School Violence: The view from abroad

These comments appeared on CNN's message boards in the aftermath of the Springfield, Oregon school shooting:

From a British perspective it's hard to understand how the most powerful & wealthy nation on the planet can't grasp the very, very simple point that you have lots of violence because you have guns. We have no guns, we have no shootings. It's really very simple.

I am writing this from Canada. When I watched the horror on CNN I felt just as saddened as any American. That is because those were children that were killed and injured by another child. It was not just another thing that happened in the U.S., it was another thing that happened in the world which we are all part of.

I am not an American (but married to one ) and been living here for a year ...everything here is beyond me. I lived in a country where there was war for 20 years (I'm 28) and I can assure you that no kid ever carried a gun! or thought of killing somebody (kid or adult)...I think that we learned to appreciate life even if we were in shelters...maybe these kids need to learn it the hard way. I believe that a punishment may teach other kids to behave...The Americans always find an excuse for every crime. They say that the kids were frustrated, they want to release their anger...I'll tell you what frustration is : it's when you live an ongoing war, when you go to school and suddenly bombs go down and you don't know if you'll see your parents again... I wonder what frustrated this kid? If you don't want to punish these kids like you should, Well send them for sometime to a country where there is war , hunger, misery, maybe they'll become better persons...Maybe!!

I am a Canadian and seeing these tragedies played out on TV makes me weep. It is so incredibly sad - these children will never be the same again - their lives have been irrevocably altered by one individual who for whatever obscure reason decided to do something violent. This must stop - we, here in Canada, cannot sit smugly by and say it can't happen here - it can and I fear it will - even though guns are less available here.