This hits close to home

Dear Readers, We have to come to this.  Parents in every nook and cranny of America send their children to school to learn with trepidation.  J.D. Vance says that it is just a fact of life we have to accept.

Small-town America looks like Perry, Georgia, a bucolic community nestled between its “big sister” of Warner Robins (further north of urban Macon) and rural communities heading south.  Winder’s population is almost exactly the same as Perry, sitting just south of Athens and outside metro Atlanta.  Life there is no different than Perry.

Except it is because it is scarred by a senseless school murder spree.  A week ago (last Wednesday), four (4) people were randomly murdered in the 45th school shooting this year; the 46th was the next day in Maryland.

Richard Aspinwall walked out of his classroom to investigate a commotion and was shot in the doorway.  His students pulled him back into the room and used their shirts in a futile attempt to staunch his bleeding wounds. 

Christina Irimie took a bullet trying to save one of her charges; she made that snap decision to sacrifice her life.  Ms. Irimie could not celebrate her birthday on August 24th, as she cared for her mother recovering from surgery.  Her mother now has to sleep-walk through life because her adult child predeceased her. 

The echoes of family loss reverberate.  Children suddenly robbed of a parent, parents grieving inconsolably the loss of a precious child.  We cannot heal these wounds; we can only pray these families (and the community of Winder) find strength to carry on.

Thankfully, GBI swiftly also arrested Colin Gray (Colt’s father) for murder.  Over a year ago, Colin was visited by the FBI because of disturbing tips about his son’s school shooting online posts.  There was not enough information to charge his 13-year-old son, whom he assured authorities did not have ready access to “hunting” weapons.  

After this “visit,” Colin Gray bought his son an AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas Gift, knowing his son had been musing about school massacres.  In the search of the Gray home, the boy’s fascination with Parkland-style school shooting was evident. 

The week before the murder spree, Colt’s grandmother talked to the school counselor and was supposedly enrolling her disturbed grandson in immediate therapy. 

Colt’s mother had been ejected from the home on family violence charges.  She had limited contact with her son.  Even so, she learned her some was homicidal and tried to warn school authorities the morning of the spree. 

Every time there is a school bloodbath, Republican politicians say now is not the time to discuss legal reforms.  When is the time, six months?  A year?  Educators are already underpaid and overworked.  For them, teaching is a passion, a calling, and not “just a job;.” it cannot also be a potential “death penalty.”  Do you want your child to grow up to be a teacher? 

If Apalachee High School is unsafe, so is Perry High School; yes, this hits that close to home.  Parents must feel their beloved children will safely return home from schools, daycares, concerts, and malls.

Preventing massacres has to be one of our highest legal priorities.  We have to demand more of elected officials.  Governor Brian Kemp says now is not the time; of course it is.  His prayers and pious expressions of sympathy for the community of Winder are hollow.  Do something NOW!!! 

More guns are not the answer.  Please stop the silly trope about arming teachers.  Mass murderers are crazy; they are undeterred by possible consequences.  Teachers with glocks are also “underpowered” against war weapons. 

Stop treating the 2nd Amendment as an absolute barrier instead of a boulder.  There has to be a legal path to preventing irresponsible fathers from buying a child a weapon of war.

We can “harden” schools.  Yes, the brilliant work of law enforcement on campus is a preventive measure.  We need more.  How does a child smuggle an AR-15 on campus?  Intercity schools have clear back-pack rules and medical detectors, so why can’t all schools everywhere have the exact requirements?  If it is about money, the government needs to pony up the resources.

We have come to this; it stops now.  I want my daughters to come home from elementary school and college every day.  The grief of the Winder Community is unfathomable; we do not want to find out what it feels like.

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami.  Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000.  E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.