The troubled teen who opened fire on teachers and classmates at a Cleveland high school Wednesday reportedly issued many threats of violence that should have set off alarm bells.
Asa H. Coon shot and wounded four people at the school before killing himself.
“He’s crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody,” said one student. “We didn’t think nothing of it.”
Why not? Several students said they had tried to warn the principal but that she was “too busy.”
How many more school shootings will have to happen before people take such threats seriously? There should be zero tolerance in schools for any expression of violent revenge fantasies, just as there is zero tolerance in airports for any mention of bombs.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in.Contact us
Follow us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- JimJohnson on Open thread 11/22
- Pleefer on Open thread 11/22
- JimJohnson on Open thread 11/22
- JimJohnson on Open thread 11/22
- American_Way on Open thread 11/22
- American_Way on Open thread 11/22
- Phantom on Pro-con on Obama’s China visit
- cosmos_originally on Open thread 11/22
- cosmos_originally on Open thread 11/22
- JimJohnson on Open thread 11/22
24 Comments
Remember, folks, guns are good. Guns aren’t the problem. Wacko students are the problem.
He could have killed all those kids with a dull fork . . . sure, you betcha . . .
So much for the public education system that has millions of dollars to address situations for young people like him.
Unfortunatly they do not spend the money or the time where it belongs.
The liberals village is not working.
CapnAmerica,
Before 1970 kids were allowed to shoot in school ranges and many had guns.
Why were there not this many school shootings before 1970 since you think guns are the problem?
This whole “Goth” thing is creepy, why do schools allow it? They worship death, they look like the devil himself, and they hate society. Yet, under the guise of “freedom of expression” it is allowed! This sub-culture calls for an investigation.
Goths are not violent.
Football is more violent actually.
Nathan–
You NRA types tell us that you can keep guns out of the hands of nutcases and criminals.
Yeah, so how’s that working out for you?
“You NRA types tell us that you can keep guns out of the hands of nutcases and criminals.”You have that wrong! The word is can’t! The criminals have access to guns that the law-abiding do not! Gun controls only affect those who obey the law. Let the law-abiding, properly checked, have access to, and carry guns. They are not the problem. And sometimes, they might be the solution to these idiots! Remember that a sign that says “gun free zone” means “come on in and do your thing here, nobody will stop you!”
CapnAmerica,
Where have I or the NRA ever made such a claim?
What we say is that the gun control laws your types try to pass wont stop the nutcases and criminals from getting guns.
Nice straw man argument from you as usual.
The problem is that the “signs” are in probably a million teenagers. There are many unhappy and/or weird teens out there. I was one myself so I know. I was so miserable that I could have cared less about living or anything else. And I was into drugs. That does not mean that I was gonna bring a gun to school and kill my classmates. My daughter has some gothic people in her school. They dress in black and look like they are in halloween costumes all year. And they probably think Marilyn Manson is God (back in the 70s some kids worshipped Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne). That also does not mean they are going to kill their classmates. So while there might be “signs” all signs do not point to the same place.
“”"This whole “Goth” thing is creepy, why do schools allow it? They worship death, they look like the devil himself, and they hate society. Yet, under the guise of “freedom of expression” it is allowed! This sub-culture calls for an investigation.”"”"
It is freedom of expression. Back in the 60s people said the same thing about long hair. In the USA you have the right to worship Marilyn Manson and his brother Charles Manson. YOu have the right to worship Satan too.
Nathan, remember Capn is really a communist. He is in the process of changing his name to comrade. Leave the 2nd amendment alone comrade.
We rasie kids in a culture of violence..more graphic and extreme than we ever grew up with, and then we act all shocked when these things happen. You can’t feed kids garbage all their lives and then expect them to act civil.Kids are just the mirror to our society and culture, if we want it to change, that’s where we need to start.
NORRISTOWN, Pa. – The mother of a 14-year-old who authorities say had a cache of guns, knives and explosive devices in his bedroom for a possible school attack was charged Friday with buying her son three weapons.
ADVERTISEMENTMichele Cossey bought her home-schooled son a .22-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle and a 9 mm semiautomatic rifle, authorities said. The teenager felt bullied and tried to recruit another boy for the possible attack at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, authorities said.
Acting on a tip from a high school student and his father, police on Wednesday found the rifle, about 30 air-powered guns, swords, knives, a bomb-making book, videos of the 1999 Columbine attack in Colorado and violence-filled notebooks in the boy’s bedroom, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said.
Cossey, 46, of Plymouth Meeting, bought the rifle, which had a laser scope, at a gun show on Sept. 23 and provided police with a receipt, investigators said in court papers. The teenager said the two .22-caliber weapons were stored at a friend’s house.
The teen was ordered Friday to remain in juvenile detention.
His mother was charged with unlawful transfer of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a minor, corruption of a minor, endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of reckless endangerment.
Castor has said he does not believe and attack was imminent or would occur at all. He said Friday that the teen had a “disturbed mind.”
“This was a smart kid that clearly believes he was picked on and was a victim,” Castor said. “He had psychological issues and began to act out on those feelings.”
Police, who searched home with the permission of the teen’s parents, also discovered seven explosive devices Castor has described as homemade grenades: plastic containers filled with pellets to which gunpowder could be added. Authorities said one grenade was operable and the others had been in the process of being assembled.
The search did not turn up any ammunition for the most dangerous firearm in the bunch, the assault rifle.
The teen previously attended middle school in the district but had been taught at home for more than a year after voluntarily leaving school, Castor said.
The arrest came the same day a 14-year-old in Ohio opened fire at his Cleveland high school, wounding four before killing himself.
Goth kids or “emo” kids are really good kids a lot of the time. Stop being so judgemental Harold.
I agree 100% Mary Caruso. I am a grandmother of one, mother of two and was born in 1953.
What I see as a difference between my childhood and the current average American kid is the home life.
My parents worked hard, my mother was a stay-at-home mom and my dad worked at a job that paid a livable wage and had health care insurance. They raised 3 kids and we were comfortable, by no means rich, but we were content.
Today’s families are likely to be on their 2nd or 3rd marriages, blended families, both parents working to keep up with the bills.
But what I see is different today is the attitude of people and the fact very few people know how to be content with what they have.
I see a consumerism attitude that they want what they want and they want it now. No one is willing to work, save their money and then buy something they want. They just go out and charge it and then half the time the damn thing breaks because the crappy product came from some foreign country that does not care because they know the stupid Americans will just buy another one to replace the broken one.
This consumerism attitude is then encouraged by George W. Bush after 9/11 when he told everyone to just go shopping.
Money is not everything. Tthat brand new SUV, or brand new house with a 4-car garage is not everything.
We need to get back to being a country that gives a damn about its people and its families. And I’m not trying to say that the 50’s family is the ideal family. Families come in all shapes, sizes and colors. I’ve seen single parent families that have their priorities straight. And I’ve seen 2-parent families who are only interested in how much money they make, what kind of SUV they want and they are always trading up their houses to get that bigger house.
I’ve seen this downhill trend in families at the same time I’ve seen these multi-million dollar churches turn into big businesses. I wonder what the correlation to that might be?
This whole “Goth” thing is creepy, why do schools allow it? They worship death, they look like the devil himself, and they hate society. Yet, under the guise of “freedom of expression” it is allowed! This sub-culture calls for an investigation.
Posted by: Harold
Please don’t stereotype a sub-culture you don’t understand solely based on your interpretation of their looks. FYI, it makes you look very stupid.
We rasie kids in a culture of violence..more graphic and extreme than we ever grew up with, and then we act all shocked when these things happen. You can’t feed kids garbage all their lives and then expect them to act civil.Kids are just the mirror to our society and culture, if we want it to change, that’s where we need to start.
Posted by: Mary Caruso
Well, where do these kids get the guns they use in these shootings? Most of the time they steal them from their parents, who don’t keep them properly locked up. True, guns don’t kill people, people kill people. But with anything comes the responsibilities of ownership… and in this case, proper parenting.
Maybe when these things happen, parents should be charged with neglect.When my 11 yr old nephew was shot and killed by a young friend who took his grandfather’s gun out of an unlocked gun case, nothing happened to the grandfather. I think at the very least he should have been charged with neglect and child endangerment.Look at all the violent images we subject our kids to today, everything from TV to video games. Parents aren’t taking responsibility for teaching values and the difference between right and wrong. I’m shocked by some of the movies even my friends allow their young kids to watch. Many of them even put TVs in their kids rooms. Parents today often don’t seem to have a clue..and they’re too worried about giving their kid every material thing they want and trying to be their best friend. Parents need to be parents, and if your kids hate you for it, then you’re probably doing a good job.
Punish people for having guns?
Are you kidding me, Mary?
The NRA types will scream like little girls that gov’t is trying to “take away our guns.”
Even common-sense reforms can’t be passed with the fanatics pitching a hissy fit . . .
I’m not talking about punishing people for having guns…I’m talking about punishing people for being irresponsible with guns.Any adult with young kids in his/her house should be expected to keep their guns locked up.Why do the gun fanatics refuse to accept any responsiblity or even the slightest controls on guns? You’d think it was some f**king religion the way they’re willing to fight to the death to have no restrictions on firearms at all.
CapnAmerica,
The problem is that the reforms you gun grabbers want to pass are not common sense.
“”"Why do the gun fanatics refuse to accept any responsiblity or even the slightest controls on guns? You’d think it was some f**king religion the way they’re willing to fight to the death to have no restrictions on firearms at all.”"”"
Actually most of us- (I am an NRA member) would probably be willing to accept some restrictions. We already do when it comes to fully automatic weapons and sales to minors or ex felons. The problem is that the other side has the ultimate goal of taking away ALL of the people’s guns and their RIGHT to have a gun. They use these small restrictions as a way to tighten the ultimate noose on the right to have arms. If we did not oppose them and they got their way on the small stuff, they would say “oh that was easy, now let’s go for something bigger”. It is like a war- if I knew for sure that the enemy was only going to establish a beach head and stop there, I probably would not waste men and money fighting him. But we all know that once the enemy establishes a beach head, he starts marching towards the capital. Although gun rights is considered a “conservative” issue, I am very much a liberal on most things. But being a liberal does not mean I am a passivist. I intend to do the best I can to live to see another day and if that means I need a gun, so be it. The anti abortion religious nutcases work the same way. I can accept some restrictions on abortion. I do not believe in late abortions like Dr Tiller does. I also believe that, before a doctor touches my daughter, I should be notified if not required to give my consent. But the reason that ANY restrictions have to be fought is because, once the anti abortion people get a small victory, they are gonna keep marching for their ultimate prize which is the banning of all abortions and all birth control for that matter.
Just a few months ago right here in Atlanta we had a case of a woman being stalked and threatened by an ex boyfriend. She moved, hid and got court orders. He showed up on her job in Riverdale and began chase her around the parking lot intent on harming her. Thank God Georgia has decent gun laws and one of her co-workers had a gun in the car. She is still alive and he is not. In many places she would have been dead because they don’t have gun rights.
Nathan thinks making people accountable and responsible for their guns is not common sense?
It’s pretty simple. If you own a gun, then whatever happens with that gun is your responsibility.
If the gun is stolen, then report it as being stolen BEFORE something tragic happens. If your kid takes your gun, then it is your responsibility to be held accountable for whatever your kid does with that gun.
What is so hard to understand nathan?