It's up to at least 16 dead now.

I was in high school when the Columbine shooting happened. I remember how shocked everyone was. It was breaking news, and everyone was glued to their tv's for days. Today, reading that 16 kids were killed by yet another school shooting, I'm sad, but I'm not shocked. I think it's horrible that it's now such a common occurrence that it's no longer shocking.

People will once again defend their guns. Other countries with stricter gun laws don't have this problem. Why is the US different? Does the US just have a bigger mental illness issue than anywhere else? Somehow I doubt it.

I just heard 16 dead.

My God...it will never end.

I told myself one more school shooting and I'm going to consider home schooling for the boys..

I'm considering.

I'm really really angry at myself for allowing this fear to get ahold of me.

My heart goes out to those children whose lives started out today just like yesterday...and now they will have no tomorrow.

I'm just sick.

I just subbed at my high school last Wednesday and there was a student found with a loaded pistol. The reason I heard fairly early is the admins came in and got two boys out of my classroom that were the targets. I guess the kid with a gun brought it because he believed the other two boys had robbed his car over the weekend and he was “going to get his stuff back”. He was a junior, I knew him, a quiet kid, but had been in trouble before for drugs, etc. Not mental, just a wanna be thug.

All schools need metal detectors!!!!! This kid showed the pistol to someone and the kid wasn’t afraid to be a “snitch”. Thank God for that.

Yep, just another shooting of innocent children. I don't think it even fazes people anymore. When is this country going to address the "angry white men" who commit these horrific crimes? We're so focused on building a wall and deporting people back to countries they haven't even visited for years that this issue of angry white men committing mass murders goes unaddressed. But yeah, let's spend millions building a wall. Oh, and thank goodness for the 2nd amendment granting the right to bear arms. Let's give the angry white men more opportunities to shoot up and murder innocent people.

It's not surprising though. Those in power aren't stupid, and they know how their base feels about guns. It would be political suicide in some areas to support gun control, and they know it.

Power and politics are more important than children's lives, as we've demonstrated many times. I think the future will show that we are currently living through the decline of the US. I do appreciate and love my country, but we are so backwards in so many ways compared to other first world countries.

It's this strange cultural phenomenon. Patriotism starts at such an early age and we learn that the US is the best country in the world. And patriotism is fine, but the problem starts when people are so rooted in tradition that they can't, or won't, think critically. Even when things are really broken, like healthcare, there's this strange resistance to anything new or different, because there's this belief that the American way is the best way. Times change. The needs of the country change. We can't compare the needs of the US when the Constitution was written to now. We have changed the Constitution before to reflect the changing times.

I heard in the news that counting from Columbine, this is the 25th or 26th school shooting. Horrendous!

Sickened. Angry. But also utterly sad for the survivors. Those who lost loved ones. I usually say Psalm 121 in times like this but the words won't come out.

"Angry white men" doing school shootings? I believe this boy's last name is Cruz - that sounds Latino to me.

Race has NOTHING to do with these shootings!!! It's about way too many guns being out there. It's about a culture of violence, and that culture is certainly prevalent in the black and Latino community - not just the white community. It's about a lot of people these days with serious anger management issues. It's about people no longer feeling connected. It's about teens tolerating talk like this and not telling a responsible adult.

I grew up in a house with guns - LOTS of guns. My father, was a Lifetime NRA member, and the Nat'l Rifleman was on the table beside his chair. He even reloaded his on bullets - I used to help him do the primers. When I went to camp, I did riflery - got all the bars on my Sharpshooter badge. But I don't want a gun in my house. I know of too many tragedies caused by such - some accidental, and some due to opportunity.

I have no problem with people who do competitive target shooting. No problem with those who hunt - I do love quail and pheasant and venison. But I have a BIG problem with owning guns for "defense" unless one lives way out in the country or somewhere where snakes and predators might be. Absolutely not in a city, or suburban environment. That's what my taxes pay for - protection by the POLICE!

But how on earth do we legally ever get back all the guns that are out there? It would be impossible! The NRA is now trying to get a permit to carry be legal in ANY location. Just what we need - take your gun with you on vacation, and if you get scared, start shooting. What could possibly go wrong?

My 2nd grandson used to be friends with a nice little boy. But his father had some odd ideas about "manhood" - he was a Southern boy and this influenced his attitude (my grandmother was a Lee and I was reared to believe I was Southern, so this is not Yankee prejudice). At age 9, he gave him a knife for Christmas - "a boy needs a knife". For what? Then the first gun at age 12. They used to invite my DGS2 to go with the family on camping trips - guns were always involved - DGS was not comfortable and quit going and also quit being friends with this boy. Parents were very disappointed.

But every single time there is a big shooting, this nut job of a man goes out and buys MORE GUNS before they take away his "right" to have them. MORE! This is a well-educated man - graduated from Vanderbilt. What is he thinking?

A few years ago, I was in a dinner group at my church (Episcopal). We started talking about guns at one of the small dinners and I was astounded at how strongly they all felt about owning many, many guns, though few actually hunted. Again, educated, lovely people, involved in the church, but caught up in this 1900's rural gun mentality.

It breaks my heart - 17 people killed today. SEVENTEEN1! I wonder how many had been accepted early decision to college and were so terribly excited about going. How many had so much to give to the world. How those families will ever recover.

With two DGSs in HS and another one next year, this hits very close to home for me. And of course, we just had one in KY a few weeks ago. My grandchildren should be safe when they're at school. And no, their parents do NOT want to homeschool them - a very bad idea, in my opinion.

Okay - rant over, but this has got to stop.

Anglo, don't turn my comments into a racial topic. I'm observing "in general" that the predominant person in this country committing these horrific crimes are "angry white men." Columbine, Sandy Hook. Las Vegas, Aurora, CO, etc. Do your own research. Since 1992 54% of the perpetrators of these mass shootings have been white men.

The point is why isn't this being addressed? A lot of time, energy, and $$ are being spent on things that aren't as serious as mass shootings where numerous, unsuspecting people, minding their own business, are gunned down.

And Chi, I agree with everything you wrote. Politics are more important than people's lives.

sephia, it isn't addressed because the white men own the country. They own politics and our political system, they own the gun lobby, they own the gun manufacturing, they own and control it all. So until that changes, I don't have a lot of hope that these massacres will stop.

It's the 18th school shooting this year. And it's mid-February.

Years before the last election I saw a time of great suffering and violence. It has come. Now children are sacrificial victims on the altar of Mammon.

Does anyone else think that if we tried to keep these incidents out of the press instead of giving them the attention they seek, (even if they die, other crazies see all the hoopla around the shootings and I believe it plants a seed).

I don't know how you'd do it, maybe relegate it to the back page or something (well, now that there are barely newspapers some places, not sure that will work)? Any thoughts or ideas about this?

I don't think it would make a difference. Every community/country has people with mental illness and or socio/psychological problems. Having dangerous weapons in the hands of troubled people is a problem most other places have been successful in eliminating or reducing. We're alone in ignoring obvious solutions and thinking that doing nothing will have any effect when obviously it doesn't.

Prayers may be comforting to some but they don't begin to address the problem.

I agree Olychick. This country is run by white men. Until people start thinking about how to change the "I have the right to own an assault weapon" attitude, mass killing will occur over and over. Somehow I don't think the Founding Fathers intended people to have the right to kill people with assault weapons.

Its been nearly 19 years since the Combine shooting and i still vividly remember that day like it was yesterday. I was working at a K-8 elementary school and I remember how shocked we all were. The younger students didnt really understand, but the older ones were obviously shaken and many of our staff, including teachers, had to come to the office to pull themselves together so that they wouldnt cry in front of their students. They said that they couldn't help thinking about if it had happened in their classrooms to their students.

Thinking about it today, if the Columbine shooting hadn't happened, the students who lost their lives that day would be old enough to have children of their own in high school.

So here we are now, ninteen years later and another school shooting has occured. Many young lives have been lost before they had a chance to begin. Once again, families are grieving. And, in all that time, nothing has changed. Politicians haven't or won't address the problem. People offer their condolences, thoughts and prayers. Society debates gun control and mental health issues. In a few days, this story will fade from the news and life will go on until the next massacre happens.

I wonder what it will take before people will decide its time to set aside their differing views on gun rights and say enough is enough, we must work together to try and solve this issue. I honestly dont expect to see it happen in my lifetime.

Here's some food for thought, I went to high school around 4-5 decades ago. I was a suburban school and hunting was very popular. Many boys drove pickup trucks with a rack in the back window and most had at least 2 shotguns in the rack. So a low estimate would be 20% of the school population (>2,000 students in the school) had direct access to guns at any time. Number of school shootings ZERO. My mom grew up with the same set of situations, although more kids probably had guns. So what has changed?

I remember boys bringing their hunting rifles to school and leaving them in the boy's coat room all day. We thought nothing of it. Also, the first day of firearm deer season was an excused absence for kids going hunting.

Forgot to clarify, those trucks with the weapons were parked on school property, no prohibitions on weapons on campus.

ElizabethA, exactly how it was for us too! Except it was lockers instead of coat room.

Dawn, very thoughtful, heartfelt.

My my local elementary school is fenced, people have to be buzzed in.

I work on a campus where in many buildings one cannot lock the classroom doors from the inside. We had a union meeting yesterday and I told our department union rep my concern was safety. That was before I found out about the shooting. I am ready at this point to go to the highest person possible in the bureaucracy which resembles the national government in its overall cluelessness and ineffectiveness to demand that those doors be modified. Anyone can enter those buildings. Anyone.

My mom grew up with the same set of situations, although more kids probably had guns. So what has changed?

Guns have changed. Private citizens didn't own assault rifles back then. Guns were used for hunting.

Raye, I think there's definitely more to it than gun access. There are many responsible gun owners. The problem, in my opinion, is that anyone can easily buy an assault rifle. This 19 year old guy who killed 17 kids yesterday legally purchased an AR-15 assault rifle. Why does any civilian need an assault rifle? Why is a teenager able to walk in and buy an assault rifle?

These kids have never known a time where shooting up a school was unheard of. They were born after Columbine. This guy grew up knowing that shooting a school was always an option for his anger, because he has seen it over and over. He knew the best types of weapons because it keeps happening. He knew he could legally buy the weapon, because he lives in the US and we make it super easy to buy guns. There were literally no barriers between his mental illness and obtaining an assault rifle.

Shotguns can still be deadly of course but they generally don't do the type of destruction that an assault rifle can do. The only reason to buy an assault rifle is to kill people.

What about lack of gun training? All those hunters were trained in safety back then.

What about children learning personal responsibility for their actions?

I think that's oversimplifying it. Gun safety for accidental shootings, yes.

Personal responsibility? The problem is that people who do this do not have the same set of morals as most people. There's something wrong in their mind, and I don't think it's a lack of personal responsibility as a child. There have always been psychos in society - the only difference now is that these psychos can legally obtain assault rifles.

Tommy guns were used extensively during prohibition. AR's were extensively used in WWII. They're not new and neither is access to them. So what changed?

During world war 2 by soldiers. Tommy guns by small gangs of criminals. Not utilized by the general population.

A lot has changed. Probably the biggest change is the internet. These people can use it to research, buy guns, and be inspired by other mass murders via media coverage.

I think the media in general has desensitized people. Every day we hear about mass murders, terrorist attacks, and the types of horrors that used to be reserved for war time. It cheapens life.

I don't know how accessible assault rifles were for civilians a few decades ago. I imagine there was a lot less anonymity in gun purchases, without online and big box store access. Maybe more opportunity to look for warning signs. Now, you can buy an assault rifles in minutes. I read it's easier than a handgun, which requires a permit.

Scott, I think Raye Smith is playing a game.

Kids in my high school from rural areas had gun racks in their trucks and possibly guns back then in the parking lot. They weren't AR-15s capable of one nutball slaughtering 17 kids with ONE gun.

To Cindy: perhaps. But this is no time for games.

Nope, just asking a serious question. Think about it, it's against the law to murder, it's against the law to take a gun onto school property. Automatic weapons can't be "un-invented". So is another law (to make guns no longer legal) going to resolve the issue OR is there something more effectual to be done?

Tommy guns, used by many mobster criminals so there was access, WWII large amounts of the population used those guns, think about how many men in your family served.

Tommy guns were banned in the 30s. And large amounts of people did not use them. That many persons involved in organized crime? Mosr Americans then could barely afford a refrigerator in the 20s and in the depression food. Assault rifles were only used on the battlefield.

Why does everyone lose sight of the money exchange? Allow the nra to encourage gun use (buy many for your protection!) and in exchange the folks at the nra will keep their chosen politicians in office. This is the crux. There is NO, repeat NO way to separate responsible gun users who use them for legitimate purposes and the crazies. And these days crazies include boys who can't control their tempers.

I didn't say large amount of people used them, just like AR's now, they were available or how did the mobsters in many states use them?

Not everyone was poor in the depression and guns do get stolen.

How does money & the NRA convince someone to perpetrate a school shooting?

Instead of arguing, how about seriously thinking outside the box?!?

Why can't we require that every gun be registered? You buy a gun and it's YOUR responsibility until you inform the law that you've sold it, destroyed it, or it has been lost or stolen. Just Like A Car.

Isn't it just logical that something purchased for the purpose of shooting lethal projectiles be registered -- and its owner be held accountable for unlawful use?

Someone should not be able to go into a store and walk out with an assault rifle. There are many reasons why this happens, but this is the root of the problem.

Yes, people who really want to kill someone will find a way. But do we have to make it so easy and accessible for someone to commit mass murder?

I don't think guns should be made illegal. I do think assault rifles should not be available to civilians. I think that all guns should have a much more thorough background process, with mental health screenings required. Legitimate and responsible gun owners can still get their guns and maybe we'll be able to filter out the ones who want to kill others.

There's also the issue that making guns illegal won't stop gun activity. That's true. However, making it much harder to get a gun can only help these situations.

I've thought so much about these comments since last night, but only now have time to respond.

I think it is appalling for anyone to use the term "white" as the cause of these shootings. These are not white teens going to schools with large minority populations and shooting them. They are usually their own schools, filled with students just like themselves. This is NOT a racial issue! Lord knows we have enough of them, but this is NOT one of them. Leave it out of the discussion!

I am absolutely in favor of stronger gun control laws, but that will only stop more guns being out there IN THE FUTURE. At this point in time, I see no possible way to legally remove the guns already out there, or legally make owning them illegal. We tried Prohibition with liquor; it was a failure. We required that all citizens turn in their gold - no private ownership of gold; that was a failure. Those that own guns are not going to hand them over, and the lawsuits would go on until the next millennium.

This does NOT mean we should not try to stop further guns being out there and being so easily accessible. We should all be writing our Congressmen and telling them to vote agains the NRA-backed "permit to carry" being universal in all states. It's a HORRIBLE idea!

What concerns me the most, is why is this happening. Why is it happening predominantly in the US? Please don't tell me it's because we elected Trump - most of these shootings started before he was even on The Apprentice. Dislike him if you will, but he is not the cause of school shootings.

Yes, the availability of guns is a problem and must be addressed, but guns HAVE always been available in many, many areas. As someone above mentioned, they were even brought to school My husband taught in HS in rural Maine from 1993-2003, and the school parking lot was filled with pick-up trucks with gun racks, with rifles in the racks.

So what IS different. I am aware that various studies have not always shown a connection between violent video games and acting out violence. But surely it does de-sensitize one to violence and that cannot possibly be good.

We do know that more and more young children are being diagnosed with Obsessive Defiant Disorder. There may be some linkage to ADHD as well. While the causes are unknown, there is some powerful clues.

There are Genetic influences. ODD tends to occur in families with a history of ADHD, substance abuse and other mental health issues.

There are also Prenatal factors - mother's use of substances during pregnancy and other problems.

Then there are Nuerobiological factors. We don't know what causes these. There are Social-cognitive factors - children responsible in inappropriate ways to many things.

And there are Environmental factors, i.e. negative parenting practices. Poor parent-child attachment, dysfunctional family, inconsistent discipline, poor parental monitoring and modeling, neglect. While these may be often be found in areas of low socioeconomic status, it can (and does!) occur anywhere.

Children with ODD are at far higher risk of moving on to a Conduct Disorder. Some develop this in early childhood; others in the teen years. The prognosis for such children is poor; Twenty-five to forty percent of children with CD will eventually reach a diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder in adulthood. Those in juvenile detention facilities have a rate of 23% - 87% diagnosis of CD, and the adult prison population is filled with those who have APD.

These are the children who are committing these school shootings. We know that the Columbine killers clearly had poor parental monitoring. How many children could have an arsenal in the garage or their bedroom and their parents be unaware of it? Really? The boy is FL and his brother were adopted. Their mother regularly called the police to "give them a talking to" as she found them difficult to handle. Did their birth mother(s) use substances during their pregnancies? Most likely. And her parenting was clearly inconsistent.

We have a major breakdown of the family unit in this country. Not just in poor families (and it is horrible there), but even in middle/upper middle class families. I hear parents talking all the time, and I'm astounded at how indifferent many are to the needs of their children. EDUCATED parents talking this way. It's either "helicopter" or "neglect/indifference". Parents tend to think that once the child is in school, little supervision is needed; by the teen years, they get little. As one neighbor told me, "Once they get their car, they pretty much go and come as they please!" Really? Mine didn't. My grandchildren don't. They are still CHILDREN and need supervision!

We will not solve the problem of school shootings until we IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM, and the problem is not just guns. We need to do some serious soul searching as to why our children are being so abysmally failed by so many parents today.

Every nation has both mildly and seriously mentally ill people of all ages. Most first world nations limit gun possession.

Only the US has gun carnage without doing something that other nations have proven successful.

Do we suffer from 'not invented here' disease?

Anglophile, you have written a very thought-out post! We all need to do some soul searching to see why we are failing so many young adults! You are correct, this is no more Trump's fault than it was Obama's! It certainly is not a "white" problem! The kid yesterday was not white either!

Just saw this in the NYTImes. I think it's excellent and something every single school district should use as a pattern.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/opinion/school-shooters-florida-guns.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

You can wish, hope, lecture, explain til kingdom come, but you cannot put the 'happy family' genie back in the bottle. There is one and only one way to make these unnecessary episodes of carnage lessen, if not disappear, and that is with tight gun control. Many politicians are beholden to the nra for their contributions and the nra has these generous contributions because the nra is backed by wealthy gun manufacturers who are selling guns hand-over-fist. It's sickening, sickening. Everyone involved in this cycle should feel responsible for the deaths of these children. I'm not in a happy place right now so calling this anything less than it is, is not possible for me.

I'm not sure where I found this - maybe here - but it's a Daily Show-type sarcastic piece from a Dutch TV show. There's about 10 seconds in Dutch (with sub-titles) and then it switches to English.

It's a clever satire. NRA= Nonsensical Rifle Addiction.

How the rest of the world sees our gun problem inaction

The "thoughts and prayers" lines from politicians sincerely make we want to throw up. If you're going to say something, please try to come up with something marginally more useful that verbal pablum.

I was on Facebook this morning, and saw a post from one of my "friends" who was advocating that what we need is more people carrying guns in this country.

I have no words.

I genuinely, literally, no longer have words.

We have people in this country who think the solution to our gun problem is more guns.

Let's try this again. Why would a law stopping law abiding citizens from owning guns stop those that ignore the already standing laws on murder and no guns on campus laws?

Like I said before we've had open on campus gun carrying when I was in school and shootings were extremely rare.

Like others have said before: different times, different guns.

Stop easy access to devices that pump lots of bullets at high speeds in short amounts of time.

Thank you, socks. I am feeling so many emotions over this latest shooting (which is already fading from the headlines). Anger, grief, frustration, hopelesness - they are all there as I go about my days.

Another thing I'm feeling is optimism. I am so impressed at how articulate, informed and passionate the Parkland students are. They may be the ones who finally get something done to stop the senseless slaughter that has become the norm in America.

Good for them.