School shootings pose terrible dilemma

Killers in the schools. Boys who have been treated as outcasts walk into the lunch room or library with guns and bombs and start killing classmates. Horror descends like a fog over the community.

An old friend, a teacher but not from the Sisters schools, called over the weekend to suggest we warn our readers that it could happen here.

Of course it could. Sisters is no different than Thurston or Littleton or any other town that thought murder of children by children is a problem that only occurs in other towns, in other states.

In fact, it could be said that Sisters has nearly the perfect "profile" for this type of tragedy.

We have students here in the middle and high schools who are alone, lonely, angry, hateful, prone to fantasy and violence. Some have been identified. Others have not.

Are we clever enough to work with the likely perpetrators, and deal with them individually? Or will we limit everyone's liberty in the attempt to contain the violence of the few pathologically disconnected?

It is easy to blame the music, black trench coats, or the new favorite culprit, the Internet (it used to be TV, before that, the movies, before that, Shakespeare). Maybe these are factors, but too many youngsters are exposed to these influences yet do not pick up weapons and kill others.

Do we outlaw the wearing of black dusters or trench coats to school? Do we institute school uniforms to minimize ostracism based on appearance? Do we force families of potential perpetrators (guilty before the crime is committed?) to undergo counseling or therapy? Can we find a place for everyone, so no one feels angry at being excluded?

Do we expel a student who is rumored to have threatened another? Does that prevent him from returning to the campus armed, even angrier, and with less to lose?

Perhaps early identification of likely murderers is possible. That is a necessary first step. But the fact is, from there the actions we can take in a free society are not very likely to be effective. The actions likely to be effective are not very acceptable. It is an awful dilemma.

ED