Seventh-grader who shot himself in school bathroom dies

[TomCADem]

Source: MSN/Associated Press

MASSILLON, Ohio — Authorities say an Ohio seventh-grader who police said brought a gun to school and shot himself inside a restroom has died of his injuries.

The Summit County Medical Examiner's Office said the boy died at a hospital Wednesday. Jackson Township police had said the boy shot himself Tuesday at Jackson Middle School, near Massillon.

Police said they hadn't determined whether the shooting was intentional, and the investigation was continuing. No other students were injured.

Police have said the boy also had a device in his backpack meant to cause a distraction.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/seventh-grader-who-shot-himself-in-school-bathroom-dies/ar-BBJqzA3?li=BBnbcA1

[JoeOtterbein]

1. Guns Suck.

[Liberalagogo]

2. If only the teachers had been armed.

n/t

[IronLionZion]

3. Gun nuts never talk about suicide

A suicidal person of any age should be kept away from guns. Middle schoolers often believe life sucks and are not thinking straight about many issues. Someone who doesn't know that it gets better should not be able to end their life so easily.

[RhodeIslandOne]

4. They bizarrely dismiss all suicide gun stats as not pertinent.

Even here.....

[woundedkarma]

9. Guns and suicide

What's the point here?

I'm all for banning assault rifles and making it hard as hell for anyone to get a gun. Get rid of as many as possible.

But... why talk about guns and suicide?

I know that if I want to kill myself I don't need a gun.

Guns seem easier but anyone determined is going to find a way gun or not.

[IronLionZion]

13. Get creative

It's time to make it harder for them, not easier. It would deter at least the lazier and less determined ones if it's less convenient.

[Blackjackdavey]

16. Is this serious?

Hopefully it is snark. Guns increase the rate of successful suicides exponentially, in fact it raises the success rate to nearly 100 %. Gun owners, or homes with guns, increase the risk of suicide by three times over those without guns. Suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problems. Overdose attempts are very often unsuccessful. Most people who attempt suicide do so as an impulsive act and once help arrives are most often stabilized. Guns make that help impossible. If your post is serious, it is very ignorant. If you would like to know more I'd be happy to share.

[Igel]

5. Yup.

And medications and rope and knives and cars and alcohol and other people.

Men kill themselves mostly by firearm. Women about balance guns and poison. Suffocation's #2 overall, while #3 for women and a clear #2 for men.

NIH data say about 9.8 million Americans seriously considered suicide in 2016. That's a lot of people to monitor, go to court over, strip of their rights. (I mean, if they're thinking about killing themselves, should they be driving? Voting? Allowed to interact with their kids? Chop onions?)

Yeah. It's a tough call. Right now I'm not quite as willing to accept that this kid's death is suicide as it is accidental discharge. He also had extra ammo and fireworks in his backpack. I'm leaning "attention-seeking", but it's a weak opinion based on little information.

If the latter, it means either some older kid let him have it or some parent was really negligent. Even just the fireworks shows negligence.

A metal detector would have filled in where the parents or older kids failed.

[IronLionZion]

6. Metal detectors at home too?

More suicides happen at home than anywhere else. The gun makes it easy

[Yupster]

8. The logistics of 3,000 kids going through a metal detector every morning

seems daunting though.

We already have kids out here who have to meet their buses at 7 am.

On edit, just think of the opportunity for a shooter to have 1,000 kids waiting in line to go through the metal detector.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. We had metal detectors in all Philly high schools over 25 years ago

Philadelphia Schools Plan to Screen for Weapons
Published: December 5, 1992

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Dec. 4— Prompted by a shotgun attack and two stabbings within school walls this week, officials here plan to issue metal detectors to all 40 Philadelphia high schools to prevent weapons from being carried into the buildings.

"Violence in society, particularly adolescent and teen-age violence, has reached epidemic proportions," Dr. Constance E. Clayton, Superintendent of Schools, said Wednesday. "Our schools are no longer exempt from this American phenomenon." She said the school district "has taken and will continue to take every reasonable step to assure that not one Philadelphia public school will ever become an out-of-control, hostile environment with students or trespassers terrorizing a learning institution, nor will we allow our schools to be transformed into barbed-wire encampments with armed security guards patrolling a prison-like environment." Dr. Clayton noted that in addition to the metal detectors, which officials said would be available within 30 days, the district would hire 15 more security guards, bringing the number to 263.

Unhappy with these measures, about 150 of the 1,600 students at South Philadelphia High School, the scene of the shotgun attack on Monday, walked out of classes on Thursday in protest. They complained that metal detectors would not stop the violence, said a school spokesman, William C. Thompson. The protesters returned to classes an hour and 15 minutes later, when officials promised that students would have a role in efforts to prevent such assaults, Mr. Thompson said. Lunchroom Shooting

In the incident on Monday, a 17-year-old student was shot with a sawed-off shotgun in a lunchroom fight with two other students. The victim was at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital recovering from a wound to his lower left leg. A pellet from the blast also grazed the leg of 16-year-old girl, who was treated by the school nurse.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/05/us/philadelphia-schools-plan-to-screen-for-weapons.html

Of course many of the children affected by the above policies are/were parents of high school students (or older) now or since. It's an almost intractable problem unless some underlying issues are dealt with. And as a note here in the city, most public school students do NOT have access to the "yellow school bus" that conveniently picks them up or drops them off. They ride public transit (or walk if close enough) to get to school.

[Yupster]

14. Around me there is no public transportation

Kids get up early in the morning and wait for the yellow buses for the long drive to school, sometimes an hour long route.

Just shows how different communities are and expecting the same solution to work in different communities is folly.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. It took me almost an hour to get to school here in Philly

and I also had to get up early to get there, but on public transit - either a train and walking (elementary school), a train and bus (junior high), or 2 buses (high school). This included late trains and/or buses that were packed that drove by on a snowy day.

My sisters live in the 'burbs with limited public transit but with the availability of yellow school buses and/or "car line".

Of course the big difference is population density but the issue of "guns in a school" really is no different no matter where you are. When you have someone intent on causing harm, whether to an individual they have a beef with in a city school or a group of "targets" Just.Because....in a suburban or rural school, the result is unfortunately the same.

[joshcryer]

11. As tragic as this was it could've ended far worse.

Often people make the statement "I wish the mass shooters would've killed themselves first." Yeah, well, the number of gun suicides almost certainly means the majority of them do.

We don't know if this kid accidentally killed himself or if he changed his mind at the last instance, but it could have gone far worse.

But I thought all schools had metal detectors installed since Columbine, is that not the case?

[lunasun]

7. It said authorities did not know where he got the gun. That's scary right there. Im assuming

his parents or guardians have been ruled out.

[Vinca]

12. This kid is more typical of what guns do than the mass shootings.

A gun in the home for "safety" does the exact opposite. A toddler picks it up and shoots a sibling, a gun isn't handled properly while being cleaned and blows away a little kid, suicide is easier.