The one important thing to remember is that these tragic events are used by cynical propagandists for their own ends. Anyone claiming that we can be safe is lying to us. We can certainly FEEL safe - that's relatively easy- but we won't BE safe. After the untold billions we've spent on airport security, people feel safe, but whenever someone actually tests the system they find that it's easy to bypass the security measures. We aren't safe.

It's also crystal clear that the very idea of safety through government failed in Florida. They had a swell govt-funded program with salaries and benefits for everyone - armed officer(s) on the school campus. The explicit purpose, presumably, was to protect the students. They collected the salaries and benefits but they didn't protect the students.

It's a tragedy that dozens of school kids were injured and murdered all in one event, in a spectacular fashion in that school in Florida. It's also a tragedy that dozens of school kids are murdered every week in our cities. Granted, they aren't as easy for the media to capture and package, and they aren't nice suburban kids, so it's harder to identify and sympathize with that cruelty and horror.

The world is what it is, and no amount of media hysteria and political maneuvering is going to change it.

I agree with you completely - it's sad and it's frightening, and we have to face it with courage and charity. Rules don't change things like this.