Need response to shootings

Not just as a parent of a high school student, but as a concerned citizen, I share in the frustration of seeing more fatal school shootings occurring in our nation. We were all appalled to see the devastation that resulted from the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but now similar incidents are happening closer to home.

Not only has such violence erupted at UC Santa Barbara, Seattle Pacific University and Reynolds High School in Oregon, but I shuddered to hear just this week about a Spokane student at Lewis and Clark High School who made threats to harm or kill students, faculty and himself. Although we are thankful that the police were notified beforehand and the student arrested, I wonder what it will take to stop future school violence.

The complex issue won’t be resolved with just gun control measures or improving mental health interventions alone. But how bad must things get before any changes are initiated? Must we stand by feeling helpless as a nation while more precious lives are so randomly killed?

Liz Kawakami

Spokane