Learn, Lead, Serve, Blog

A blog by Dr. Brian Bullis. Committed to students through lifelong learning, leading, and serving.

Stop the Shootings – I Don’t Want Us To Be Next

I am a public school principal, a father, and the husband of a school teacher.  I don’t want my students to be next.  I don’t want my children to be next.  I don’t want my teachers to be next.  I don’t want my wife to be next.  I don’t want to be next.  I don’t want you to be next.

As we are nearly a week removed from another horrific school shooting my wife had the idea of hosting a postcard writing party at our home to generate messages to send to our elected officials.  As we prepared for this event it provided an important opportunity for me to pause and collect my own thoughts as a principal, father, and spouse.  

As a defense mechanism, we often become numb to the atrocities of Parkland, Las Vegas, Sandy Hook, etc..  Numbness begets complacency, complacency begets inaction, inaction begets history repeating itself again and again.  It is time to break this cycle.

 

I am not anti-gun.  I am a history major and I understand the intent of the Second Amendment which states “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”  I know from my many school law classes that “shall” means “must” and that word carries significant weight while leaving little to interpretation.

I also know that our twenty-seven Amendments to the Constitution acknowledge that our country progresses over time and corrects its course as We the People evolve and our nation grows.  We have used these Amendments to abolish slavery (13th), to provide women the right to vote (19th), and to put term limits on our presidents (22nd).  Amendments have also come and gone, such as prohibition which was introduced with the Eighteenth Amendment and was soon after expunged with the Twenty-First Amendment.  We have the capacity and precedent to change.

Our Second Amendment was established in a time when our weaponry was in its relative infancy (as a point of reference is this video enactment of an office shooting using a weapon from when the Second Amendment was written).  I will make the bold assertion that our founding fathers could not have envisioned the level of destruction these arms could create today, paired with the mental health crises that we now face.  They were visionaries, but they were not time travelers.  

I am not naive and I understand that measures to further define and limit our rights under the Second Amendment will not eliminate violence and shootings in our schools or violence and shootings across our nation.  In my time as a teacher and school administrator I have searched lockers for guns with reasonable suspicion (thankfully never found one), I have pulled knives off of students at school, I have endured student suicide at the hand of a gun, and I have had a former student found guilty of murder.  However, a ban on assault rifles, an increased rigor for gun ownership, and a greater focus on mental health would be gargantuan steps in the right direction and could serve to reduce the casualties associated with these actions.  

It is not a question of gun control or mental health or thoughts and prayers.  It is a three-pronged approach in which the advancement of the first two will diminish the need for the third.  

We cannot continue to sit back and watch the carnage continue.  Reach out to your elected officials or find another way to act.  I don’t want my students to be next.  I don’t want my children to be next.  I don’t want my teachers to be next.  I don’t want my wife to be next.  I don’t want to be next.  I don’t want you to be next.

 

What do my postcards say?  

Our world has nearly 200 constitutions.  Only three include a right to bear arms (Mexico, Guatemala, and U.S.).  Only the U.S. does not have restrictive conditions on this right.

Ban assault rifles.  Increase rigor for gun ownership.  Promote mental health.

 

To get a gun in Japan:

Attend all-day class, pass written test, pass shooting range class, pass mental and drug test, file test with police, pass rigorous background check, own shotgun.  Provide police with location of gun and ammo at home which must be locked and stored separately.  Police inspect gun once per year.  Retake class and exam every three years.  

Japan had 6 gun deaths in 2014, the U.S. had 33,599.

Ban assault rifles.  Increase rigor for gun ownership.  Promote mental health.

 

Why is the right to own an AR-15 more important than our students’ right to feel safe and be safe?  

Ban assault rifles.  Increase rigor for gun ownership.  Promote mental health.

 

The Constitution is a living document that has been amended 27 times in our history.  

An amendment to the right to bear arms must be number 28.

Ban assault rifles.  Increase rigor for gun ownership.  Promote mental health.

 

The right to keep and bear arms was predicated on the intent of using them for self-defense.  Assault rifles carry the name ‘assault’ which is a physical attack, not self-defense.

Ban assault rifles.  Increase rigor for gun ownership.  Promote mental health.

 

5 Things That Are More Complicated Than Buying a Gun in Florida:

  1. Cold medicine
  2. Marriage license
  3. Fertilizer
  4. Anti-diarrhea medication
  5. Medical marijuana

How is this ok?  

Ban assault rifles.  Increase rigor for gun ownership.  Promote mental health.

 

I am a public school principal, a father, and the husband of a school teacher.  I don’t want my students to be next.  I don’t want my children to be next.  I don’t want my teachers to be next.  I don’t want my wife to be next.  I don’t want to be next.

Ban assault rifles.  Increase rigor for gun ownership.  Promote mental health.

 

Image retrieved from: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/democrats-call-for-gun-control-in-wake-of-florida-shooting-as-ryan-backs-owners-rights-2018-02-15

Video retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LORVfnFtcH0

15 Comments

  1. As a former teacher, a current substitute teacher and the mother of a middle school teacher and grandmother of 7 grandchildren, I applaud your stand on assault weapons and your courage to stand up for what is right.

  2. Rosemary Bullis Amos

    February 21, 2018 at 12:14 am

    Well said, well written Brian!
    It is sad to see what our country has continued to allow. I too believe we as a nation need make a stand. I too do not feel we have a safe environment for our students and staff

    Aunt Rose.

  3. Jason Kupferschmid

    February 21, 2018 at 1:52 am

    Thank you for expressing clearly what many Americans feel.

  4. What would a ban on assault rifles do exactly? A vast, vast, vast majority of gun deaths are a result of handguns. A ban on handguns would have a much greater effect on reducing gun deaths than a ban on assault rifles, but why is there no call to ban handguns? The middle school you represent is only 30 minutes away from Chicago, which has some of the toughest gun control laws in the entire nation yet has one of the highest murder rates by gun in the entire nation, committed mostly with handguns. A ban on assault rifles would do little to curb gun violence or even mass shootings for that matter. The Virginia Tech shooting was committed with handguns. James Holmes, the perpetrator of the Aurora movie theater shooting, also used a handgun. But where is the call to ban handguns?

    No gun control measure that you cited, except maybe “promoting mental health” would have stopped this shooting. You cite Japan as an example of what I assume you think are “good” gun control measures. El Salvador, Venezuela, Guatemala, and Columbia, just to make a few, have very strict gun control measures but have much higher violent gun deaths per 100,000 people than the United States. In fact, the United States has the the highest rate of gun ownership, but only has the 31st highest rate of violent gun deaths per 100,000 people. That indicates that gun control measures don’t have much of an effect on violent crime at all.

    If you want to really stop school shootings, then get rid of your “gun free zones”, invest more in armed security for your schools, or send your teachers who want to carry a concealed handgun to get training to protect your children. If guys with guns are going to be called to stop the guy with a gun, why not be proactive about it? Those measures will actually reduce mass shootings. Not a confiscation and ban of assault rifles.

    • bbullis

      February 21, 2018 at 5:46 pm

      I appreciate your differing opinion on this matter, although I do not agree with it.

    • I agree with you. Yes these school shooting are horrendous and they should be dealt with very aggressively but why is it, every time something like this happens, the first thing everyone thinks of, is taking rights away. This person should never have had a gun in the first place. He was reported to the school, FBI and the police many times. Existing laws cover the problems we are having, they just are not being enforced. Please remember Benjamin Franklin’s famous saying, “”Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” At his time, the AR-15 is the most popular rifle in America. There are millions of them out there. The 2nd amendment was not created for hunters, it was created to protect ourselves from our government. In order to do that, we must have efficient weapons, not muzzle loaders.

  5. I absolutely agree with you, and I am thankful every day for the security of our Deerfield schools. Many kids in this country are not so fortunate to have such security, access to a quality public education, or even a safe passage to their schools. I would gladly join your letter-writing campaign.

    One point I would add is that in the debate about how best to reduce violence in schools, we should not overlook the loneliness and desperate isolation felt by some of the shooters. I am sure it is not popular to feel any sympathy for the wrong-doers in these horrible tragedies, but when they broadcast their intentions or romanticize guns, it may be a cry for help, and even a single act of kindness from someone to show them that they are not alone, that someone cares for them, could make the difference as to whether or not they carry out such violent acts. Schools should be a safe place for all students, and that should start with all students feeling that they belong.

  6. I am proud to say you are my principal! Well said Brian.

  7. Thank you for pointing out that looking for one solution to this horrific state of affairs is useless. As you so aptly state, three things must change if we are to stop repeating history again and again. I’m my opinion, no one needs an assault rifle or a supply of magazines. No one with a history of any mental issue should be allowed to own an assault weapon. Thank goodness the young people of our nation are using their common sense. hopefully they will knock some sense into the heads of our so-called “leaders”.

  8. Thank you for this well articulated post, I hope everyone who reads it passes it on.

  9. Your message is empowering and this community is incredibly fortunate to have you as a leader and an example to your students.

    There is a call to change laws nationwide. The process seems vast in the scope of the political atmosphere. Why can’t we bring some laws to our Villages and cities? Would it be impossible to require anyone purchasing an assault rifle to register with our local law enforcement? At least we’d be aware that our neighbors have a weapon that will kill faster – maybe the S.W.A.T. Team will show up and not an unsuspecting patrol officer. We have a wonderful State Senator in town in Julie Morrison- she will listen.

    Why are we required to have liability insurance for ourselves in case someone is injured in our homes or with our cars? Anyone purchasing guns should be required to have insurance…victim insurance and it should not be inexpensive to purchase.

    Changes need to be made. It is inspiring to see the good that has come out of such evil: students rallying and it is time.! It is time that our leaders are not permitted to take campaign donations that have an agenda. It is time to recognize that assault weapons have no place in a civilized society. The ban on all guns seems impossible…. but it seems impossible that the tobacco companies could be sued for people getting cancer and car companies could be sued fir knowingly selling cars with faulty components or McDonald’s for selling hot coffee…. why aren’t the gun manufacturers responsible for robbing children of their futures and taking the childhood away from the children who had to witness it? It’s time.

    If we save one life, we save the world.

  10. As a former student and future educator, this gives me hope!

  11. Realistic Citizen

    February 23, 2018 at 3:57 am

    Well said and written, but this is a very knee-jerk reaction to target guns, and not well thought out.

    We all want our children to be safe, but your arguments are ignoring the real issues! A disturbed man/kid in Florida could just have easily ran over more than 17 children with his car in front of the school after the final bell rang. Shall we ban cars?

    Sick people will not be stopped from their evil deeds by gun control laws. Address the mental health issues, and close the loopholes that do not prevent dangerous people from having the opportunity to do such evil things!

  12. As a Caruso Middle School alumnus, I would like to thank you for this insightful, inspiring, and powerful post. I am proud that you represent that school that helped to shape me. – Jack DiMatteo

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