On Tuesday, April 7, Pauls Valley High School principal Kirk Moore got shot in the leg during a school shooting. His and vice-principal Chad Chronister’s actions were worthy of being called heroic. They prevented what could have turned out to be a full scale massacre.
Governor Kevin Stitt complemented Mr. Moore for his heroic actions. State Senator Jonathan Wingard, Representative Cindy Roe and Representative Tammy Townley honored Mr. Moore from the House Floor for his brave actions. He is certainly worthy of their commendations.
I would like to challenge the governor and the legislators to write and sign into law legislation to prevent something like this from ever happening again. I suggest they keep these things in mind when writing this legislation.
Do not add guns to the mix. I’ve said this for years. You do not throw gas on a fire to put it out. You snuff out the fuel source.
Several years ago I ran for State Senate and had the opportunity to speak to the president of a local, regional university.
During our conversation I asked him if he had parents ask him if their students could bring guns to school. His response was brief. If they do there will be more dead students. If a shooting incident occurs the police will kill anyone with a gun. They are not there to determine who is the good guy or who is the bad guy.
Please keep in mind that in a recent study Everytown for Gun Safety reported that school shootings have been done by males no older than twenty-one.
Mental health issues are a given.
Also, keep in mind that preventing acts of gun violence at our schools will have a cost factor.
If the State Legislature does not take action to prevent another incident like this from happening then your words of praise will be nothing more than lip service. You can rest assured that there will be more school shootings in the future if actions are not taken, but you can’t predict the outcome.
Steve Jarman, Pauls Valley