School Shootings

The rash of school shooting of late and, in particular, the recent slaughter in Florida have everyone searching for a solution to this madness. The knee-jerk answer centers around guns and ammunition control. But this seems impractical given our American culture of guns. However, there is another common element that has been growing since 2007 along with the increase in gun and other forms of mayhem. And that is social media -- Facebook, Twitter,Yahoo chat rooms, Instagram, reddit, etc.

It would seem that if we made everyone get a license to use such social media ... and if there were a nation registry of such users and those who should be barred from using them ... and if there were a 30-day waiting period for new users to join such technologies ... and if we could ban any social media that had a scary name or appearance ... then we might begin to control this scourge of school violence.

Obviously, the above was partially tongue in cheek. But there really should be something we can do. It seems everyone was predicting that this nutjob in Florida might some day snap ... and he did. They knew this threat without even a background check. Why couldn't the authorities have taken action ahead of this slaughter ... as soon as he had threatened others? Confiscate his guns and ammunition? Closely monitor him and his social media postings? Even place him in protective custody? Maybe we should even stop sensationalizing these incidents in the national media to discourage copycats?

We are civilized. Let us find a civilized solution other than repealing the Second Amendment.