As two students demonstrated when they shot from woods at students and faculty leaving their school because of a false fire alarm, the use of rifles avoids both metal detectors and guards inside a school. Whatever the pros and cons of gun control, so many millions of guns are already available, as columnist William Raspberry has noted, that the idea of any significant control of their availability is weak. In the comments on this subject there is no mention of one feature these violent acts share. Perhaps it is a case of not seeing the forest for the trees. That feature is these acts took place in public schools where attendance is compulsory.
Violence is almost nonexistent in nonpublic schools.
But, note, we said it occurs in public school where attendance is compulsory. That compulsion, that lack of personal choice and commitment, may be the key rather than whether a school is public or nonpublic. Violence and the presence of students carrying weapons is almost as rare in public schools of choice, such as the nearly 1,000 charter schools that have appeared in the past half dozen years, the many magnet schools across the nation, and the other forms of alternative public schools of choice. Some charter schools were formerly public schools where the change brought significant positive changes. A troubled student who hates where he is may be motivated to act out that hate.