Taliek Lopez-DuBoff asked (Letters, 12/16) why there were 28 school shootings in 2021. 

In the 1930s, college lettermen athletes were allowed to terrorize lesser males with hardwood paddles, but those who fought back against bullies at any school level were cheered. There were no school shootings.

In 1966 a mentally disturbed college student shot and killed 14 people in Austin, Texas. Guns were everywhere then, but this incident did not start a nationwide trend of school shootings. High schools had rifle clubs for boys and girls; faculty and student pickup trucks had rifles in gun racks, and people kept guns at home, the office and in the glove box.

Therefore, whatever change has occurred must be in society and not with guns.

There has always been a certain amount of class envy, but the idea that someone had what another coveted wasn’t seen as “unfair” by the average person. Honestly acquired material wealth was seen as something earned.

President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society eliminated personal responsibility and created the entitlement mentality. Then came the “Me Generation,” participation trophies, punishment for acting in self-defense and teachers who advocate anti-social ideas. As a victim, your sorry condition is caused by the rich, capitalism, white nationalists and Republicans, and you must avenge “inequity.” All this creates a certain mindset.

The shooting at Columbine was supposedly in response to bullying the school failed to address. What if they had addressed it? Revenge with a gun has now become the norm, but the gun itself cannot be blamed. 

Greg Williams

Noti