The tragic shooting rampage in Littleton, Colorado last month, resulting in the death of 14 students and one teacher, was not the deadliest act of violence in one of America's schools. Far deadlier was the incident in the small town of bath, Michigan (just outside Lansing), where on May 18, 1927, an outraged school board member killed 45 people (including 38 students, most between age six and eight) by trying to blow up the town's three-story elementary school building with 500 pounds of dynamite hidden in the basement. The bombing was his response to a property tax increase approved by the school board.
           Each and every time we witness an unimaginable act of violence in this country that involves a firearm, we are quick to blame 'the gun' and not the individual or group of individuals responsible. "Guns don't kill people. People kill people". We become so emotionally involved in the tragedy (whether in person or from a distance) we lose the ability to think rationally. When we look for easy solutions, we only create more problems.
           The opportunity for 'fifteen minutes of fame' can be an awfully powerful drug. The media can be manipulated or can distort a situation so that the facts are lost along with potential solutions, ensuring that the tragedy repeats itself somewhere else in America.
           Laws have been enacted, in most states, making it a crime for a juvenile to possess a firearm without adult supervision. So, "Will more laws prevent juveniles from committing violent crimes with firearms?" The answer is obviously NO! If juveniles do not obey the 100 or so laws already on the books, why would they obey 'Law 101'. Is it possible to enact new laws to help strengthen existing laws, eliminate the loopholes that tempt juveniles and ensure that all the laws are strictly enforced? YES!
           We are no longer encouraged to take responsibility for our own actions or held accountable for the acts of others, such as our minor children. In order for any society to govern itself in a responsible manner it must be willing to enforce its laws across the board without prejudice or malice. "If you do the crime, you'll do the time". If our teenagers believe that we will not punish them for their illegal acts and we reinforce that belief by not holding them accountable for their actions, then we will be perpetuating an army of thugs whose mission in life will be to play God. We will have put them in a position to do as they want, take what they want and even extinguish human life if they feel like it.
           Over the past several decades society has both progressed and regressed in its thinking regarding discipline, responsibility and accountability. I remember a time when the last thing I would hear before going to bed would be a public service announcement on the television asking, "It's 10 o'clock, do you know where your children are? During the 1970s the answer would be 'yes' 90 percent of the time. Now if we can honestly answer 'yes' 50 percent of the time we're lucky. Thirty years ago, mass murder by children was unheard of. Now it is an all too familiar reality that must be dealt with by a swift, deliberate and united response. How do we prevent juveniles from committing violent crimes? The answer is not to ban all guns, as some would have us believe. The answer is more complex than that.
           Instilling proper family values in our children is an important first step. The building blocks of moral values, knowledge, responsibility and accountability are a must, as the children of today become the leaders of tomorrow. If we fail to teach the basics of discipline, responsibility, integrity and accountability to our children then we are contributing to the social decay that we have been striving so hard to eliminate.
           There will never be easy answers to society's problems and there should never be a day when you say, "Let someone else do it" or "It's not my problem anymore". As a civilized society we can face any challenge, climb any obstacle and solve any problem if we try hard enough and we want it bad enough. Our children are our legacy so it is important to take that first step to make a difference in the life of a child and help to leave them an America that they, and we, can be proud of.

Copyright © 1999 William D. (Bill) Slater, Jr. This article was published in the May 20, 1999 (Vol. 3 No.2) issue of The Concealed Handgun, the official publication of the Texas Concealed Handgun Association.

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