Thursday, October 19, 2006
A Day I Took My Gun to School
Always in the Vice Principal's office. Now an eighth-grade, punk kid with a shotgun -- a double-auto, Browning Twentyweight 12 gauge about to enter Mr. Cappas' mid-morning English class.
The classroom and occupants survived that '70's day in spite of the steam radiators and because the shotgun and its holder were together for a class demonstration unlike those that today scatter young flesh in slippery yet sticky pools. What a difference decades make.
On that day -- a cold one as Cleveland winter days were back then before Al Gore's global warming initiative took hold -- the gun was carried out of the house, down to the bus stop, onto the bus, off, then into the school and my locker to safe-keep the big show later on. All the while, the principal gave a pass to the armed adolescent activity since it would help a troubled youth express himself in better ways than always acting up and class clown-ish -- especially with Cappas.
So, after the prescribed demonstration -- where classmates were awed by the presenter's knowledge of trapshooting and preparation entailing it, never mind a large firearm -- the gun went back in the case, then locker, out, again a principal's pass, through school doors and onto a bus home. Could this happen today?
How can the other happen?
The classroom and occupants survived that '70's day in spite of the steam radiators and because the shotgun and its holder were together for a class demonstration unlike those that today scatter young flesh in slippery yet sticky pools. What a difference decades make.
On that day -- a cold one as Cleveland winter days were back then before Al Gore's global warming initiative took hold -- the gun was carried out of the house, down to the bus stop, onto the bus, off, then into the school and my locker to safe-keep the big show later on. All the while, the principal gave a pass to the armed adolescent activity since it would help a troubled youth express himself in better ways than always acting up and class clown-ish -- especially with Cappas.
So, after the prescribed demonstration -- where classmates were awed by the presenter's knowledge of trapshooting and preparation entailing it, never mind a large firearm -- the gun went back in the case, then locker, out, again a principal's pass, through school doors and onto a bus home. Could this happen today?
How can the other happen?
Labels: guns, school violence
