(op-ed)
The Florida Shooting occurred on February 14th, 2018 at the Stoneman Douglas High School. Disastrous events like these are continuously occurring.
At Malden High School, after school on Thursday, March 1, 2018, a safety forum took place, in reaction to the Parkland, Florida. Involved, were Congresswoman Katherine Clark, Malden Mayor Gary Christenson, Superintendent John Oteri, and Interim Principal Chris Mastrangelo.
They spoke about safety concerns after the shooting in Florida. The purpose was to hear if people had any questions or concerns regarding students’ safety. There was a question that arose about what people’s thoughts were on having teachers armed in school. Every student and teacher who came up to the microphone agreed that it would be a bad idea.
The president of the Educators Union in Malden, Deb Gesualdo, said that “the answer to prevent this situation, in [her] opinion and the opinions of parents and educators and the opinions of students, is to make sure that [our] schools have funded appropriately so that [our] students can have access to more adjustment counselors, more guidance counselors, more school psychologists etc. All the things that [our] students need to set them up for success. More guns will not set them up for success. It will not keep them safe.” Gesualdo “strongly opposed to arming teachers. The day that it is mandated that teachers are armed, is the day [she] walks out of this school.”
It is said that the shooter has many disorders and conditions which include anger issues, depression and others. He was supposedly examined back in 2016 by a mental health agency after sending out a snapchat video of him cutting his arms and saying he wanted to buy a gun. However, he was not hospitalized. (NBC News)
In my honest opinion, whether he has a mental illness or not, it is not okay for anyone to use it as an excuse for doing what he did although the problem may also be that people with mental illnesses are being viewed with the intention that they’re all going to do bad things, but that isn’t the case at all.
Nikolas Cruz is said to have depression and anger issues both of which are serious conditions that should have been treated immediately. I can’t imagine the pain he must have gone through in the past with the deaths of his parents but he could have gotten help. He is old enough to make his own decisions and he is old enough to know what he wants to do with his life.
I believe this whole thing could have been prevented if he got the right kind of help. Students who attended the same school as him saw the things he’d post on social media, but never thought to tell anyone. I am not putting the blame on anyone but I do believe that there were solutions that would have prevented the shooting from happening.
All that can be done now is to spend several years in jail and may receive the help her needs. With this being said, if you see or hear anything that you think may be a threat to your school, please report it to an adult immediately.
To read more on what happened in Florida click the links to the right. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
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