Is anyone else as freaked out as me by what happened yesterday @ the Omaha Mall??

Question

I mean first Columbine, then all the other schools where kids brought guns in and killed people, then Virgina Tech happened, now this.

What is going on in our society??
I'm afraid for my 10 year old niece, when she goes to school everyday.

Answer 1

Random Acts of insanity are making all the sheep bleat. We as a society cannot let fear drive our lives or the decisions our supposed leaders make.

Fact is there are people like this kid that have been identified in schools.. He fell through the cracks. At one time in the state of Nebraska because of identification this kid would have been in a long term psychiatric hospital. Because of mainstreaming psych patients are allowed to roam freely unchecked.

I know of several people who would represent a danger to themselves or others.

It does not mean you let fear immobilize you. It means you do what you can. If you see a person on the fringe.

The kid is to blame.

He was involved with druggies in school and lived on the fringe. He had been a ward of the state in High School as his parents were / are nutjobs.


Blame? Him, his parents, his foster parents, the state for closing the inpatient psych units, the sarpy county sheriff's office and Bellevue PD for not responding to threats made by him a couple of weeks ago. and putting his in custody for 3rd degree assault then.

I know the discussion will reach fevered pitch over the next few weeks, I wanted to share my thoughts to the discussion. While I don't have answers I do see things through the eyes of a historian.

Random acts of insanity can not be explained. I would suggest removing his picture from the history books. It is quick to do a post-mortem on a situation when the people aren't even buried. The media continues to make this mistake it did so with Columbine, and continues to try to find a "solution" to an unsolvable situation. As I listen many things come to mind.

"The Perp" was a sick kid that did evil acts. I am not one to give this kid a pass, drugs, anarchy, face it, evil exists in our world. Whether in the mountains of Pakistan or the streets of Omaha. I've thought it only a matter of time before the heartland would get hit with a random act of insanity.

As a parent I want to tell parents to know what your kids are doing. There is a large part of the population who refuse to take responsibility as a parent as one that can be life or death. I have know doubt there are kids that have threatened this kind of stuff. Schools are the bell weather entities for getting these kids into mental services. It does all begins at home. You raises your kids the best you can.. I remember in middle school our son was getting threatened by a group of losers. I contacted the principal and the counselor, I was pushing along with the counselor to define policy. Administration did the school two step and did not renew the counselor's contract.

Our son was threatened with getting shot in the head in our Middle school several years ago, and the school did nothing more then give the kid a 1/2 day of in school suspension. Many schools has bullying and appropriate behavior policies.. I contacted the principal and the counselor, I was pushing along with the counselor to define policy. Administration did the school two step and did not renew the counselor's contract. I could name at least 6 kids in the our school district that have the makings of this type of incident. I don't know what the answer is . Teachers and school administrators are often brought into situations that are unsolvable when parents refuse to be parents.

As a gun rights advocate I do think while CCW is important, I do not believe it would have done much good in this particular incident.. CCW is a deterent against personal acts of violence. This act was an impersonal act. Would it had made a difference? Maybe and maybe not. That is moot. It is not an assault rifle, it is a semi-auto firearm. The media and the police are quick to call a weapon an assault rifle to make a political issue of the "gun". We are a society need to stop doing that. The problem is not the tool it is the individual. Existing gun laws INCLUDING the recent passage of HR2640 (he had a felony record and the NICS background check would have black listed him from a legal purchase) as he STOLE the gun. People will get into pissing match the use of this particular firearm on adnaseum, I know people that use semi-auto firearms for deer and coyote hunting and shooting paper targets. It is a sporting weapon as any.

I believe that when all is said and done, we will look back and say nothing any sane person can do would explain this..
But I do have a take on it. It sounds as if this kid was a problem that continued to fall through the cracks of the law enforcement and mental health systems. This kid is a symptom of deeper issues we need to address in this state... Since the Regional Centers through out our state have been defunded many people with mental health issues have been falling through the crack. Mental health issues and people who should be seeking help aren't getting it. These people who were mainstreamed into society have had children.

While hindsight is 20-20, Random acts of insanity have became more prevalent since mental health issues used to require a stint in the state hospitals throughout the country. Many of the people mainstreamed have had children and many of these kids are the disaffected masses. . I think mainstreaming mental health issues has increased the cost and the potential of this kind of stuff happening.

DHS has been cutting funds to the regional centers when they should be cutting mainstreaming and putting these people in a secured facility.

We need to re-implement the mental health boards through out the state. We need to get serious about reenacting the psychiatric wards throughout the state systems.

People that fall through the cracks, will do so as long as we mainstream psychiatric illness.

There should be clear direction that the problem that lays squarely in the lap of schools, law enforcement and the mental health systems. As parents are not being parents, that is where we can catch it before it reaches the boiling point.

Know what your kids are doing, know the problem kids at school, and make sure to tell your kids to be willing to blow the whistle. We should have learned this lesson from Columbine and continue to see failings in the systems funded and meant catch this.

Answer 2

I live in Omaha and while yes, it is a TERRIBLE tragedy and I am praying for all the people that were affected personally by it, I am not necessarily "freaked out". I feel that when your time comes-you are going to go, no matter where you are or what you are doing. God will find a way to take you....whether it be car accident, old age, or some psycho in the lunchroom at school or the mall.

as for what is going on in our society...listen to slim whitman..

I agree completely that our system is failing us when it comes to mental health issues. Nebraska does not have an inpatient psych hospital anymore and no one has a place to go when they need that treatment. We need to stop excusing these illnesses and get them treated. Stop throwing drugs at every child that has energy and throwing even more drugs when they dont pay perfect attention. Yes, there are some kids out there with true hyperactivity disorder and attention deficit, but the doctors are prescribing those to almost EVERY single kid these days. What happened to just being a kid and being allowed to be hyper and active instead of sitting around being babysat by the tv or video games all day? When I was little i didn't necessarily pay the best attention and at one of my checkups the doctor tried to prescribe these medications. My mom refused and told him off. I didn't need drugs, i was just a kid and acting like a kid. Kids are hyper. Kids sometimes dont pay attention. They are not robots that are supposed to follow every order given, they are supposed to occasionally be stupid and whatnot. That is how we learn, by making mistakes. When i was little, we didn't have video games-we played outside. We got dirty in the mud. We rode our bikes and played until the street lights came on. Let kids be kids while they can, so that way, when they do grow up and have to be "responsible", they wont already be burnt out.

Answer 3

I live in Omaha, and work in a place that has "NO handguns allowed" signs all over the place,as does the mall. These signs are the ridiculous right of the companies involved to try to "protect" their customers from people that don't care about laws anyway. I do agree that if the mall DID NOT attempt to regulate concealed weapons, maybe a few less people would have died. Have a great night, anyway. 2nd Amendment does not mean that we are allowed to wear sleeveless shirts, by the way.

Answer 4

I work at the Mall and I'm afraid to go to my job. I dropped out of school for fear of getting shot there. College is out too. My sisters best friend has a boyfriend who's next door neighbor knows a girl with a 9 year old niece who goes to school everyday.What is going on in our society?

Answer 5

The farther we get from God as individuals and a collective society, the more this will happen.

Train up you niece in fear of the Lord...that way she doesnt START down the road to destruction like this kid did. That way she has some self esteem that isnt based on what she sees on MTV. That way she will do the right thing, even when there are no parents around to correct her. That way she doesnt do like that little girl in the news who hung herself after a virtual relationship with a boy she never met went sour.

God help us.

Answer 6

We can all consider ourselves blessed or lucky that we were not at the intersection of mental illness and guns. It speaks to the need to reach out to the least among us. We who are privledged to be in the "in crowd" tend to marginalize the "geeks". We need to take some lesson away from this or it will just continue ad infinitum.

Answer 7

i hate to be the one to tell you this,but imagine the things around your life you dont know,someone you know or they knows molested or molesting children,a rapist,killed without getting caught,steals....thiers so many people that it is statical facts that your living near a killer or phyco,but thiers nothing you can do but be watchful and stop worry about it,you can die by the most out of the way reasons that worry just takes away the happines of the world,instead of worrying,enjoy life,you can die of an unknown health reason as im reading this and then what?your last was being scared of the world?,sad sad sad life to live,just go along thiers a lot of scary things you dont want to know about,so stop

Answer 8

im scared for myself when i go to school. Its like crazy what poeple are doing these days! I go to a school that dosnt ahve the best rating in our district, and our school is the only one without medal detectors, i think our school needs it. Our school is the most gang related school and the school known for all the drug problems. but they gave us new principals and new assistances thinking it owuld change. i ahve nto noticed a difference from last year , only we cant park on one side of the school . but yes im freaked out about it too

Answer 9

It is very scary.But we just have to teach our children what to do in a scary situation and from then on there is nothing else we can do But Pray for the safety of our children .

Answer 10

No alot of people are mental right now job loss,government sucks,less money, holiday pressure