Will debates work if there is no action?
16-year-old school shooting survivor, Lyliah Skinner, asked a question about gun access to teens: “As our legislators and leaders, they shouldn’t be offering prayers and words, because those mean nothing. We need action, because action is going to change what’s happening. I would ask them if kids aren’t even allowed to purchase alcohol, then how are we allowed to buy guns at the age of 18 or 19?”
We can debate all we want about gun control, but there’s an underlying problem that we need to work on along with fighting our gun laws.
Some horrifying statistics before we continue: There has been a school shooting every 60 hours this year. This is our 18th shooting already and we’re not even half way through February.
How to identify children with a propensity to violence:
Research shows warning signs occur in more than 80% of violent incidents. If your child or any child you know exhibits any of these tendencies with increasing violence, its time to act. Remind yourself and others in your life that if they “See something, Say something.”
Little children:
- Engages in bullying in school
- Doesn’t back away from confrontation
- Is unusually detached and lacks emotions
- Aggressive and non compliant towards adults
- Can kill bugs and little animals easily
Teenagers:
- Plays violent video games for long hours
- Has been a victim of bullying
- Is perceived as a loner
- Quickly becomes enraged, exhibits mood swings
- Doodles violent images and writes violent essays
- Incites violence to control others
- Demonstrates intolerance for others different than him or her
- Has different behaviors when on and off medications
- Abuses alcohol or drugs
- Talks about committing violent acts
- Has hateful and violent messages on social media profiles
- Has a background of parental neglect and abuse
- Has poor academic performance
- Disrespects authority and others’ property
Major Take Away:
Not every violent child will end up being a school shooter. But every broken child will bring about a destruction that’s far greater than anyone of us fathom.
Further Reading:
Evan, The Sandy Hook Promise:
Here’s a video that the parents of the Sandy Hook massacre have created to bring awareness to know the warning signs of violence before it hits hard:
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