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It's happened again, this time in sunny southern California, another high school tragedy that could very easily have been prevented - just like Columbine. Virtually the exact same scenario was played out with very nearly the exact same conclusion. Thankfully, there were only two fatalities this time.

Once again, a school's administration turned a blind eye to a gang of the school's sports players teasing, tormenting and bullying a smaller, weaker and more timid classmate. Granted leniency because of their involvement in the school's sports programs, the bullies were allowed to continue their harassment of a schoolmate until he was driven to seek retribution in the only way available to him, the "great equalizer," as Samuel L. Colt dubbed his repeating firearm in the nineteenth century.

Just like the football players who teased the two boys at Columbine for dressing differently, calling them names and ostracizing them mercilessly, the 'cool' kids in California were allowed to pick on and bully a kid unable to defend himself from them physically.

What I want to know, is why the bullying was allowed to go on until it's victim was forced to a last resort.

Of course, that question is rhetorical. They were allowed to do as they pleased because they were valuable to the school's sports programs. Another trophy in the school's trophy case was obviously more important to the school's administration than the self esteem and emotional well being of a student unable to contribute to the school's standing in the sports arena.

According to California's draconian and unconstitutional gun control laws, the strictest in the nation, it was against the law for the minor to posses a firearm, against the law for anyone to have a gun on school property, against the law to discharge a firearm within city limits, against the law for a weapon to be carried concealed, against the law to assault anyone with a deadly weapon, against the law to murder anyone, against this law, against that law, e, i, e, i, oh!

Nonetheless, we all know that within a very short while, there will be a plethora of calls for stricter, more fascist (and more unenforceable) gun control laws. The causative factor in this incident, as in last year's incident at Columbine, will not be seen by the media or the general public as the bullies who drove their classmates to an act of desperation, but an inherently evil inanimate object - the despicable firearm.

How long will mainstream America fall for such chicanery? How long will high school football players who fancy themselves XFL 'hit men' and 'annihilators' be granted immunity from being held accountable for the results of their sophomoric machismo? How many more victims of their abuse will have to take up arms in self defense before we stand up together as a society and say, "Enough is enough?"

We can ban all of the firearms, knives, brass knuckles, bricks, pointed sticks and other weapons there are until we live in a weaponless society. It won't solve the problem. After just so much bullying, some student somewhere is going to pick up a big, fat dictionary and bash in the brains of his or her tormentor. In one form or another, it is what always happens to bullies, eventually.

There is a sensible alternative. It will never be embraced by the status quo, but it is a workable solution: to stop the bullying before it can drive its victims to desperate acts that hurt not only the bullies themselves, but innocent bystanders too.

Every State in the United States of America needs to enact legislation as quickly as possible that will make it a crime to pick on, harass, bully or torment ANYONE! These laws should be modeled on the Federal "hate crime" laws and victims or witnesses of these crimes should be encouraged to report them whenever and wherever they occur. For high school students in particular, there should be immediate and strict penalties.

Any victim of bullying should be offered counseling from the very first incident, because damage is done from the outset. Any person reported for bullying should be punished by the schools administration, in accordance with the legislation herein proposed:

For the first offense, the bully should be placed in mandatory counseling because their actions prove that something is already wrong with their thought processes.

For the second offense, they should be barred from all extracurricular activities - and this means sports teams, too (if not especially!). Since most of the bullying done in both Columbine and San Diego was done by members of the respective school's sports teams, fear of this second punishment alone should all but eliminate the root cause of school shootings.

A third offense should result in permanent expulsion from the public school system, with the bully remanded into the criminal justice system, where such sociopathic deviants belong.

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So far, all of the responses I've recieved about this article have been positive except for one. Here they are, in the order that they arrived in:

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interesting solution! i would include junior high or middle school because children are so vulnerable then as their bodies are changing and they are more aware and sensitive about their looks. I also think the pattern of bullying becomes more established then because it is tolerated by the administration and accepted as norm.
Peg

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You got it Right !
I was glad the gun was locked up. Maybe now we can get to the real problems.
see ya,
Mike

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Amen!!
Cyndi

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AMEN.
Linda

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I've held similiar sentiments regarding these incidents fo quiet some time. I thought your commentary was right on target, you can only "f*ck with" someone for so long. These are the kinds of responses to be expected, in this culture we've created.
Good job, Bob.
Ben

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Great article Bobgod! Definitely my feelings as well. F*cking newscasters can't come close to addressing the problem - poor bullies got shot. I have no sympathy for them. My only sympathy for the bullies is that they weren't cared for enough to teach them to respect other kids. My concern is for the ones that have to put up with their cruel sh*t.
Gwen

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good writing
Your piece was thought provoking, as well.
As they say in the psych business, the school violence problem is complex and underlaid with many causes. Poor parenting and schools that foster "cookie cutter" education and behavior are among them. Mix that up in a society with no spiritual underpinning and the immaturity of the hormonal teenage mind, and there are disasters waiting to happen.
Kate

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Hey Taylor -
You are WAY off base....blame who is responsible--- the parents................ of the bullies AND the suspect. If you are a responsible parent and involved in your kids' lives as you should be, you can see and act on most signs of trouble before it manifests itself. The "bullies" have the same problem as the "shooter" .....irresponsible, lazy parents. It's not the administrators' responsibility to ban the bullies from sports activities---it's the parents' role to remove their own children. An involved parent making the decision removes the choice that a misguided school official (and probably a bad parent) might make just because the kid is a sports star. This is not the time to blame guns, politicians, cops, or any other scapegoat or cause. It's a time to send the "wake-up" call for all parents. They are YOUR kids and YOUR responsibility. Bobby , quit sending me your dream-state propaganda until you get back in the real world , OK? KIDS are going to act and react as KIDS because that just what they are.....only mature responsible parents can make a difference.
Billy

Billy's response was so good that i have to publish my reply as well :

high, bill,

i was just wondering why i hadn't got any feedback from you on the article, and i'm happy as a pig in sh*t that you came through for me! now i finally have ONE negative response to publish! (out of seven) look 4 it inna couple of daze on my home page!

of course, you're right that it IS the parents' resposibility to keep their kids from bullying AND from over-reacting, but when parents are lacadaisical in their responsibilities, as you so rightly point out that they are, and when the problem becomes so severe as to draw national attention (repeatedly!), it is time for society to act as a whole to come up with a solution

it don't gotta be MY solution...

we can go with rosie o'donnel's instead, or hillary clinton's, or YOURS!!!

but... uh, what parent is gonna take their kid out of a sports program that may result in a college scholarship just because they call some freak who dresses differently than everyone else a "trenchcoat mafia" day after day?

ten out of nine times, the kids behavior is merely a reflection of their parents' actions, so if a kid is a bully at school, chances are pretty good that one or both of their parents is/are abusive, too

in the future, i'll refrain from sending you any "dream-state propaganda," bill - i'll just stick with my usual thought-provoking profundities, o.k?

thanks 4 sharing your thoughts; believe it or not, they're important to me!

love&light,
bg

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Great Article! I'll circulate it. Hope the politicians (and school boards) pay attention!
Luree

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They say the parents are "Outraged" at the teacher who got caught carrying a gun to school. f*ck em man! If the teachers had guns then columbine and other attacks would have been stopped with swift justice. I'm sick of these little punk cry babies that can't handle it. You and I were picked on and we handled it with our fists and brains!! These teachers are fighting for their lives and the lives of other students. I say we not only legalize guns for teachers but provide em too.
Tony I.

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Hey Bob,
Enjoyed your article and TOTALLY agree, but I also can't help but think that the breakdown begins in the home. Kids just aren't taught "the golden rule" anymore.
Janice

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Bob:
this is great, would you mind if I sent this to one of our radio stations They are always talking about headline news and this would be something I would like for them to read. They have been talking about this and finding solutions that would work in the schools.
Libby

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I have one thing to say (and it should sum it up in a nutshell)
HERE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
kids are mean in schools (hasn't been too long for me to remember) if it was not for my best friend being REALLY HUGE and full of muscle. I'd have probably done the same thing.
and you're right... it is mostly the jocks who think they're almighty gawd!
now don't get me wrong..... my best friend was in football. but there's a bunch of those football players who teased me a heap. and if it weren't for my friend I don't know what i'd have done. I do know that I was at the end of my rope and was about to do something when I met him.
People have got to stop the Glorious Stupidity. and start with the GLORIOUS FIGHT!
Gun control is not the answer. if they were to outlaw guns all together it would just be another thing to fail to keep out of the country like drugs and liquor (during prohabition). and just more of a waist of time
and that raises another question, when will we pick up the pieces and find that there's still a vase under there? just because one thing happens doesn't mean we just punish what has happened. it also means that we should prevent it from happening again! and this can fall on EVERY human being on the face of this earth.
SAY SOMETHING DAMMIT!
let these teasers know what it's like to be teased. let them be humiliated for once.
in my opinion, offence one should also include some form of public humiliation. to teach them what it's like. example their names plastered on a wall along with all the names of the football players that's going to find themselvs on the bench with one more act. heck put them in the dunk tank for a fund raiser to repay some of the dammage he's caused along with giving the schools extra green for really needed things like computers and books and stuff.
WOW I wasn't supposed to keep typing like that ... I guess I'm just REALLY opinionated.
in the words of mark twain (I believe) "I'd have made the letter shorter.... but I didn't have the time"
end of rant
Tony L.

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I got your school shooting article, and it's much better than anything -- and there was lots -- that was in the Houston Chronicle or some other (national) publications.
Jocks and their superior attitudes. Honestly.
Carol

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Bob,
It is too bad we don't live in a world where "Love thy neighbor" and "turn the other cheek" are guidelines that are actually embodied.
We should be teaching our children (and ourselves) to love themselves - bullies are often as insecure as the people they pick on.
I certainly don't think guns, anger and laws are going to do a bit of good in making the kinds of changes that are needed in our world.
Change has to come from within and cannot be forced (unfortunately).
I realize I am very idealistic, but someone has to.
As long as we (each one of us as individuals) hold on to our anger about all of the injustices and atrocities in this world, it merely breeds more anger.
LOVE is what we should be teaching!!!!!
Love yourself, love your family, love your neighbors, enemies, planet, LOVE ALL THINGS!
Life choices need to be made out of LOVE not Anger!
What would Jesus do?
What would Buddha do?
What are you going to do?
Love, Karen

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Well, we could just admit that everytime a jock gets shot the message gets across...
Nick

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Bob, If noone has notice that the incoent people that has been shot have been Christians that is showing their faith in God. In Paducah,Kentucky the kids were praying and they got shot at. If parents show interest in their kids, some of the parents will notice when the problem starts. We would not have this problem if they will let the Ten Commandments and Prayer back in school. I agree with Karen that is on your web-site. What would Jesus Do? And what are we going to do?
Thanks, Starlett

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