement. He is consumed by his attacks on deflecting the DOJ of his and/or his administration’s behavior during his campaign. I am a Viet Nam era Marine, trained for the capacity of multi=level, extreme, indifferent violence. As a civilian, I obtained a master’s degree in clinical social work, retrained for the capacity for great compassion.
Students are now at risk of being exposed to an unprecedented level of violence within their schools; attending classes with the thought always in the back of their minds… “Will my school be shot up today?” A diagnosis of PTSD would be fitting for these students, with the impact yet to manifest; especially those survivors of the slaughters, who must daily return to the scene of the crime.
In the spirit of The Daily News opinion “Community must come together and share facts in shooting” (Leonard Woolsey, Publisher, Tuesday May 22, 2018) My support for metal detectors is factually supported by the same day’s article “Fearful parents petition for camps metal detectors” (page 1, A3).
Aldine Independent School District in Harris County installed metal detectors in all its school since 2000 in response to the Columbine HS shooting in 1998. Michael Keeney, spokesperson for the district reports, “We’ve been doing it so long, they’ve got it down to a science.” Keeney couldn’t recall the last time the school district confiscated a weapon. That is a powerful statement inviting serious consideration.
The two points cited as dividing the controversy around metal detector installation the impact on students – “but mostly critics have lamented the message it sends to students.” Students are resilient…lets pose a question to the parents and survivors of school massacres. Which message would you prefer schools to send to their students? 1) Metal detectors, like airports, provide a preventive deterrent and an obvious level of safety for our children; or 2)the “Open Hunting Season” message presently known nationally regarding our students? Our hesitation is fertile soil for the next harvest. The proposal to arm school teachers and staff is an invitation for action increasing the odds of higher casualties catching more innocent folks getting caught in lethal L-shaped crossfire.
“For whom the bell tolls, an expression from a sermon by John Donne, published in 1624, he explained “that because we are all of mankind, any person’s death is a loss to us all. “Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
Epifanio Torres, Texas City