Texas School Shooting: Readers Share Thoughts And Fears

HOUSTON, TX — Is there a remedy to the school shootings that seem to happen so often?

While there may be no way of knowing for certain, there’s no doubt that there are opinions to prevention and readiness to help minimize the loss of life.

In the days that followed the shooting at Santa Fe High School, Patch readers chimed in to share their thoughts.

Some readers called for the creation of safe rooms with distinctive alarms faced with bullet proof glass where students could hide, should an active shooter situation arise.

Other’s, however called for more preventive measures, such as identifying those students who are bullied, or have a fascination with guns or weapons.

“...there's always some kid who knows what another kid talks about or writes about,” Sue Pearson wrote.

Other readers said the media should stop publicly identifying these mass shooting suspects who may be motivated by the attention.

“We should stop making celebrities out of the shooter; no pictures, no biography. The media should just refer to them as “the shooter.” I think that part of the motivation for these shootings is that they know they will become famous,” Dennis Butler wrote.

Other readers agreed with the popular assertion of “hardening the target,” or making school’s a tougher to access for anyone would be an effective deterrent.

Some followed the suggestion of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who indicated access to schools should be limited.

“I’m sure there are military veterans who would volunteer to provide armed security at any of these schools,” Willie Lopez wrote.

Others, however like the notion of allowing teachers who already have a conceal carry permit to bring their weapons to the campus.

Only one reader said he’d just prefer that guns as a whole were banned, while another who supported Gov. Greg Abbott’s call for a round table discussion, didn’t like the idea of arming teachers.

“That should not be a solution,” Mike Cameron said in an email.

However, others are just scared.

Lydia Willis, a Midland area music teacher with ties to the Houston area, said this latest shooting has her rattled.

"I'm in a portable classroom building. Those weapons would shoot right through my building," she said. "I've moved my piano so that it might protect us while I evacuate my kids to a safer place. Also, plan to move my giant storage shelves in front of the window, so that a predator will have to knock it over and crawl over it. It's sad that I'm thinking of these situations."

Have a comment about anything, or a story idea? Send an email to bryan.kirk@patch.com

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