Troubled ‘From Day One’

I feel sorry for not just Asa but all the kids in the school, but the bulling and the neglect at home is a real problem for a lot of kids, with that said i also lay blame the school authorities namely the priciple she was told of the problem yet was to busey to take care of the problem or talk to the young man about what was going on at school and at home ...

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I feel sorry for what Asa went through being bullied and apparantly neglected at home. However that said, I think some of the problem has to lie with the fact that everyone seems to be willing to villify those that bullied him,, the system that did not intervene enough, and the doctor for being pro gun control. Who is willing to say, this kid made a bad choice when he brought the gun to school and it was his choice and his actions that led to tragedy? Why is everyone looking at this kid and his motives and the influences that made him WANT to hurt others, without putting the ultimate responsibility on the shoulders of the shooter? perhaps if we stop letting people blame their parents, society, and bad circumstances for their own bad behavior, we might see a bit less bad behavior?

on the other hand, I am scared to let my son play on th e local little league team because some of the reactions that the parents have are so violent, angry, and haterful, that I don't think it is benificial to him anymore. One parent around here last month got banned from ever going to a game again because he assaulted the umpire. I know a lot of people want to blame TV and video games for rising violence among the problem lies a little closer to home?

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Some children today in USA have real respect to teacher because they are so studpid in everything. I think they got it from home and parent who brought them. They shoud spend more time study or being smart. Some of them come from stupid parent who low class, no education, broken home, unheathy eating, so on. Maybe I do not care he kill himself, but why he need to kill other people too. His parent should send him to see Doctor, but not buy him a gun. Well maybe I am not sure now this day. Long time ago people need to go hunt for food, but I do not see why need to hunt human because unhappy. We got pill for you.......ask doctor for it. Many place have crazy parent and I think he got crazy parent.....
song

Society needs to change so people respect one another and the weak and vulnerable are protected. Allow a child to be tormented for years and offer him no support, and then act surprised when he finds his own way to strike back. How stupid and hypocritical can society be?

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When I was a kid, it was time to learn and repect our teacher. Maybe I do not growth up here in USA. All of us wanted to be smart and strong skill learning. Some children today in USA have no real boundaries or leadership. Some of them have slow learning in Math, or any subject. I am wondering that parent are too stupid or someone should not have children, so they teach them or buy them a gun at young age. When I was a child and I have no idea why we need to go for hunt animal in forest for food when you could buy them at store. I think it is more clean too. I think it is so stupid to bully someone when they should use their time study since they are very poor. They should think about get out their very poor living and start to get better life than their parent. When you look at the child and don't forget to look their parent. If they come from good education and happy family, so the kid would not act out so bad like some children today. Most children want to come home with homemade food and see happy family. I am sorry to see the kid have bad parent. If children have low math score and I think parent must not help them do homework. It is sad to see so stupid kid in the world today and kill other children too.
song

When I was a kid, it was time to learn and repect our teacher. Maybe I do not growth up here in USA. All of us wanted to be smart and strong skill learning. Some children today in USA have no real boundaries or leadership. Some of them have slow learning in Math, or any subject. I am wondering that parent are too stupid or someone should not have children, so they teach them or buy them a gun at young age. When I was a child and I have no idea why we need to go for hunt animal in forest for food when you could buy them at store. I think it is more clean too. I think it is so stupid to bully someone when they should use their time study since they are very poor. They should think about get out their very poor living and start to get better life than their parent. When you look at the child and don't forget to look their parent. If they come from good education and happy family, so the kid would not act out so bad like some children today. Most children want to come home with homemade food and see happy family. I am sorry to see the kid have bad parent. If children have low math score and I think parent must not help them do homework. It is sad to see so stupid kid in the world today and kill other children too.
song

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Why is it so easy to say, "he was troubled, it's the teachers fault, where were the parents ect ect ect." i am not agaisnt nor for guns, but guns don't kill without someone pulling the trigger. there are man factors that need to be looked at in situations like this. lets just pray that someday people will wake up and helo a child that they feel is a loose cannon and maybe prevent this from happening again. lets get "it is not my bussiness" out of our heads, IT IS OUR BUSSINESS to keep our children safe and raise them with good morals and values. help one another!!!

When I was a kid, it was made clear to me that if I were to bully someone or start a fight, the consequences would be stiff. I don't understand how a kid gets it in their head that behavior like that is ok. From the parents??!! I think alot of what is wrong with this world begins at home. Parent today are not like my parents were. My parents set limits, where nowadays you see less and less limits on younger and younger children. I don't agree with Dr. Claridge when he says the problem is the guns, I believe the problem lies with the parents. Guns have been around as long as this country has, and until recently(the last 10 or so years) noone ever had to worry about school shootings, there werent any when I was in school. My father owned guns from the time I was born all through my life, and I was well aware that I was not to mess with them in any fashion. Where was this kids parents when he got the gun? How do they have so little control that he was able to leave the house with a gun and get to the school when he should not even have been there. Also, when you have someone who is so obviously troubled, and makes the kind of threats he made, be it a student, teacher or other co-worker, someone needs to step in. When I was a kid, and I did something I was not supposed to do, my parents, more often than not, knew about it before I got home. People just don't care now, its like if you(your kid) is not bothering me, I don't care. I don't get that, I have friends who have teenagers and they know that if I see them doing something wrong, they are going to be told about it. We don't have the help of communities raising todays youth, and we should. Parents today need to ban together, and let kids know there are boundaries, and you will stay well within them, or pay the price. It is my understaning that this kid had been bullied for a number of years, how is it that was overlooked by school officials. I hear a lot about parents saying the schools don't do enough, and teachers firing back with parents don't do enough, and things like this are going to continue to happen until schools and parents re-learn how to work together. We are now a society with out the ability to accept personal responsibility, until we learn to do so, things will continue to be the way they are. Next thing you know, kids will be wearing bullet proof vests to school, because it is obviously easier to make excuses and come up with new ways to protect our children, than it is address the real problem in that children today have no real boundaries, or leadership.

I agree completely. All every one is centered on is what he did. No one is looking at why. Why did no one step in and help this boy out while he was being bullied? I truely find it hard to believe that the teachers at this school didnt see these incidents. This boy, a child a 14 year old kid, why would he feel so tourmented that he felt necessary to use this extreme action. I am by no means saying that what he did was right, and i really feel sorry for those that got shot and injured. Maybe next time children at that school decide to single another individual out because he is different, they will think about it first. Any one looking at this can see all this kid wanted was to be accepted as he was. If you have read the other stories then you know going to this school was his dream a chance for him to start over. Only he was not given that chance by his peers. They judged a book by its cover and acted.

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If you'll read the Cleveland Plain Dealer accounts, you see that Asa, the shooter, rarely did the bullying and threatening first. He had a history of being bullied. A classroom parent volunteer observed other kids physically bullying him over and over, year after year. She describes one kind dropping a heavy textbook on Asa's head as soon as the teacher wasn't looking.

This article doesn't cover those facts.

This article also doesn't talk about Asa's prescription drug use.

100% of all school shooters were bullied and were taking prescription drugs, usually an antidepressant.

I'm sad for the people who were shot and who lived. No one deserves that.

I'm also sad that a major news organization, Newsweek magazine, did not include important facts in this story.

As a parent volunteer who has witnessed rich kids and poor kids getting mericilessly bullied in public schools, I know that more shootings will occur until we start cleaning up this mess.

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i just read this article about this boy,and it say's that he lived in garbage so that means that when he had a problem he didn't have anyone to talk to him solve his problem .that's why parents should listen to their childre and their grown ups because some kids feel alone and they just feel like they ahye their life that happens to me i sometimes don't have anyone to talk to so i just solve my problems byself i talk to my self and it makes me feel better only a little but that's something.right ?? so parents listen to your children ask them about how their friends are with them but don't yell or say you don't have time for them just listen and help them out or they wouldn't do anything wrong like getting a gun and killing innocent people or using weapons or using drugs.you don't want anything bad to happen to your kids right?"no right ok then"talk to them all the time and they wont feel sad or alone help them solve their problems and they would feel much better you would see and do fun activites with them sare time together and just them.I promiise you and your kids would be happy living with you don't fight with them spent more time with then.god bless all of you peolpe god would always be with you.

Yes. America and Americans have a violence problem. Just yesterday I read that there have already been 700 murders in Los Angeles. When will the violence end? I don't know, but I am interested in knowing how those who support the "a gun in every hand" policy can continue to condone that policy when there is much less violence in countries that have gun control. To those who protest, "The right to bear arms is a safeguard against fascism and my right as a citizen of a democratic America. " I say, wake up America has not been a democracy for nearly fifty years. America has become a killing field.. The only way to stop the killing is to end the right to bear arms.
I am also in favor of regulating cars so that alldrivers of non-essential vehicles would be unable to exceed a speed limit of more than fifty miles an hour. All essential vehicles would naturally be allowed to exceed that limit. We have the technology to start saving lives on the road as well as in the streets. Let's do it!

Cheers ...