We can do better. People need to be held accountable when lapses occur during the many checks and balances of these processes already put in place to prevent these scenarios from happening.

There was three school shootings between 1903 - 1966. The "breakout" era of mass gun shootings in schools happened in the 1990's and has continued it's rinse and repeat cycle, and, par for the course, seems to happen more frequently during midterm election years.

All I know is that the authorities, the FBI, the CIA and the Government have a tendency to just "fall asleep at the wheel" when it comes to scenarios they actually practice out just like this when the real thing happens.

This kid was arrested at 14 for having a written out plan allegedly to do exactly what he did at 18. That needed to be flagged somewhere in a system to say "Hey, son, you are not fit to own a gun at this time because you were arrested 4 years ago for wanting to shoot up a school at exactly 18 years of age, and, well, based on your ID and this exchange we're having at the moment it appears you're now 18".

He was also talking about it openly for DAYS before he commited the shooting. Where are the algorithims for this on social media flagging this kind of stuff and filtering it to a moderator, local authorities, etc?

So many failed check points here. Including the family.

The line in the sand is clear for most people. The sand, however, is getting deeper and deeper with countless victims that honestly get left behind in the grand scheme of things. "Can't see it from my backyard". "It wasn't my child or grandchild." I get that.

However, we can still do better. And it really starts by holding the authorities accountable that failed here 4 years ago. Personally? I don't think an 18 year old should be able to buy a gun.

For starters. You have to be 21 to drink legally. You have to be 25 to rent a car. Seems pretty [BLEEP] backwards in today's society. Today's 18 year old is not the same 18 year old that grew up in the 1940's - 1960's. A lot of them are barely capable of speaking to a real life human being to get an application filled out.

I think social media is a problem. I think television, video games and music are also partly to blame. This is coming from a 34 year old elder millenial. Not a baby boomer, not an old veteran from the silent generation. Just a millenial understanding that when people asked for more expressive freedoms in influential media platforms? They didn't factor in how much influence they would have.

There's something to be said about mental health, school shootings, suicide rates, anxiety and depression going up as more and more advanced and open our technology became to suit anybody's fancy. Whether willingly seeking it out or chancing upon it. For better or worse. Entertainment loves shock value. People eat it up like the Romans ate up the Gladiator games.

We idolize serial killers, we idolize school shooters, we put them on shirts, we add to their legend by watching countless documentaries to keep them alive. Things are getting uglier and uglier and we wonder why things like this happen.

It's obvious by now.

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