Northern Illinois University Shooting

I thought I would comment on the recent school shooting at Northern Illinois University on Valentine's Day even though it doesn't fully relate to my beat of school clubs.

I read a couple different articles first from a few different sites. The first thing I thought of was what other countries around the world would think of us. I've never heard of school shootings in other countries, only America. Wasn't it only ten months ago that America witnessed the worst school shooting ever at Virginia Tech? Did we learn from that?

After doing some research, it appears the gunman, Steven Kazmierczak, was an outgoing student who didn't appear to have social problems. Yet, he had recently stopped taking his medication, the type still unknown, and had become erratic in the last couple weeks according to ABC News.

Around 3 p.m. Kazmierczak entered Cole Hall and opened fire on the lecture hall. Approximately 22 people were shot and six died including Kazmierczak. Investigators still can find no motive.

Since the Virginia Tech shootings there have been five school shootings including Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois. The others took place at Delaware State University, a Cleveland high school, and at Louisiana Technical College, but all were not as deadly as Northern Illinois or nearly as deadly as Virginia Tech. Still, school should be a place for education where everyone can feel safe and secure, not where students of have to worry when another student could bring a weapon to school. Some students might not like going to school, but they should at least be able to count on being in a safe environment.

Many think the violence stems from the current video games of today. Violent video games could lead to bullying or the worst, weapon use. And now to relate this to school clubs. To prevent this violence schools have formed anti-bullying clubs such as the one at Wall High School, the Anti-Bullying Task Force. If clubs like these can help stop bullying, they will also help reduce violence and hopefully prevent a future shooting.