GUNS: Then and now

I’m deeply saddened when I think about 17 school murders recently taking place. Many have thought “How could this happen in America?” Well, in my opinion, it started a long time ago.

We cannot blame others. We simply need to look within ourselves. FOR STARTERS, in 1960, 5 percent of kids were born out of wedlock. Today it’s more than 40 percent. These are youngsters being raised without fathers.

The nuclear family is rapidly becoming nonexistent — families that ARE intact spend huge amounts of time on their smart phones.

We’ve quit talking to each other — always in a hurry to go somewhere — and the REAL sad thing is that when we do have time, we spend it mostly on the internet or held captive to our TV. Wait, let’s throw in violent movies, song lyrics, video games that dull and mesmerize us — lack of discipline in schools and AT HOME, and what do we get? Yeah — just what we got!

Seven out of the last 10 school shootings came from homes with young men without a father — YIPES! Also, when we took the Pledge of Allegiance and God out of our schools, we lost the heart and soul of our nation. As a youngster, I remember starting each school day, at attention, hand over heart, reciting, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation UNDER GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

No school shootings back then — guns were plentiful. It’s NOT the guns!

MARVIN GEORGE MILLER

Coeur d’Alene