Schools Focused on the Wrong Things

 

In a study of mass shootings from 2008 to 2017, the Secret Service found that “100 percent of perpetrators showed concerning behaviors, and in 77 percent of shootings, at least one person—most often a peer—knew about their plan.” — dailysignal.com

100 percent is pretty high. It doesn’t get much higher than 100 percent.

It’s always seemed to me that mass shooters turn out to have been known to family, friends, co-workers, law enforcement, mental health professionals, etc., as violent and unstable, but no one took effective action to keep the person from going off the rails.

For example, co-workers of the Uvalde school shooter had a nickname for him: “school shooter.”

Meanwhile, here’s what the National School Boards Association (NSBA) is focusing on. Last September, the NSBA drafted a letter to President Biden calling for use of the “Army National Guard and its Military Police” to prevent parents from becoming overly vehement at school board meetings.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus attention and manpower on preemptive action vis-à-vis highly predictable mass shootings?

Not a perfect plan but a better use of time and effort than maintaining parents on “domestic terrorist” watch lists.

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