Thread: Kids these Days...

Kids These Days.

I'm not sure how many of you heard about this, but after Colombine occurred, this 'incident' that shocked, disturbed and united the British public, was pretty much forgotten.

"On Wednesday the 13th of March 1996, evil visited one of the local primary schools of Dunblane. Thomas Hamilton (43), walked in armed with an assortment of high power handguns. He made his way to the gym hall and opened fire on a class full of 4 and 5 year old children. He killed sixteen children and their teacher Mrs. Gwen Mayor (45). Then turned one of his own weapons on himself. Ten children and two adults who survived the shooting were rushed to hospital as soon as the emergency services arrived on scene. Not one person in the hall was left unwounded."

This was the reason why the government in the UK now enforces an absolute ban on all private ownership of hand guns. Proving once again that South Park is closer to the mark than many will care to admit, it was the parents of the slain children who exerted political force on the government, in order to bring this law to fruition. A gun amnesty was introduced in 1996, during which time 200,000 firearms were handed into police custody, no questions asked. At this point, the government was 'cleansing' guns from the law-abiding people of this country.

January 1st, 2003:
"Two teenagers were shot dead early this morning after a dispute at a party in Birmingham. Police said a member of the public heard a 'considerable' number of shots shortly after 4am from the hairdressing salon where the party was held. On arrival officers found a 17-year-old girl and 18-year-old woman and a third teenager with gunshot wounds outside at the back of the premises in Birchfield Road, Aston. The 17 and 18-year-old died of their wounds despite efforts by the police and paramedics to revive them while the third was taken to hospital, where her injuries are not thought to be life threatening. It later emerged that a fourth teenager at the party was admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds."
"The teenagers had stepped outside from a party in a hair salon in the Aston area of Birmingham to get some air when they were shot down in a hail of more than 30 bullets fired from at least three weapons, including a 9mm submachine gun."

April 1st, 2003:
"A nationwide firearms amnesty was launched yesterday with a plea from the mothers of two teenage girls who were killed in a shooting at a new year's party in Birmingham."

With an estimated 4 million illegal guns supposedly in circulation in the UK, it's time the people woke up and realized that these crimes would have been committed regardless of the laws of the time. Taking the handguns out of the hands of the law-abiding public leaves only the criminals with any kind of firepower. This is ONLY a positive step as long as the next step is to catch the criminals. Sadly, this was the next step:

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act
This act was passed allowing government agencies to access phone and Internet traffic data. This includes the e-mail we send, the text messages, the conversations on S-B, this very article, nothing is sacred. In normal circumstances, this would be considered semi-acceptable. However, the government can do this without a court order. The term "Government Agencies" covers a LOT of territory, even employers are allowed to monitor their staff's personal e-mail. Schools, the Post Office, it was said even supermarkets would be able to gain access to this information. All it needs is a Police Sergeant to give the "ok", and the information can be passed on.

From this we can see that whilst the criminals may be covered by this act, once again it is the public who are being punished by sweeping acts that are designed to limit our freedom. There is now very little that can realistically be done to remove guns from the hands of the UK's criminals. But with honest and clear education regarding guns, and regarding the sanctity of human life, things could change. From a young age, children are bombarded with news of death, and people are constantly being dehumanized. This is spread throughout the subjects, religious education LOVES the concept of death and the power it gives, history is packed full, and English revels in it.

Obviously I'm not saying that children shouldn't have any contact with the concept of death; that's just as dangerous. In all things there should be balance. The only education I received on guns is that people use them when they get angry, and that they kill people. Kids are told that guns are bad, and that's it. The key point that many teachers fail to understand is that kids don't just come to school to learn facts, numbers and dates, they are there to live, to learn right from wrong, it IS their second home. Socialization is one of the most important processes we go through, yet it is completely ignored by teachers. Kids aren't separated into who they do and don't get along with, they are divided by their intelligence. From the early days of 'you sit on the yellow table, you sit on the blue table' through SAT scores to GCSE streaming, actual personality holds no ground. This is truly sad, as of any people, it is the teachers who can best judge how well a child is doing, not just academically, but in relation to the rest of their peers.

This is NOT the fault of the teachers. If class sizes were cut courtesy of billions of pounds being pumped into education from the government, the teachers could better get to know their students on a more personal level, and the student would potentially feel far more comfortable discussing their problems with someone who they consider to be their friend. With the way things are at present, the academically unintelligent are grouped together and told, repeatedly, that they will fail. This combined with constantly being told that if they fail their exams they will never have a career, or even a job, and their lives will effectively be worthless, the kids aren't going to be feeling too good about themselves. So, convinced that they are indeed failures, and that they will never have a legitimate career, they look into other ways of making money. Soon enough, drugs and crime provide a steady income for the smarter ones. The less smart get caught up in it all (peer pressure's a killer), and end up going off the rails. The children become part of a self-fulfilling prophecy, and gang culture is born.

So instead of strangling the freedom right out of us, it is time that the government of this country addressed the root of almost all of society's problems, and actually listened to its youth. If Robert Thompson and Jon Venables had someone to talk to outside of themselves, you have to wonder if Jamie Bulger would have ever gone missing. If you don't know what I'm talking about, type 'Jamie Bulger' into google. I end this article as it started, in the school. All we need is some genuine care for the millions of children who form the foundation of our country in years to come.

Sources:
http://www.guardian.co.uk
http://www.truthorfiction.com
http://www.dunblane.braveheart.com
http://www.abcnews.com
http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk
http://www.gun-control-network.org
http://news.bbc.co.uk
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk
http://www.amnesty.org.uk
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk

Originally posted by roundinthebases+May 15 2003, 05:26 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (roundinthebases @ May 15 2003, 05:26 AM)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-manwiththeplan

@May 13 2003, 09:57 PM
yeah i remember the denver incident, that was baaaaad, so i sorta relate, and i was in 3rd too dilatedhank

we were all in 3rd. i was actually within 10 blocks of the school at the time. [/b]

woah. i was in 3rd grade too. I remember getting home and i watched what was happening on the TV with my babysitter and told her to turn it off after awhile because it made me feel sick to my stomach... anyways

Very well written kudos