example. how is that changing, you know, people s interactions in bars? i mean, on college campuses, there s a move to increase, you know, access to guns for students and how is that changing i just think what happened here is every educator s worst nightmare in a certain kind of way that a regular interaction about a conflict about a debate team or something leads to some kind of fatality. something so important, i want to go back to what you said, gregory, school leadership being the thing that makes schools safer. i was reminded of antoinette tuff who helped to talk down that shooter in georgia. right? we re reminded of the janitor who plays that key role on this day. i m thinking maybe the best safety policy is high quality pay, you know, teachers unions, you know, the things that make educators be secure and safe and want to protect your kids. the studies show when the school has a proper climate, a proper tone in the building, everybody is involved in the process from the f
there. i texted my parents. fortunately, i had my phone. but i sent a text i had never wanted to send to my parents. i sent the text i never wanted to have to send to my parents. meaning she thought about it wasn t i sent an unthinkable text but one she thought about. i kept thinking does that armored vehicle, does this military grade equipment, how does that fit with living for her in a circumstance where she s thinking about the possibility she may have to send this kind of text? to lisa s point, it s the new normal now. we have to be careful how we go down this slippery slope. i was an outspoken critic putting officers in every school. first of all i ve had this three-pronged test, what problem are you solving putting a police officer at the front door? that being said, can you afford to put a police officer in every school?
not just your school, my school, but every school. 125,000 schools in the country, how many cops, can you do that? if you can t do it, don t start it because you can t sustain it. the question is are we going to get to the point things are doable and sustainable rather than just knee-jerk reactions. you get the last word on this. we re still processing what happened here, but this is among other things an access to guns issue. in a way, the question of armed police the schools is guarding against the shoe bomber or something that s already happened. this is also an access to guns issue. we have tremendous research that shows that if we limit access we ll stop the problem before it even happens at this point. right. there may be questions of mental health and all these other sorts of thing bus in the end there s a fundamental access question. absolutely. gregory thomas and jonathan, thank you for being here this morning. before we go to break, i want to once again point our au
just really gets you in the gut, because the headline is just again. it s just again. that culture of repetition. no one wants to politicize the death of, but that lanl, again. yeah. to a sane person, how can you politicize this? this is violence and just thinking again i saw the kids lined up and the hands up and it s become normal. it s like the new normal. i went to new york city public schools, to jamaica high school, which is a huge inner city public school. after i graduated i remembered hearing they set up metal detectors. i remember my friends and i were like, metal detectors? already ha felt like a violation. but to see these kids that are basically scared and being stopped and frisked was really, really depressing and horrible. is there a way to talk about this, john, that captures our distress, that acknowledges that
school with an effort to try to encourage the shooter to go with him. reporter: now, melissa, as you mentioned the student, carl pearson, was found dead. police believe he turned his weapon on himself. the student who was shot and injured is a 15-year-old at the school. she underwent surgery yesterday, at last report in critical condition. obviously a lot of thoughts and prayers with her and her family. classes will be canceled on monday. officials say in the next day or two they ll decide whether they need to continue to close clatszs throughout the early part of next week. for now, as you can imagine, this community is still in shock about what happened here yesterday afternoon. undoubtedly. thank you so much, ron mott, reporting for us from colorado. the newtown shooting one year ago today and yesterday s shooting in colorado leave us asking one question how can we be sure that our kids feel safe and are safe when they go to school? on nbc s meet the press, shortly after the