Three Houston kindergartners were injured when one brought a loaded handgun to school and it fell out of his pocket while in the lunchroom and discharged. Two boys and a girl were injured, one of the boys and the girl suffered foot wounds, and the other boy was wounded in the leg. School district police are investigating how the 6-year-old who brought the gun to school obtained the weapon and why it was brought in the first place. All parents (not involved with wounded children) were notified of the shooting with a recorded message letting them know everything would be ok.
The most current numbers say that from 2006-2007 there were approximately 2,700 students arrested nationwide for bringing a gun to school. My guess is that when we finally get the numbers for more recent years is that that number will have gone up. Schools are not as safe and bullying has become a much larger issue. It’s only a matter of time before another kid is pushed too far by bullies and there is another tradgedy. That is by no means what happened here but when a kindergartner brings a gun to school for any reason, we have cause to worry.
This brings a bright spotlight on school safety as well as gun control. Should kindergartners be forced through metal detectors everyday like some high school students are? How much do we punish the parents who failed to keep the firearm safe? You would think that if a firearm is that readily accesible to a 6-year-old that the home would be deemed unsafe but is that really what needs to happen to that family?
How do you feel about this?
