Field Trip

 Last weekend there was a shooting at a school in Virginia. Three young men were killed, and another two were injured. The murders took place at the end of a field trip, after the students had been to see a play. The killer was on the bus with his victims and opened fire on his victims after a brief scuffle. An eyewitness worried that the gunman was going to kill everyone on the bus. 

The fact that this took place at the University of Virginia and the victims were college football players does not change the dynamic of the incident. It is just an escalated version of the conflicts I deal with on the playground every day. 

"Why did you hit him?"

"He was messing with me." 

"Why did you shoot him?"

"He was messing with me."

I am fortunate that guns are not as readily available among the elementary school crowd. Mostly. But on that bus in Virginia last weekend, there was a gun, and it was used to "settle a score." That score was a field goal and a safety, five young men shot. Three dead. Two injured. 

The flashpoint of this shooting comes from the college football angle. I might imagine that an incident like this would put the thought that guns are bad into the heads of collegiate athletics fans. I might wish for those whose minds had been turned to additional restrictions on gun ownership could help stem the tide of death. It's far too easy to pull the trigger. It's far too easy to die. 

Kids were on a field trip. It doesn't matter what age they were. The victims include everyone on that bus. Everyone who knew one of the victims. Everyone who will attend the funerals of three kids cut down before their time. 

Meanwhile, it's happening all across our country every day. On school buses, on street corners, in living rooms and classrooms. It's the guns. 

It's the guns.