Cone: Adults must secure guns
Letter to the editor
I am grateful that a student spoke up and the school resource officer acted quickly in response to a 13-year-old Westwood Middle School student who had a loaded gun in their backpack on campus.
It is deeply concerning to know that a child had possession of a lethal weapon. The incident is under investigation and we do not know the particulars in this case, but we do know that 75 percent of school shooters acquire their gun from the home of a parent or a close relative.
This is unacceptable. Adults have the responsibility to secure guns in their homes and vehicles. There are many different affordable secure storage options that prevent access by children and enable fast access by the gun owner. To learn more, please visit http://www.besmartforkids.org
Susan Cone
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So true, but the parents who were interviewed on TV seemed to blame the teachers. I don’t know what else is expected. We have our own children to get up & get to school in the mornings. My one & only son is at Littlewood & my one & only grandchild is at Westwood. They did NOT have weapons in their backpacks! School staff took care of the situation of the student who did.
That is unacceptable but even more unacceptable is the number of convicted felons who get firearms after their release. Where are they getting those from and why isn’t more being done to prevent that?
At least cut off some hands or fingers so they can’t pull triggers any more.
Uh, they get them from gun sales without background checks and from other felons who steal them from homes or buy in bulk in easy to buy states and then transport them to hard to buy states. This isn’t rocket science, just the results of politicians who ignore common sense and majority opinion to thwart legislation that will help control guns in the country with the most in the world. Duh!
Then the chopping of fingers and hands should be expanded to those not conducting proper checks AND those transporting firearms across state lines illegally.
Thanks!
This May Work, you can’t enforce laws that don’t exist and the reason the laws you want enforced don’t exist is due to the GOP which does the bidding of the NRA and gun queers without regard for the majority of Americans who want tougher laws.
There are laws for background checks.
It’s the queers who want more laws to give them more rights. Thanks for trying.
There ineffective state laws for background checks which are apparently sufficient for you to accept our ranking as the #1 place in the developed world for gun deaths and a place where gun deaths are the #1 cause of child mortality. You’re not a serious person.
Gun queers like you want less gun laws while gay Americans want our laws and rights to be equally applied to them. Not sure why this confuses you.
The laws aren’t ineffective, the enforcement is.
And again, criminals could care less about any laws and that seems to be what confuses you.
Speaking of being confused, I’m far less confused than the queers who haven’t figured out there’s only two genders and what 🚹 & 🚺 on the bathroom doors mean, or others who can’t understand what 🚯 means. The happy people you mention aren’t concerned with equal rights, they’re demanding special rights.
This may work, as I noted you don’t GAF about gun deaths and avoid the obvious – among the tools we could use to help keep them out of the hands of the criminals you think are all powerful would be national back ground checks, not the easily dodged state checks which all states do not have. If criminals can’t get the gun, they can’t use it in a crime. Get it, or is this all too difficult for you? Or you just prefer our streets to be awash with cheap guns that teenagers can easily get?
Gays by definition no more think there are more than 2 sexes than straights and some think the transgender movement is an effort to transform gays into one of those 2.
Forming a legal family with all the protections and responsibilities that come with that is not a special right and thankfully one that most Americans agree should be available to all.
You’re never going to get it. Criminals will still find a way to get a gun. The way to prevent felons from using guns in the commission of a crime is to cut their hands off. I’ve said that already.
The answer isn’t making guns affordable only to the elites who have the money for them or their private security detail.
I don’t recall seeing anywhere that gay people can’t have a family but I do know for a fact that gay people are incapable of reproducing on their own and with their chosen partners. You should know that if you’ve ever taken a biology class.
Of course some criminals will find a way to get a gun in America but the harder you make it, the fewer will and there will be fewer gun crimes committed. You can’t have the most guns in the world with weak laws on their ownership and sales and think you can make your kids safe. WTF up. This isn’t a dream. You’ve tried arresting them – we have the highest incarceration rate in the world – and it doesn’t work under current weak laws on ownership and sales. You want them to stay cheap? OK, count the number of dead kids that cost us.
Cripes, have an opinion, but not a fantasy.
PS On your anti-gay Americans opinions, proof of fertility is not a requirement for marriage for anyone, so why do you think gays should be limited by that? You understand I hope that they can adopt and no statistics show that is a problem. And by “having a family”, most of us mean a partner you can rely on to face the world, and that partner has special rights to help them help you, including the legalities of ownership, and things like hospital and end of life rights.
What is this, 1998? This problem is solved Buddy, to the satisfaction of most Americans except religious nuts and haters. If you don’t like it, mind your own business.
I didn’t say anything about being anti-gay or proof of fertility being a qualifier for marriage. Just helping you understand that two human beings of the same gender are incapable of reproducing offspring by their own efforts. I’d say I’m sorry if that upsets you but I’m not. Use some of your free time to catch up on those prepubescent classes you skipped.
Then stick to your own business.
What’s a liberal care about dead kids? They would rather abort them than practice abstinence or contraception.
What gun sales w/o background checks? EVERY single firearm I have purchased from a LGS has required a background check. Explain to the class how politicians and legislation will prevent criminals from obtaining guns when they aren’t allowed to obtain them? That’s what criminals do, they break laws. So how are more laws going to stop it exactly? I’m sure stiffer sentences and firing ‘Ol Sparky back up would have a much quicker impact. Just a thought.
Not all states have background checks nor is there a national registry tracking their legality. This system is easily sidestepped and with resale of stolen guns is how criminals stay armed. We could do something to improve this situation if we wanted, and most Americans want us to. The GOP is blocking it.
Check with local law enforcement and you’ll learn that crooks often get firearms by stealing them – and its often from people who leave them unsecured in unlocked vehicles or in their homes. Until “legal” gun owners take seriously the responsibility of gun ownership this problem will persist. And until our legislature allows local governments to implement gun safety regulations people will continue to treat gun ownership in an irresponsible manner.
Do you seriously think the child was intending to commit a crime at the school, perhaps a “stick up” to steal all the money from the cafeteria? Or was he planning to carjack one of the teachers? Get real.
Both you and Jazzman are two peas in a pod. There are already gun law after gun law on the books. Its must better served to enforce the current gun laws then to keep trying to instill new ones. Florida already has a law for unsecured firearms and juveniles. Maybe you both along with your buddy Harvey should be asking why a child thought it was necessary to bring a gun to school or even carry one. Maybe parents and teachers should be teaching kids to resolve problems normally instead of going to violence as an answer.
The gun laws on the books are ineffective or we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Since there are – thankfully – no border checks when you go from one state to another, guns are easily brought from easy gun law states into hard ones and there is no national registry. The high number of guns on our streets – under the laws of supply and demand – mean that they are cheap to buy. So cheap that teenagers and young adults who can’t afford any better transportation than a bicycle don’t have a problem getting and owning a gun.
How long is it going to take you to realize criminals don’t obey the laws?
And?
Are you saying that other countries – pretty much all of them in the developed world – that don’t have our gun problems don’t have laws about gun ownership but restrict the prolem some other way?
Please explain.
Better punishments than catch and release.
Highest incarceration rates in the world! Were number 1, we’re number 1!!!
You call that “catch and release”?
You are out touch again. There are laws that control the security of firearms within the house and access to juveniles. They are enforced when applicable. The problems do not exist when law enforcement arrests convicted felons, people in possession of guns during the commission of other crimes,etc. The problem is after the fact within the judicial system following through on set punishment. How many times does a convicted felon need to go to prison for firearms possession before they put him away for good. You offered nothing to why this juvenile brought the gun into a school. If he was being bullied or just mad about simething then he was not taught how to deal with problems correctly. Both of my kids learned at a early age proper firearms safety. Both were also taught how to handle difficult situations brought on by peer pressure, etc. They did not run out and shoot anything up. They handled any problems with responsibility. They were taught at early age that there are winners and losers and life is not a level playing field for everyone.
Dude, you’re dreaming. WTF up!
The US has the highest number of guns and gun deaths in the developed world AND the highest incarceration rate. Do I need to do that math for you?
As long as criminals continue to commit crimes the problem will persist.
If you really want our local government to implement gun safety regulations on top of all the stupid regulations they impose on residents now you must be one of those gullible liberal idiots someone mentioned in another story.
See my response above. There are clear steps we could take to make it more difficult for criminals to get guns. Yes, they would not make it impossible but the harder it is the fewer will have them as their cost will rise with the fall in supply. That’s simple market rules for you business challenged Republicans.
Local government couldn’t regulate themselves out of a wet paper bag. Your buddy Harry proves that almost weekly. Local government can not circumvent State Law or Federal Law. That also includes the Constitution of the state and the United States. The Gaineville commission learned that the hard way with GRU.
Yeah, no doubt you are consistent with that argument when the feds try to dictate to Florida based on their reading of the constitution.
There is no law stating that the state shall take over the property of a city or county when they don’t like their policies. Don’t give us the economic crisis BS, since GRU at the time had the same credit rating as FPL. That’s a fact.
Nor is their a law stating that the state shall target a specific county to implement how it’s commissioners are selected, when most counties in the state have the exact same system (at large).
Why did he feel the need to bring a weapon to school in the first place? What made him feel unsafe, and what can be done about it? That’s the real matter that needs to be addressed. I see plenty of comments on social media about all the incidents at the school, but apparently nothing has been done.
I’m guessing you are a card-carrying leftist who thinks Rockwell and Co. are doing an exemplary job even though they have failed over and over at restoring order and discipline in the local schools (among their many failures). The problem lies with their poor job performance, not with parents. They don’t have the guts to expel those who need to be expelled. And they are obsessed with racial bean-counting while half the students are functionally illiterate.
the kid was traumatized by being forced to wear a face mask and social distance in school at an early age because of big lie c19..
there’s mental illness on the ACSB by one still wearing a mask.
Please Mr. Pink, be a real MAGA Man, exercise all your available freedoms.
Never ever wear a mask.
Never ever get any sort of vaccination.
Never ever wash your hands with that there sinister evil fluorinated tap water.
Always stop and French kiss every coughing homeless person you pass on the street. Lots to choose from in Gainesville.
Please, please, win a Darwin Award as soon as possible! I’m cheering for you to Be a Winner!
You are the winner today of the ” biggest idiot of the day”
The parents should be charged with a felony for this
As long as the school board and sup are held accountable for whomever was bullying this kid, then sure. It’s scary that our schools are so mismanaged with respect to behavior that a kid feels the need to bring a gun to defend himself.
If the state started charging the adults responsible for these actions maybe we will get somewhere. Adults have a duty to secure these weapons if they don’t they should be charged leaving firearms in vehicles unsecured and leaving firearms in homes unsecured for kids should result in criminal prosecution they people are given criminals and kids access to weapons
It’s telling that a child feels so unsafe that he brings a gun to school to defend himself. The parents failed to keep guns inaccessible, but there is equal blame on the district and board for not keeping this child safe from bullying
Just my .02. You can lock guns up in safes all you want. As a lawful gun owner who owns a bunch of them, I’m not locking everyone of them up. Do you think Joe Tentpeg who breaks in my house to rob me or worse is gonna let me call Timeout??