This wasn’t the post I wanted to write.

The school year has just started, and a 14-year old in Georgia decided that Wednesday was the day to come completely unhinged and kill four people at his school. And once again, this was a preventable tragedy.

Details are still scarce; as of this moment they haven’t announced his motivation, only that he was investigated last year for threats, and that he’s being charged with 4 counts of 1st-degree murder and will be tried as an adult. And that his father, who apparently gifted him the rifle he used, has also been charged in this case. No bail for either of them…

And that’s as it should be; if the father is found to have been negligent (which I suspect at this point is likely), he should also be held accountable and responsible for these deaths. And the only reason more didn’t die on the 4th is because an armed School Resource Officer was on scene and confronted the shooter – and if our current VP/Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris had had her way a couple of years ago, that cop wouldn’t have been there at all.

But this was preventable. PREVENTABLE. The school was alerted with a phone call that it was coming. The ongoing investigation won’t tell us why they were unable to stop him before he started shooting – at least, that information will never be made public.

Preventable. Just like Sandy Hook, just like Marjorie Steadman High School, just like Uvalde, Texas. Preventable.

These incidents are preventable. But nobody is willing to let us prevent them.

It’s not as simple a problem as some people want to think it is. They don’t want to admit that an inanimate object simply cannot be responsible for mayhem; no, ban the tool and it will all go away. That’s Pollyanna thinking with no basis in reality – yet so many people buy into it.

Think about it. If you really think about it, you can see what I see. We can see the trends, we can see the causes, we can see the courses of action that need to be taken. We know how to slow this violence, and eventually make it go away. Think about it – no more school shootings, no more shopping malls turned into killing fields. And we can do it without turning our schools into prisons.

And make no mistake, our elected leadership knows exactly the same thing we do – but they won’t do it. Because if they did we might realize that they’ve set the stage for this, that they want this, to keep us divided and weak and under their control. They’re so afraid of losing power they will lie, cheat, and steal, and are willing to let children die to bolster their control over us. You’ll never hear that from them, though; they’ll insist that they’ve only got our best interests at heart and will be very offended at the suggestion. Like every other politician. Like Adolph and Mao…

The hard truth is that at this point, there is no quick and easy resolution to the issue of school violence. We have to teach at least 2 generations things they were never taught before: That violence is a terrible dispute resolution tool and solves nothing, it only begets more violence; How to properly respond to bullying; That mental health is as important as physical health, and deserves the same attention. And we need to quit lionizing these shooters, too. Quit identifying them, giving them the notoriety that inspires other sick, impressionable minds.

It won’t be quick, so interim measures need to be taken, too. But we’re not allowed to.

Because they want this.

(Picture courtesy CBS News/Titan Caskets)