Paul Thomas: Gun Violence, Mass and School Shootings: A Reader May 2022
In the wake of the latest school shooting, Paul Thomas offers some reflection and some links to reading on the topic. Reposted with permission.
Another school shooting and another mass killing with an AR-15:
Another horrifying example of American exceptionalism created by the GOP and NRA:
For a meditative moment in the face of inexcusable negligence and another round of children slaughtered while sitting in school, I offer:
“The Second Coming,” William Butler Yeats
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.
“Harlem,” Langston Hughes
Below is a reader addressing gun violence and school safety.
TL;DR: School safety is a subset of community safety. Active shooter drills, police on campus, security cameras, armed teachers/staff, and metal detectors do not make schools safer and often cause harm. U.S. access to guns and abundance of guns cause gun violence, mass shootings, and school shootings. People suffering mental illness experience more violence, but do not cause more violence.
Reader:
- What Do We Know About the Association Between Firearm Legislation and Firearm-Related Injuries?
- School Safety and Security: Research and Evidence
- Consent, Policing, and School Safety
- Let’s Not Fail School Safety as We Have School Reform
- A New School Year But the Same Concerns about Safety
- The Rational and Irrational of Protection and Guns
- Guns Kill People. Gun Advocacy Is Complicit.
- In the U.S. Guns Matter More than Any Lives Matter
- Protecting Guns, Sacrificing (Some) Children
Addendum: Original Poetry