OPINION:
Students at St. Cornelius middle school in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, were handed out “ballistic shields” to place in their backpacks as part of their graduation ceremony to high school.
Bulletproof backpacks for graduation gifts. Way to spike the hysteria, guys.
Why not go the full monty and hand out the Kevlar and body armor? After all, safety first — if it can save just one child, it’s well worth it. Right? Seriously, it’s one thing if parents buy this for their kids. But a widespread distribution at a school ceremony? Seems a bit much — a bit hysterical.
“I never thought I’d need this,” one student said to Fox 29.
And students wouldn’t — if only adults would address the real roots of violent crime and shootings, instead of going after the inanimate objects and the Second Amendment.
After all, school shootings aren’t due to guns. They’re due to the mental instability and/or godlessness of the shooter. And that’s due to the failure of parents to raise their kids in healthy homes that aren’t broken; in safe homes that are guided by the word of God; and with solid starts in life that don’t lead down a path of reliance on Ritalin or some other stimulant or drug with oft-devastating side effects that include, get this, depression and thoughts of violence.
Or, barring that — a serious dose of armed security and teachers in schools could go far toward bringing forth a safe learning environment for students.
But metal plates to stick in their backpacks?
Once again, that’s just whacking at a mole. So-called bulletproof backpacks may make the administrators feel as if they’re doing something to secure their charges. But all it’s really doing is creating an image of safety — a fake image that has nothing to do with the realities or roots of violence.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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