Another Student Is Dead Because We Live In A Country That Believes Guns Don’t Kill People

Screen Shot 2014-06-10 at 2.18.29 PMAt 8:07 a.m. just as school was starting, another gunman opened fire in an American school. A student at Reynolds High School in Portland Oregon was killed – as was the gunman.

Chief Scott Anderson: A gunman entered the highschool this morning, shot one student – unfortunately that student has died. The gunman was located and the gunman is also deceased.

Watching the events unfold on CNN, one of the anchors described a moment where two relieved parents were shown receiving a phone call from their child – a student at the school. The anchor described it as “bittersweet.” I think “horrifying” is a better descriptor. One second spent as a parent of a child who has been on campus during one of these shootings – waiting for a call to confirm that they are alive is one second too long.

From USA Today:

“We are still checking the building,” Sue Strickland, police records specialist for the Troutdale police, told USA TODAY. “We have about 40-50 units out there. We have several SWAT teams in the building right now and they are checking to make sure that they’ve got things under control. A semi-automatic weapon was used.”

I can’t even count the number of stories I’ve written about school shootings in the last two years that I’ve been writing for Mommyish. But I do know that no one likes there to be any mention of our lax gun control laws after one of them happens: It’s not the time! The timing of this story was interesting – I was just looking over a story about bullet proof blankets that are being marketed to school districts. One of our regular readers sent it in. The headline of the story was, “Bullet Proof Blanket Seeks To Shield Kids During School Shootings.”

The Bodyguard Blanket is designed to offer a temporary shelter during dangerous situations, particularly school shootings.

While the Bodyguard is also built to help protect children from falling debris during natural disasters like tornadoes, much of the marketing around the product concerns the potential for school shootings. It’s the reason the blanket was created in the first place.

Here are some images of the blanket:

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They’re $1000 each. The kids can wear them as they would a backpack, and hide underneath. The article notes the blanket is not the first bulletproof item that has been marketed to schools. Last year a bulletproof whiteboard that doubles as a shield was introduced. This is the world we live in now.

So, let’s believe the argument that bad people will still be able to get guns if we tighten our gun control laws. Let’s believe that the fact that it is too damn easy to get a gun in this country has absolutely nothing to do with the insane amount of gun deaths we have per year, compared to every other developed nation. I still have absolutely no idea why responsible gun owners have a problem with gun control. And it’s something I will never understand.

We have no details about this shooter yet, but I’m sure he’s just a bad guy that would have gotten his hands on a gun anyway, right? We’ll probably never have to know – because it will never be as hard as it should be to get a gun in this country.

(photo: Twitter)

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