Metal detectors and Cameras: The Solution to Youth Violence

The family of the victim killed in the recent school shooting held a press conference today.

Strangely enough they don't seem to even mention gun control - not even once:

The family of slain teenager Jordan Manners made a tearful appeal to the Ontario government on Wednesday to launch an inquest and called for the appointment of a commissioner of youth.

I will give a mile of credit to this family for not getting sucked into the political meanderings of the Ontario Premier and the Mayor of Toronto in this whole affair by pushing for tougher gun laws.

I get the real sense that they don't really care what the politics is around this situation - they just want this to never happen again to someone else.

I sympathise with their suggestion that metal detectors and cameras need to be installed in today's highschools. It's the only shot we have to stopping a future crime like this one from happening again, because it's become apparent that it doesn't matter how tough your gun restrictions are someone will always break them.

"I'm asking for all your support, please don't let my son die in vain," Small said.

"He was on his way to being somebody and was the one who could have made a difference for me in my old age," Small said.

(..)

"This is not about a black community," said Greg Stokes, Jordan's uncle.

And this is the point where the family starts loosing me.

Of course this is about the black community. It's about the white community. It's about the immigrant community.

Part of the underlying social problems in teenage violence are partially all our responsibility collectively. And by that I don't mean that we as some sort of Borg like collective are responsible, but rather we as individuals need to accept responsibility for the moral decay that is prevalent in society today.

I argue if we were to act more moral, we would see a society not so prone to these acts of violence. Children, let us not forget, emulate. Part of these crimes originate from everyone's individual lack of sense of duty, honor, honesty and respect for each other's individual liberties and rights.

Comments like those at their root serve to deflect responsibility, when the solution lies in taking responsibility.

Then comes in the leftist activists to chime in:

John Muise, director of Public Safety for the Canadian Centre for Abuse Awareness, also echoed the call for an inquest and youth commissioner.

The province appointed its third and final commissioner, Ken Dryden, in 1984. He served in the position for two years.

"We have young men who pack real hand guns and the end result is horrific, it's horrible," Muise said. "We need an answer from decision makers."

It's so much easier to call on the state to do something isn't it? Because then we can all sit back and do nothing, and then when something goes wrong we can blame the state for all our ills.

The family gets a mile of credit by me like I said, but one thing I can't agree with is the need for a youth commisioner.

Just how does adding one more layer of bureaucracy aid the cause against youth violence?

We would be best to listen to the words of the family on this one:

"I just don't want to see any other family going through what I'm going through, what my family and friends are going through," Small added.

And that's exactly what our primary objective should be in this case: do everything we can to prevent this from happening again.

That means installing metal detectors and cameras in schools, and it doesn't mean hiring another public servant to commission reports that tell us what we already know.