A School Shooting in Winder, GA: For America, Shock is the Ship that has Sailed

 Here is how cold and cynical Americans and its media have become. Yesterday, in Winder, GA a 14 year old kid got his hands on an assault style weapon then used it to kill two fellow students and two teachers in his high school. He wounded eight other students and an additional teacher. Today, this horror show is already being lost as the networks scramble to cover the never ending trials of Donald Trump and the Presidential campaign in general. It would seem in a nation so used to body counts in the dozens, four violent and senseless deaths barely make a ripple any longer.

Indeed, while we are saddened by the news out of Winder, we are no longer shocked. These days, for the public and the media, when it comes to school shootings, shock is the proverbial ship that has sailed. 

Details are emerging and as always they have created more questions than answers. According to early reports the shooter, identified as Colt Gray, was on the cop's radar as long as a year ago. Police had received tips last year he was behind a series of anonymous social media posts that threatened to commit mayhem at Apalachee High School in Winder. He and his father were questioned at the time, but young Mr. Gray was still lucid enough to deny he was the one who made them. His father reportedly owned a, "hunting rifle," but assured authorities his son did not have unsupervised access to it. The threats stopped and police dropped their investigation. 

Then we have the all too familiar description of the shooter. He was a loner who rarely talked to fellow students. When he walked out during his algebra class yesterday it was apparently such a common occurrence no one, including the teacher blinked an eye. When he returned he as carrying the murder weapon, but the door had self locked after he left and he couldn't get back in. He knocked on the door, but when a student got up to open it she looked through the window and saw he had the rifle and refused to let him in.

Others shooter protocols didn't work as well. News reports are saying the high school had received calls before classes began stating there would be a mass shooting there that day. Given what went down it is probably safe to say the administration at Apalachee High didn't take the warnings seriously. There isn't even any evidence the on campus cops knew about them. Classes began normally without any sort of noticeable security precautions 

Then there are the question about the weapon itself. Number one, where did Colt Gray stash it that morning when he got to school and how did he get it in without anyone noticing? He didn't have it on him when algebra class started, but it was close enough that he was able to return there in a scant few minutes with it in hand. And, finally, where the fuck did a 14 year old get an assault rifle in the first place? Did his father have it last year unbeknownst to police? Did dear old Dad buy it after police questioned his son's mental stability?? Or, did the crazy little shit simply steal it from someplace? Taking one on the sly probably wouldn't be hard to do. AR style weapons are more common than mangos in produce departments and let's face it, in America they are in season all year long.

Yes, person, or persons who at this time are unknown screwed the pooch yesterday in Winder, GA. By the time the investigation is over a career, or two, or three will have gone down the drain. Tragically that won't solve the problem of school shootings though. Neither will mass shooting drills--which apparently proved effective yesterday, students and teachers knew immediately how to react when the shooting began.

No, even though there were breakdowns yesterday, for the most part the security measures in place worked and saved lives. What those measures didn't and couldn't do is stop Colt Gray from arming himself with a weapon of war, then using it for his own twisted reasons. And they will never stop the other people who are out there right now with brains that are, as Morrison once sang, "squiring' like a toad." 

At least not so long as AR style weapons are available in this country--and certainly not so long as a powerful minority of fearful paranoids believe their right to own and use what amounts to machine guns is more important than, in this latest instance, the rights of four innocent people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

9-5-24