One deranged evil person bears the blame for what happened in Uvalde, Texas.
Nonetheless, the magnitude of the terrible loss was a compounded tragedy of errors. Unfortunately, this is not unique regarding school shootings in terms of missed warning signs and abysmal personal failures on the part of adults and society in general.
Regarding Uvalde, consider the following allegations.
Dozens of people on social media witnessed concerning behavior on the part of the shooter, including four people who literally characterized him as a “school shooter” back in February. And the incident commander decided to not storm the classroom, meaning cops waited outside in the hall for an eternity as children inside repeatedly called 9-1-1.
These are just a couple of the practical failures that the grieving families and those responsible for the failures will have to live with for the rest of their lives.
In the larger scheme of things, I continue to be appalled, but not surprised, that U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and his fellow progressives continue to push some form of gun control as a solution to this dilemma. Rep. Carbajal cites California as a model state in that regard. Yet, as ABC 7 News in Los Angeles reported, the two states in the nation with the most mass shootings since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, are California and Illinois — which by the way, are two of the states with the strictest gun control laws! Moreover, the vast majority of these school shooters had no criminal record that would have prevented them from buying arms by way of mandatory background checks.
What is even more appalling? Where are all the people who demanded that all “campus resource officers” be removed from school campuses claiming these cops “intimidated” students of color? Add to that the absurdly meaningless value of “gun free zone” signage on school campuses across America.
What would have happened if the Uvalde school resource officer had been on campus that hour when tragedy struck instead of being “minutes away”?
That brings up the proverbial problem. Cops are always minutes away when every second matters. Moreover, we have created an atmosphere of intimidation and second-guessing, replete with prosecution when it comes to allowing cops to make split-second life-and-death decisions. In this case, if the cops had burst through the door, there is no guarantee that they themselves would not have been wounded or killed, or that a child could have been caught in the crossfire. What to do?
Honestly, we are herein discussing peripherals. The tantamount question is, why does our society and culture keep producing deranged, wicked and evil people, usually single young males, who prey on innocent lives? I will share my opinions.
First, we have become so secularized as a society that the spiritual life in America has become anemic. That is, there is a hole in the soul of this country, something politicians can’t heal. Our only hope is to return to God. For truly, what we are dealing with here is a cancer on our soul.
The second reason is related to the first. Young men in America have been emasculated by our culture, abandoned by manly role models and mentors including their biological fathers, and conditioned to violence by the media, rap music and gaming.
Third, our justice system is toothless and ineffective.
Fourth? Making everything worse?
Wokeness!
For example, the California Senate , two days after Uvalde, voted to end a requirement that students who threaten violence against school officials be reported to authorities.
Finally, the sheer utter violence of Uvalde, Columbine and countless other places happens every single week in our inner cities to the shock and concern of no one. Silence like a cancer grows.
Andy Caldwell is the COLAB executive director and host of “The Andy Caldwell Show,” airing 3 to 5 p.m. weekdays on KZSB AM 1290, the News-Press radio station.
