School shootings, and mass shootings in general, have been on the rise in recent years. I was in sixth grade when the shooting at Columbine happened. That was the first mention of a school shooting that I had ever heard of, and now there are so many people just seem to shrug the news off. The actual events are traumatic and heartbreaking, but it is equally heartbreaking that people are not even shocked by it. It is really just a matter of time before it happens in every single community throughout the country. People debate the reasons and motivations behind these shootings, and immediately jump to mental illness. Very clearly something has disturbed these people to the point that they think this particular action is the way to go. There is certainly some level of mental disturbance here. Bullying is also offered up as a reason people do these things, and I am sure that in at least some of the cases, that does play a part. People reach a breaking point. (We could all be a little more educated about things and kinder as well.) This book offers some insight into the psychological reasons that school shooters get to the point of shooting up the schools, as well as the warning signs to look for.

There is a desperate need for gun reform in the United States, but people hear that and start screaming about the government wanting to take guns away. There should be wait periods. There should be background checks. There should be licensing required. There should be age limits. There are a lot of small changes that could be made or improved upon to help combat this situation. One of the main issues is irresponsibility. I live in the South. I have lived in a house with guns every day of my life. They were kept up. We were taught about guns and gun safety. (I have never used one, but I knew early on that they were dangerous.) A lot of people leave them laying out and there are so many gun injuries beyond school shooting because people are irresponsible with them. The ease of access is a problem. We should be more vigilant. We should be more aware of our surroundings and the people in them. We should be saying something when we see something questionable, and when we do say something, authority figures and peers need to take it seriously!!

This was a short book, less than 200 pages. It was also a fairly short listen on Audible, and is currently available on Audible Plus for those of you who are Audible members. The reviews on this book are full of hot takes, which I expected. This is a hot button issue. I appreciated the warning signs to look out for. I think that this book offers up some really good talking points about this topic that can be discussed with your children. This was not my favorite book of the year, or even on this topic, but I think that it has some face value that can be used for education and to start conversations that may be difficult. It is such a short read, that it is worth reading just for that alone.