Wolfe's Words
- by: Crystal L. Wolfe
- recipient: Media publishing the names of school shooters.
Wikipedia defines The term school shooting most commonly describes acts committed by either a student or intruders from outside the school campus. They are to be distinguished from crowd-containment shootings by law-enforcement personnel, such as the shootings at South Carolina State, Kent State and Jackson State universities in the United States, or the October 6, 1976 Massacre in Thailand. They are also differentiated from other kinds of school violence, such as the mass killings of the Bath School disaster (which involved a homemade bomb rather than shooting), the Cologne school massacre (which involved a flamethrower); or terror attacks involving multiple kinds of weapons, such as the Ma'alot massacre or the Beslan school hostage crisis.
One of the most prominent school shootings was that at Columbine High School, near Littleton, Colorado. On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered thirteen people (twelve students and one teacher) on the school campus before they committed suicide, for a total of fifteen deaths. 24 others were wounded. The shooting was initially planned as a bombing, followed by the shooting of survivors.
The definition includes the shooters names, but not the names of 13 people that were innocent victims. I do not wish to stop a free press in any form of media. My goal is that not a single school shooter ever be given a moment of fame. We do not publish the names of minors in certain cases, show pictures of flag draped coffins, or sexually graphic content presently.........why publish the names of school shooting killers? What good has or will ever come from it???
If a lost soul envisions their names in the headlines, as the breaking story, splashed across the front page, or screamed on the radio it is an incentive to hurt others as a way to gain fame. While, it may not stop some shootings, it may give future disturbed individuals a reason to pause, before they act if they know that they will be forgotten and never named or remembered. We should remember the names of those that lifes were cut short by an unhappy human being. We should remember the goodness, the kindness, the accomplishments, and the names of those stolen from us.
Wolfe's Words should be names of the heroes, not heartless criminals.
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