Apr 18 Socrates Cafe BACK!
Socrates Café
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
10:30 am in the Friends Learning Lab
All political, economic and social points of view are welcomed and encouraged. The only ground rule is that we will be polite to those opinions that differ from our own.
Giving Philosophy Back to the People! Let’s discuss: What is truth? What is justice? What is moderation?
This session will be led by Robert Rubin, our experienced moderator.
Friends Learning Lab – 10:30 am
School Shootings: What are the Causes and What are the Remedies?
Today, let’s consider the above issue, one that has resonated throughout our country:
On April 16, 2007 Seung-Hui Cho, a student at Virginia Tech used a legally purchased handgun to kill 32 people at the university in the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. The attack ended when two students retrieved a gun from their car and confronted Cho, who then shot himself.
In 2005, a Virginia special justice had declared Cho mentally ill and ordered treatment; however, because he was not required to be institutionalized he was not reported to Virginia’s Central Criminal Records Exchange (CCRE) and thus was still allowed to purchase and possess firearms.
Other horrific school massacres in recent history were:
On April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-yearold Dylan Kiebold killed 12 students and one teacher. The pair then committed suicide.
On December 14, 2012, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed twenty first-grade children. Lanza then killed himself as police arrived.
On October 24, 2014, at Marysville Pilchuck High School in Marysville, Washington, 15-year-old freshman, Jaylen Fryberg, killed four students in the school cafeteria before committing suicide.
On October 1, 2015, at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, 26-year-old student Christopher Harper-Mercer killed eight students and one teacher. He then committed suicide after a brief gunfight with police officers.
On February 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student with serious behavior issues that were multiply reported to police and the FBI, using a semi-automatic rifle, killed 17 people. He was arrested after walking away from the school.
On March 20, 2018, at Great Mills High School in Great Mills, Maryland, a 17-year-old male student, used a handgun to kill a female student with whom he had a prior relationship. The student killed himself when the school resource officer and a police officer simultaneously shot at him.
-Robert M. Rubin