Santee Shooting and Parents’ Responsibility

Re “Turn Warnings Into Prevention,” editorial, March 6: How did I know? Your editorial on the Santee shootings is typical. Where is the mention of parents and of society in general? Schools deal with the kids that parents send them. As a teacher, I can tell you that the typical high school teacher in California sees maybe 150-plus students every day. A high school guidance counselor may be assigned more than 500. Yes, schools can help in prevention of such tragedies, but just read your own story on the chronology of [suspect Charles Andrew] Williams’ weekend--hanging in the park, alcohol abuse, theft, beatings, a 12-year-old girlfriend, etc. What were the schools supposed to do about these events? Where were the parents?

MYRA E. SOSIN

Santa Ana

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I am not defending boys who use guns easily accessible at home to shoot schoolmates. However, there is a reason for everything. Children can be very cruel, but nobody cares how much some boys, and girls, suffer at the hands of a few bullies. Schools should not stop just at teaching the three Rs. By suspending or expelling a few leaders, the atmosphere at schools could be changed dramatically, thus eliminating potential shootings.

Once more we see that a boy who may have suffered enormously and, in desperation, found a wrong way to get even will go to jail for life, while a few bullies who caused this tragedy will go unpunished. Parents who make guns accessible to their children, as well as those who bring up bullies, also play a role in these tragic events.

TAD NIZINSKI

Rancho Palos Verdes

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Perhaps the posting of the single commandment “Do Not Taunt” in every schoolroom would prove to be more effective (as well as less controversial) in preventing school violence than the posting of the Ten Commandments.

BENITO FRANQUI

Orange

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It is more than obvious that guns, particularly handguns, are too easy to get. What is the NRA going to say now? That every high school student should be armed for reasons of self-defense? If President Bush is serious about improving schools, his first priority should be ensuring that they are safe environments.

MICHAEL D. MAUER

Los Angeles

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This shooting proves that gun control does not work. California has more gun laws than any other state in the country. Senseless shootings like this can only be stopped when the innocent are allowed to fight back. Californians deserve the same right to carry personal weapons for protection as in Oregon, Washington and Nevada. One armed teacher could have stopped this tragedy.

DAVE HUNNICUTT

Mission Viejo

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It is no mystery to me why children destroy and kill. We have created a desensitized society that neither values nor teaches compassion. Listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me. BANG! Now I have your attention.

DOLORES LONG

Van Nuys