commentaries

How many schools are there in the USA? How much gun violence has occurred in these gun free zones? The over reaction to these unbelievably rare events is frightening. The sky is not falling!

Totally agree. We think these things happen more often than they do because we get news so quickly these days. It's the same with abductions. We think they happen more frequently than ever, but actually the amount of abductions today are less than they were 30 years ago. But since every one that happens is plastered on every news website there is, we think they happen more frequently. I live in Minneapolis and let my kids play outside by themselves like I did when I was a kid. Maybe some think that's careless. But I think it's overprotective to have to keep an eye on them every second, and to freak out about sending them to public school when there's a shooting every once in awhile.

And teachers and students will continue to sit in fear is everybody continues to dwell on the topic. So lets move on with our lives and actually lead a normal life instead of a life of constant fear.

We, as a society, didn't used to be so quick to be afraid. There is risk in everyday life. Not all of it can be eliminated. It's better to live with less than 100% security than to live in a fearful society that scares our kids, reduces our freedom, threatens our civil liberties, and feels like a totalitarian society.

What would a certain political ideology, the general media or many politicians do without reminding the masses; 1 - You are a victim. 2 - You are at risk. 3 - You are caught up in the system. 4 - I [politicians] will fix your problem for you. Then think of these hurdles; the Civil War, Slavery or Genocide on Native Americans and of course the Great Depression. Then you tell me about how dangerous society is today.

People have lost sight of the fact that certain incidents, however else tragic, are statistically-irrelevant. With the plethora of "so-and-so's laws" and other emotional knee-jerk demands to "DO SOMETHING" "if it save just ONE child," we are legislating ourselves into a padded cell ... and guess who has the key? We have become so risk-adverse that we are now fairly pleading to be incarcerated in 'protective custody.'

Very good point. I remember when I was a kid in school during the Cold War and they had us practice drills where we would hide under our desks in case of a nuclear attack. We had seen the pictures and video on TV of Hiroshima and the aftermath. We weren't mature enough at the time to understand the absolute joke it was to be hiding under a desk in case of such calamity. But I do remember we were frightened during this period of time, and every time we had to do one of those stupid drills (and there were many in the early-mid 60s') we were that much more frightened. And for what? To make our parents and the public feel that we would be safe if a nuclear attack occurred nearby??? A child's life is too short to have them learning a defensive attitude so early in life - they'll have plenty of opportunity as adults.

I'm so encouraged by these comments. If you are likeminded, check out freerangekids.com. It offers much needed balance to the media's "YOUR KIDS ARE IN DANGER" message.

Absolutely amazing....lthese comments....'unbelieveably rare events' and 'fear'....I guess its the liberals who live in fear now. The only reason any of you people are saying such things is because YOU fear that you might lose a personal possession that you dont even need, (which in fact is incorrect, because if you dont own a 100 rd magazine or assault rifle you wont lose anything). On top of that, a very high, high percentage of you, who are underdeveloped, live in areas where there is absolutely no crime, or should we say 'unbelievably rare'? Yet are OUTRAGED because you incorrectly think believe your guns will be taken away, thus you cant protect your families from the constant crime that goes on around in your town of 4,500 Norwegians. So who's living in fear again? You xenophobes, thats who. You Republicans. Not us. My lord, I know I was still seeing terror alerts on Fox news even 3 years ago. You people are amazing..

A group of children survived the Newtown shooting by running past the shooter, which they were previously instructed to do during an emergency situation. Using the deeply flawed logic that children should not even be thinking about their security, those brave children who ran past the Newtown shooter would have most likely been murdered. The view about not wanting children educated in procedures about what to do in during an active shooter situation is extremely disturbing and would be similar to never telling your child to not talk to strangers and what to do during an abduction attempt just so they can live under the illusion of "feeling safe." The fact is that a hidden emergency button is not going to stop a shooter; only a trained armed security guard or police officer has the best chance to stop or at least slow down an active shooter until additional police arrive which may be 20 minutes away like in the case of the Newtown shooting. One-third of schools in the U.S. already utilize armed police which do not "terrify kids," but make children feel safer. The views of this article do not reflect the majority of American's who want more police in schools no matter the cost, even if school shootings are somewhat rare. Suicidal maniacs looking for easy targets and maximum carnage will begin to avoid schools once they know they are 100% protected by trained armed security or police.