Schools to close in the Richmond VA area on Monday

CNN

[SarahW]

You just don't get it. Little children are at risk of being picked off by a sniper. Maybe the sniper is long gone, but the fear is real and palpable and kids are the last thing that should be used to prove a point. They aren't your soldiers.

The state won't shut down, and you overdramatize when you act like that is what is happening. Sorry we aren't double-dog daring the guy to come pick off a few little ones to prove how brave we are.

But I bet you a Richmonder gets this guy and takes him down.If I had the chance, I'd do it myself.

[Diddle E. Squat]

No, it just increases the temptation of the sniper to move to where the schools are open. Or more likely, to target kids where they are perceived safe. Its just a matter of time before he nails someone through the window of their home or office. But now perhaps he may target a kid in that window. He's gone after people in everday situations, the message being no one is safe. Striking someone inside is the next logical progression.

Oh, but he hasn't done that before? That's the stupid line that all these expert talking heads keep throwing out, and then the sniper proves them wrong in the next shooting. See a pattern? When officials react, he views it as a challenge. Closing schools just sends the message that children are going to be a greater challenge.

Closing schools is the same line of thinking that believes outlawing guns will make society safer.

[MissBaby]

I bet if the schools really wanted to, they could find several guys to very quietly patrol (lay in wait) in the outreaches of the areas around the schools. Put a few traffic people to get a look at each car traveling by, slowing the traffic a bit but not clogging it.

Better to be proactive I think.

Maybe some of you with experience in the military or this sort of thingh will know better if it is possible to secure an area around a school.

[SCalGal]

I don't see the point of forcing children to go to school tomorrow.....they are justifiabily frightened.

It's the adults, not the children who are so frightened. Teenagers have that "I'm immortal; it won't happen to me" attitude.

[Pee_Oui]

It is not necessary to close all the schools in VA., because the sniper will strike tomorrow in Maryland.

So what makes you say something like this???

DL

[concerned about politics]

Good. Very good. Save the kids. The hell with the teachers union having to work a few extra days this summer. I'll bet they had their 6 mo. vacation time already planned, too.

[Elenya]

Sorry we aren't double-dog daring the guy to come pick off a few little ones to prove how brave we are.

WTG, Sarah! This Mom's behind you 100%.

[BuddhaBoy]

I don't see the point of forcing children to go to school tomorrow.....they are justifiabily frightened.

And why are these children frightened?

Maybe because these days their faces are plastered in front of a television set, instead of outside getting some exercise?

Maybe because parents these days dont have the patience to explain to children that their odds of being shot are astronomical, and that they could just as easily win the state lottery?

Maybe because these days, we are a nation of wimps, who would trade our freedoms to insure a fresh supply of coffee beans for Starbucks?

Why dont we all just cower under the covers, and await our eventual destruction?

[nicmarlo]

Keeping them out tomorrow does not = indefinitely. If they attended their brother's funeral today, they'd stay out of school tomorrow, too. And probably a few more days. It's called adjusting to the circumstances of their emotions. This has been a shock, I'm sure to all those kids. Perhaps in a few days, there might be more resources from which to draw to make the CHILDREN feel more secure.

[d101302]

We're living in the sissified states of America. Our feminized culture has robbed us of the courage to deal with real adversity.

Gutless government bureaucrats are so risk-averse they'll gladly recommend that every single American hide under his bed until the sniper is caught. To them, everything is viewed in terms of how it can cover their a$$es if something bad happens.

The American people should be better than this.

[sinkspur]

This is what we get for embracing Divorce and Single mothers, it is causing the extinction of real men in this country.

You've turned into a mysoginist.

[MissBaby]

You just don't get it. Little children are at risk of being picked off by a sniper. Maybe the sniper is long gone, but the fear is real and palpable and kids are the last thing that should be used to prove a point. They aren't your soldiers.

Don't you think it is better to take steps to protect the kids so they can go to school? If they are this worth protecting (and of course they are), then is it worth putting a plan in place to protect them.

Certainly it can be done.

[Dog Gone]

There's no new threat that makes schoolchildren more vulnerable tomorrow than last Friday.

This is a liberal response (not surprising by a public school district), heartily endorsed by the soccer moms and others who use "feelings" to guide their decisions.

The ironic thing is that, as I pointed out above, it makes the kids MORE of a target.

[SarahW]

The odds are way better (worse?) than winning the mega-millions lottery, and I see people buying those tickets every day.

Little children aren't your soldiers. Get over it, you can't have them.

As far as eternal vigilance in protecting liberty, parents and citizens here are better prepared to take action than just about anywhere else in the nation. Virginia is where American liberty was born. We'll die for it. But we won't offer up the kiddies as fodder for a maniac.

[sinkspur]

misogynist.

[nicmarlo]

Teenagers have that "I'm immortal; it won't happen to me" attitude.

Let's take a survey of the children in that neighborhood and see if they still think that way. I think they'd have less bravado.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Battlefield? One child has been shot at, out of more than 3 million.

How long are you willing to keep the kids out of school, if this sniper isn't caught? The risk is of being shot is about the same as catching W. Nile or Lyme disease, so should parents keep their kids indoors until they are 18? The odds are higher to be struck by lightning, so should kids stay home everytime thunderstorms are predicted? There is the real risk of catching meningitis, should kids no longer go to school, church, or recreation?

[nicmarlo]

I don't think our children should be the cheese for the mouse/mice; mine aren't expendable.

[BuddhaBoy]

Oh, not at all, I just call them as I see them. I have great respect and reverence for women. That doesnt mean that men have to start behaving like them, does it?

Women have made great contributions to the freedoms we enjoy today. However, you cannot deny what has happened to our culture in America when half the children here are being raised by only one parent, and usually its a mother.

Your logic is the same as those who speak out against homosexuals being labled as homophobic. It's too bad that anyone who dares to speak the truth is now labled as some kind of hater.

[per loin]

I agree with you, and suggest that the Star Spangled Banner be rewritten to discard that nonsense about bravery. Those words described an entirely different species of Virginian.