Editor,
Living in Fishers but a grandparent of a student at Noblesville West Middle School, I, like many, was first filled with fear for the safety of my grandchild and the other students at the school. That was replaced by shock that this happened in Noblesville, a peaceful place. All of us now know it can happen anywhere!
Of course, it could have been worse if not for a heroic teacher. However, can we always depend on a heroic teacher to stop a shooter? There was a school resource officer at the school as there should be at every school in America today. But that doesn’t seem to be enough. There were the “thoughts and prayers” of the politicians as in most school and other mass shootings around the nation in the past. That certainly hasn’t prevented more school shootings and mass murders.
Only one of the political leaders has even supported universal background checks for gun purchases, which 86 percent of Americans support. Where are the rest? What are their solutions? Because we, parents and grandparents, must demand an end to these weekly terrible nightmares that have made students afraid at school.
Most school shootings have been by students. Where are they getting the guns? Among other solutions, we need to harden the criminal and civil penalties for those negligent parents who do not take protective measures, such as putting guns in locked places so they don’t fall into the hands of kids!
Thank you.
Mike Boland, Fishers
