"There's a Shooter Downtown"

"There's a shooter downtown. The village is on lockdown."

Those words rang in my ears this past Saturday afternoon. I was being lazy, reading and watching silly TV shows. Joe, a veteran teacher, was calling to check in and tell me to stay put. He asked about my roommate, Leah. Only 15 minutes earlier, she'd said she was planning on going to the school to get some lesson planning done. I bolted from my room to check on her. Thankfully, she was just getting ready to go. I filled her in. She plopped on the couch and we talked for a good hour about our present situation.

I have to confess I never thought I'd deal with this sort of thing. Granted, this situation wasn't in school or during school hours. I wasn't captive in my classroom with kids under my care. Since the events at Newtown, CT, however, my teacher brain has been occupied with how I would act in such a situation.

Ironically, at this last Wednesday's staff meeting, three days before this incident, we discussed how our site, as well as the closest upriver and downriver sites, would likely be participating in a sort of gun training this coming March. Another thought entered my head: Teacher training now includes gun training.

How did we get to this?

I've seen the debates online: Do we arm teachers? Principals? Both? Install metal detectors at every school entrance in the nation? I don't know. I'd like to think we don't have to live in such an alarmist state, but given the number of shootings lately, I just don't know what to think.

I debated about writing on this topic. I came to the conclusion that there needs to be some sort of conversation about the disturbing number of shootings, or even that shootings are happening at all. Without a conversation, no improvement will be made. It seems nearly daily there's another headline. Is that because we're hyper-aware of it now? Is it because the media reports every event in the wake of the Newtown tragedy? Does that reporting spur more events? I don't know.

I don't know how to fix this trend or reverse it. No one does. And that's the infuriating part. We pride ourselves on being problem-solvers, or at least asking the right questions to be able to reach solutions, but there seems to be no solution to this particular problem. The greater questions include: how do we get help to those who so badly need coping skills? Why does it take such an act of desperation for some of these people to be identified? Do all of these desperate acts point to a greater societal pressure to bury our problems inside instead of admit and deal with them? And perhaps the most vital and overarching question: What will it take to protect our children and youth?

Obviously I'm not a source of answers. These are just the things that go through my brain. What I do know is that putting more guns into a building meant for students just doesn't quite sit right with me. It may also bring a false sense of security, as someone who intends harm to others probably won't be deterred by the knowledge that firearms could be present in schools.

To round out the story, the troopers were called immediately, and the shooter was detained, likely by some village men first who then handed him over to the troopers. The community has a pretty good idea of who it was, but there has been no official announcement and there probably won't be one. I don't believe he had a malicious intent; it's likely that he was drinking too much, became angry, and just started shooting, but all we have at this point are rumors. I'm sure the full story will unfold in the next few days.

I'm pretty lucky to have some kind neighbors in Josh and Howie; they came over and told us everything they knew, that they had their guns ready, and to call if we heard anything or even if we just wanted an escort to the school. It's comforting that they consider us to be part of their families.

The next question for me is this: with all this talk of tighter gun control, do I buy one now? My gut instinct says yes. I am in rural Alaska, after all. I'm probably the naive one for not owning one already; however, I'm not a hunter and do not venture outside the village on my own, so it didn't really occur to me until now.

The village is back to normal already. Siblings of the shooter came to school, smiling like usual. Their strength baffles me.

Howie brought me a fish to dissect in class (his daughter is one of my students) and told me to consider his nets as my own and to help myself. I just heard on the VHF (radio) that there is bingo tonight. We go on. No one was hurt - this time. This is certainly not the first time someone has started shooting in town, and it won't be the last.

Nope, sadly, it won't be the last.