School Shootings and Red Flag Laws

This week saw tragedy at Apalachee High School in Georgia as two students and two teachers were shot by a 14-year-old student. The young man is being charged as an adult and will be arraigned in court this morning. His father has also been charged with 2nd-degree murder related to purchasing a firearm, purchasing the ammunition, not securing either, and not recognizing the danger his son posed. The shooter was first on the radar of law enforcement and the FBI last year for making online threats, threats similar to what he actually carried out, against his middle school.

 

And here we are again. A scene so painfully familiar that the talking points can be copied and pasted from the last school shooting.

Gun control. Bullying. Mental Health. Red flag laws…

We regurgitate outrage long enough to make interview soundbites but not long enough to do anything more than talk.

 

The aspect of red flag laws would perhaps be very helpful in theory, but it seems almost silly in reality. The GA shooter triggered all kinds of red flags. Authorities were quite aware of him, of his parents, of his home life, of his inclination towards violence. My word, they did a well-check because he had already threatened to shoot up his school last year.

 

The father’s response to this giant red flag? A few months after THE FBI SENT LOCAL OFFICERS to his home over his son’s threats, he bought his son the automatic rifle that was used, as a Christmas present. An FBI awareness of my child seems like a red flag, no?

 

You may have missed it but the Covenant shooter’s manifesto was finally released this week. She could not have been more unhinged in her views and rantings. Red flags abound. Or they should have. The problem is that all of those red flags were ignored because her behavior seems quite normal nowadays.

We have normalized mental illness. Let’s have that conversation.

 

Let’s talk about how our culture is creating and guaranteeing tragedy by raising children in an environment that is untethered to truth or reality.

We are the least capable people on the planet of being able to discern when a young person is unstable. Mostly because we are going out of our way to make them unstable. Marxism is fueled by confusion and deception. Critical theory forces everyone into one of two categories, victim and oppressor. Both of which create breaks in a fragile and forming psyche. Who wants to be the bad guy? To avoid being the bad guy, you must be the victim and in choosing that role…you must see everyone else as either friend or foe to your victimization. Do you think that dichotomy creates opportunities for context, connection, and compassion between diverse people? It does not.

 

Queer theory is breeding narcissism in our young people by allowing them to create and constantly recreate their identity and reality and demand others yield to it.

How in the world can I “red flag” a student who I believe is unbalanced, when the child who denies their own biology, history, and identity is not only entirely emotionally stable, but a champion of wisdom and bravery?

 

Our willingness to tolerate chaos, confusion, and deception is creating a generation that is less empathetic, more self-centric, and entirely unbound to any form of absolute truth, consequences, or judgment. What could go wrong?

We will continue to have school shootings as long as we lack the maturity to parent well, lead well, and honor truth.

Here is my full post on this subject, as a SpEd teacher who worked with emotionally disturbed youth to address root causes of behavior, functions of behavior, and motivating changed behavior.