Carrying Firearms

For many, the idea of school violence is a "recent" epidemic.  Those with the shortest memories say it all started with Columbine (1999), forgetting Pearl, Mississippi two years prior. 

Those of us a bit older may remember Goddard, Kansas, when in 1985 James Alan Kearbey killed principal James McGee and wounded two teachers and a student at the Goddard Junior High School.

Further back (1979) the Dublin based, punk band, Boomtown Rats had a hit in the UK with the song "I Hate Mondays."  It was a response to a school shooting committed by Brenda Spencer; asked why, she responded, "I don't like Mondays."




In actuality, the 19th and 20th centuries are rife with these incidences; not just here in the United States but internationally as well.  It comes as no surprise then that this editorial appeared in the April 30, 1866  New York Times, arguing against students carrying pistols:

Carrying Firearms

,,,[W]e constantly hear of pistols being dropped on the floor at balls, or being exploded in very inconvenient ways. It appears, too, that Colt, and Remington, and all of the rest of the pistol-makers, have enormous factories and orders in abundance. We have recently known that a boy of 12 has his pantaloons made with a pistol pocket behind, in which he carries a loaded pistol; and this at a boarding-school filled with boys, who, we suppose, do or wish to do the same thing.

[,,,]
and we would advise parents to look into it, and learn whether shooting is to be a part of the scholastic course which may be practised on their own boys; or else we advise them to see that their boys are properly armed with the most approved and deadly pistol, and that there may be an equal chance at least of their shooting as of being shot.

[,,,]
It is not pleasant that this practice should prevail -– should be permitted. We have laws against it. Can our efficient police not be induced to apprehend one of these fools? Can our Judges not be prevailed upon to condemn one of them at least to imprisonment for life for shooting his friend, because he must enjoy the pleasure of playing with his pistol?

Source: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/21/the-scourge-of-guns-1866-edition/?_r=0

Documentary examining the 1979 Cleveland Elementary School shooting. After killing 2 adults and injuring 9 children, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer revealed her motive: 'I don't like Mondays'.