Do we really accept school shootings as routine? | BIDLACK | Opinion

Last night I sat down as usual to watch the national news. I stick with CBS, perhaps out of habit, as I grew up watching one of our country's greatest journalists, Walter Cronkite, announce the news at 6:30 p.m. EST. My first memories of the news include Cronkite's announcement of the deaths of JFK and LBJ, and his tireless coverage of the Vietnam War.

I remember turning on the news in April 1999 as the world learned of the horrors of the Columbine High School shooting. Essentially the entire program was reporting on the horrific events of that tragic day.

But last night it was different. The first news item was about the ongoing presidential election campaign, and the school shooting in Georgia was the second news report. Even then, it was treated much like other news events that day – tragic and horrific. They spoke to one expert who said the availability of guns was the problem, while another said it was a mental health issue and guns were more benign tools. I might disagree with the latter, but my fundamental concern is that a mass shooting of children in a school was routinely reported as if it were just another event in 2024 America.

This breaks my heart.

Colorado politics is full of stories worthy of commentary. For example, state courts must now decide whether Colorado Springs' new outdoor concert venue is too loud. Neighbors understandably object to the level of noise coming from the facility, insisting that the performers are exceeding noise limits, while people at the venue claim that this is not the case. An interesting story about rights conflicts, but I won't talk about that.

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I also won't talk about the ongoing collapse of the GOP state party, where either the current or former GOP leader – depending on which side you're on – will go to court to decide who gets to lead the party in the weeks before a major election. But I won't talk about that either.

And I'm not even going to talk about the fact that Governor Jared Polis signed a major property tax bill that passed in the special session that puts the issue of property taxes on the back burner for six years. It's one of those bills that neither side really likes, which probably means it's a good compromise. But like I said, I'm not going to talk about that.

I will not speak of that, because I cannot stop thinking of the fear that must have been in the hearts of the students at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. Nor can I imagine the sheer fear in the hearts of the parents who ran to the school, unsure whether their child was alive or dead.

And we have been here so, so many times, and we do not anything. I remember thinking years ago that it would take the shooting of a group of young children who were barely toddlers to finally get our nation to do something about mass gun violence. Then Sandy Hook came along, and we Nothing.

More than five years ago, I wrote some thoughts in these pages, from the perspective of a former military policeman who patrolled with an M-16 at the AF Academy and from the perspective of a former professor who taught the Constitution. With your permission and the kindness of my editor, please allow me to retell some things. Maybe, just maybe, a candidate's team will read this this election season with razor-thin margins in various races and decide it's worth looking into.

First, we need to stop thinking of these guns as “military.” Style is what it looks like. I don't care what guns look like. I own several guns myself and for me, style wasn't important, but for some (my favorite term is “Gravy Seals”) who want to pretend they're military, style is important, so let's let them have their 22 caliber rifles in military-looking style.

What counts are military-Degree Guns. These are the tools of war that people in uniform are supposed to carry, not civilians. Some are obvious, and few object to banning items like flamethrowers and grenade launchers. But it gets tricky when we're talking about assault rifles, especially the AR-15 type. So, let's see if we can come up with a reasonable standard, shall we?

As I said half a decade ago, three questions should be asked about any arms offer to be sold to the American people.

So what are the three questions?

• How fast Does the gun fire? The Dayton shooter fired 42 or more shots in a 30-second period. No deer hunter needs that rate of fire, and you really don't want to fire the better part of 50 shots at the burglar you think is robbing you.
• How far does it shoot? A real military grade weapon like the one I carried is designed to fire a very high velocity bullet that can fly through your bedroom door and, frankly, another house or two before being stopped. A shotgun, on the other hand, has a lot more “maneuver power” and those bullets are much more easily stopped by walls and the like.
• How many rounds Does it fire without reloading? That has to do with the rate of fire, because semi-automatic and fully automatic weapons fire much faster with a single trigger than, for example, a shotgun. And here the magazine size is also important. The shooter in El Paso had 100-round magazines. Sorry, but no hunter needs that. Such magazines are for mass murder. As a military policeman, I carried four 30-round magazines for my M-16. The shooter in El Paso would have had superior weapons to me.

I offer these thoughts again in the hope that maybe, just maybe, through word of mouth or someone posting a link to this opinion piece, someone in power might read my suggestions and consider them. Let the Gravy Seals have their military-looking Weapons, unless they are actual weapons of war.

It's really awful that mass school shootings are becoming less and less “newsworthy,” and I'm not at all optimistic that the NRA and its tiny membership can be defeated by any truly sensible legislation. But elections are coming up soon, and who knows?

Stay tuned.

Hal Bidlack is a professor emeritus of political science and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs for over 17 years.