According to CNN, it's the third school shooting in the last 7 days and the 22nd school shooting in the US this year. Let those numbers sink in.

The US has no business pointing to “barbaric” practices and violence in other countries while it allows its children to be shot at and killed at school on a weekly basis.

What I find particularly disturbing is that these shootings have become so commonplace that they no longer make the headlines unless multiple fatalities are involved. As a society, we are becoming desensitized and indifferent to these tragic events. Just another day of business as usual.

And yet, I think the shooters are attracted in part to the use of a gun at a school to "become famous" across the land. So it is good when people refuse to use the shooter's name and refuse to give him or her publicity.

We need to work on strengthening our family units. The shooters I have heard about in the past have mainly come from broken homes.

What can we say? What is the normal response? This came to mind:

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

insane laughter for an insane situation that we witness over and over again.

Is there nothing that shocks us anymore?

Or how about this: Who cares about the lives of our children, much less our neighbours?

Chi said: According to CNN, it's the third school shooting in the last 7 days and the 22nd school shooting in the US this year. Let those numbers sink in.

Name another advanced country in the West where this happens weekly. Name one.

Parents need to refuse en masse to send their kids to school until something is done. Too many politicians get too much money from gun lobby to look to govt for change. I can’t imagine being afraid to send your kids to school!!

I just saw this article --

Why Americans don't care about mass shootings

Santa Fe High School's graduation was scheduled for tomorrow night. These young people should be celebrating and looking forward to the future. Instead they and their families will be grieving and trying to make sense of it all. So sad.

We had one happened a few hours from us last Wednesday. The school resource officer shot the shooter in the shoulder. The shooter was the only one injured. The resource officer was doing his job and hasn't been seeking attention about it. So good to see someone like that.

Just another day in America so says the NRA.

So sad...but not much media coverage about the school in Indiana this week that an armed school officer SAVED the students by having a gun.

A church in KC area had a shooting by a student at a graduation ceremony last night.. so would not be surprised if we won't see copy cats of this.

It isn't a "gun" problem but a moral problem. Bullying and social media are running rampant, as well as lack of parents taking responsibility to be a parent. JMHO!

But is that uniquely American, phoggie? Bad parenting, bullying and social media? I would wager that happens everywhere yet no one else has this school shooting problem. Bullying is global, social media is global, bad parenting is global. Why aren't school shootings global?

I admit I am mystified how people can think it's not at least partially a gun control issue. We cannot distill these incidents down to a single reason, but there sure are some distinct areas for improvement.

Phoggie, I completely agree. Can we please start focusing on raising our kids to be responsible and accountable, getting rid of violent video games and movies, and as you said, concentrate on the social media and bullying.

Violent video games and movies are played and watched all over the world.

Canada has all of the same social issues and pressures. We live side by side by Americans, in some places so close you can shake hands across the border.

We have similar rights and freedoms.

But Canada has had about 10 school shootings in 30 YEARS. The US has had 22 THIS year.

The difference is gun control and gun culture.

Guns do not kill people...people kill people! Drivers of cars kill people...but no one says to get rid of cars... Several children were killed on a school bus driven by an incompetent bus driver...I don't think it was the fault of the bus. We have a national problem of not taking responsibility for one's actions and until we do, these things are going to continue. We have laws, they need to be enforced!

The weapons used by the suspect were his father’s .38 revolver and a shotgun, both of which, like the suspect, I had access to growing up. I, however, never even thought about stealing my father’s to shoot anyone.

^^^^ Kaillean, spot on, IMO. Gun control is foremost (to me) with mental/social issues a close second. But change the gun culture first; if access is more limited than it is presently, then there would be fewer shootings. Won't cure all the crazies (with knives/bombs etc), but would potentially limit mass shootings.

Guns do not kill people...people kill people!

I'm so sick of people glibly spouting that tired bromide. It fact it is neither. Its those little bullets that kill people. So it is not a gun control problem, it is a bullet control problem. Get rid of them and the gun lovers can hold and caress and wave about all the guns they want, and sane people won't have to worry about a gun-wielding nut from shooting their children.

Perhaps it could be done as a temporary measure. Only until everyone starts raising their children to be responsible and accountable. <snort of derision>

That expression, "guns don't kill people, people kill people," is such an old, worn out saying. Would this recent killing of innocent people have occurred if the person only had a knife? Or a baseball bat? Of course guns kill people. The social problems we have - bullying, violent games, happen in other countries as well. It's not unique to the U.S. As Kaillean said, Canada has much the same issues - bullying, violent games, etc. Why doesn't Canada have these mass school shootings? Same issues, different countries. What is the difference between the U.S and Canada? What differentiates the two countries?

Gun rights. Two different countries, different cultures, similar social problems. Yet one country has frequent mass shootings and the other doesn't. It would be interesting, as an experiment, to impose the same gun restrictions in the U.S that Canada has and see what happens.

If mass shootings in the U.S are reduced/eliminated, well then there's your answer.

Too many people in the U.S are hung up on their rights, and you're not gonna take them away from me!

91% of people on terrorist watch lists were approved when they wanted to buy a gun. Does that seem right? You can be a suspected terrorist and still legally buy a gun here.

People will blame everything but the gun culture (video games, scary movies, Facebook) but easy access to guns is the only difference between us and other Western countries.

I'm still waiting for someone to explain how these "other" non-gun reasons only affect Americans and not the millions of others who also engage in these activities.

Too many people in the U.S are hung up on their rights, and you're not gonna take them away from me!

You're gosh darned right I’m hung up on my rights!

The culture is so different. No one I know has a handgun. I never have to worry about my kids getting their hands on a gun at a friends house. A couple of family members who live in the country have hunting rifles, but not the majority of my country-dwelling family. Even hearing that shocks some of my city friends.

I own a shotgun and a revolver. I don't believe me having them is a risk to anyone. I don't blame the NRA. I blame the lack of parental over sight and lack of involvement in their children's lives. I lived in Santa Fe for 30 yrs. My daughter graduated from there. It is a close knit community. Sort of a bedroom community for surrounding industrial areas. My niece's husband is an EMT there, and was one of the first responders. It's a sad day.....blaming the NRA does nothing. Nothing. Always we see signs that are overlooked. The shooter came to school today wearing a black trench coat ( it is 90 deg. today) and a born to kill tee shirt. He also had placed bombs. This is a messed up person. Blaming the NRA does nothing but help increase their membership because many people realize others want to make this a political football.....kick it around.

Lol, you're proving my point exactly.

What point is that?

Guns don't kill...blab blab blab. That tired old adage needs to go. There is mental illness all over the world, there are video games all over the world. America is the gun culture and if our founding fathers came back they'd be horrified. They were talking about defending from the British with guns which took a minute to load.

We also had the right to own slaves, and for only men to vote but those were changed.

Clinging to rules written a long time ago in a completely different era with completely different intentions is downright negligent. A lot of innocent kids have died because their schoolmates are able to walk into a store and buy a gun.

I don’t understand why anybody would do it. Why would you take and injure so many lives? There has been so many shootings in the last few months. I don’t get it.

I get it if you have one or two guns, (we have a rifle and shotgun, but ONLY to defend ourselves in case things go bad. We have never had to use it and I hope it stays that way) but if you are using guns to KILL PEOPLE?

Praying for the families who lost their kids. Its devastating. It’s dangerous out there. I wish we could put an end to this.

I don't think individual owning guns is bad. I don't want to see a complete gun ban. I would like to see more thorough background checks, a longer waiting period and more age restrictions.

There is a lot of room for compromise where responsible adults can buy guns and the mass murderers can't buy them as easily. I don't think most teenagers have access to black market weapons but they sure have access to Walmart.

It's all about mental illness. Responsible people with guns, don't go out and kill innocent people. How do you catch a killer before he strikes? How many of the perpetrators could have been stopped? Do all people have to have a mental test at their annual exams? It's hard to read a teenager. I've had three of them. Maybe that's an answer? Here we go with our "rights" again. You can't sort out the bad guys very easily. What's causing the anger in these people....lots of questions.

He didn't buy them. They belonged to his dad. I don't know yet if he took them without permission.....I am sure if you don't have any problems killing people, stealing is not an issue either.

I'm curious about the role of the lack of universal healthcare and mental health in all of this. The US is once again the only one who treats healthcare as a privilege, and even with insurance, mental health services are often not covered.

So this shooter was going to commit suicide but didn’t have the nerve to do it, was putting bombs together at home, and his parents (or parent) was unaware of all this? Or didn’t seek help for their child? Or make others aware of the problems? And still the NRA is blamed along with whatever/whoever else is convenient.

I am saddened that mental health care isn’t readily available, yes, and that is indeed part of the problem, both for the parents children, and anyone else who needs care.

There is no logic here. Trying to stop people from killing one another...with guns...is verrry simple. Eliminate the instruments of killing. Yes! The Guns?

Why would you keep looking through the wrong end of a telescope trying to find some *other* solution to prevent people from dying *daily* (not just in mass shootings) because a *bullet* ended their lives.

Of course an inanimate object doesn't kill. Of course you can kill with other objects. These people are being killed with firearms.

There is NO DOWNSIDE in eliminating this overabundance of guns in American society. Let's start 'downsizing'.

Exactly. We have mental illness here too. The difference is crazy people can’t easily get their hands on a gun from their own house or anyone else’s.

Even if you could restrict the mentally ill from purchasing a gun, he or she would still easily be able to find one in granny’s purse or the neighbor’s glove box in the US.

In that case, every single "star", athlete, etc. who pays a cop, or bodyguard for protection, will have to do away with their protector being armed. Correct? Bar owners, store owners, etc., won't have any means of protection from a deranged individual. How about needing protection from a gang? We could go on and on about this. No clear answer.

Bad guys are going to get guns, no matter what is done.

Other countries also have “bad guys”. And gangs. Here, they mostly shoot each other using black market guns. Mass/school shootings in the US are usually done by “ordinary” people and kids using guns legally purchased.

Gun control works.

Look at Scotland. After 16 kids died in Dunblane they implemented strict gun control and haven’t had a single school shooting since.

Australia responded similarly to a shooting there and it worked.

https://www-m.cnn.com/2017/10/04/world/gun-control-uk-australia/index.html

These events helped turned the tide of opinion against private gun ownership. Law makers and voters put the protection of human lives before protection of archaic gun rights.

People in most western countries don’t have to think about bulletproof backpacks even for a second. I never ever worry someone is going to shoot my children at school or when they’re playing with a friend.

foggyj2, if guns were harder to obtain there wouldn't be a need to body guards or police protection.

One problem I don't see addressed much is kids getting guns from their parents or from another person. The San Bernardino didn't shoot with his own gun, he got it from someone else This shooting, for example, was another person's gun, and the shooting of the first graders was mom's gun. These adults should be held accountable for not securing their precious guns.

Just another day in America.

Yes, stricter gun control....like in Chicago, and Baltimore and DC. Yeah....that's the ticket. Get rid of all of them. Then we will always be safe.

My son and my nephew pretty much own LEGAL arsenals. Their guns are locked up in a gun locker. Empty. Not a single bullet in any of their weapons. Their bullets are also locked up, separately from their guns. It's law. We are Canadian. We do own guns. As a matter of fact, we own more guns per capita than Americans do. But we have strict gun control. And a much lower gun related death rate.

Gun control doesn't work as well on a local, city level due to the ease of access across city and state lines. It needs to be on a national level, since smuggling guns into the country is a lot more difficult than into a city surrounded by laxer gun control areas.

Just saw on the news per this year’s death stats it’s now more dangerous to go to school in the US than to join the military.

This is a FB post. It is public so I believe anyone should be able to read it. This is the most logical thing I've read about guns in the US and the laws that are needed.

https://www.facebook.com/Stonekettle/posts/1699816820053714

Debby -- it's an excellent article -- but -- add in rigid background checks for buying guns, tighten up the way sales are made at gun shows. That doesn't take away anybody's guns. Yes, the criminals will get guns but by attrition it will get harder and harder. And yes, they'll come up with other weapons -- but does that mean we do nothing now? Just give up? The best part of the article is that it is very specific that we need to be specific about what we want to happen and the WILL to carry it out.