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According to a recent article by Dan Rather, American schools spent $12 billion on security guards last year, second only to teachers’ salaries. Yet the number of school shootings has risen from 59 in 2017 to 346 in 2023. I appreciate U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ reported proposal that the military should do more to help prevent cases like the Lewiston massacre.
However, I think this just touches the tip of the iceberg and is far too weak an effort to be effective in the vast majority of cases — and would not have prevented any of the school shootings. Donald Trump’s response to the latest school shooting was “It’s just horrible, so surprising to see it here. But [we] have to get over it, we have to move forward.”
In light of the current Republican Party leaders’ response to children being murdered while in school, I have two questions for Collins: One, does she, like Trump, find this “surprising,” and two, is she willing to take a more aggressive position in an attempt to ameliorate this continuing series of tragedies?
Good examples have been set by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden and U.S. Sen. Angus King. Collins — please stand up and be counted!
Donald Holmes
Sedgwick
