Seen and heard… circa 2033

The following stories were reported in various newspapers and media outlets during the year of 2033.

August 2033 – As reported in the sixth page of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH

“Solon, OH is a typical middle class city on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cleveland, OH.  The Solon High School, home of the Comets, has consistently been graded as “Excellent with Distinction” in State school rankings.  The school boasts a near perfect graduating record with more than 90% of its graduating seniors moving onto prestigious local and national Universities to pursue their college degrees.  

Even though the schools in neighboring cities like Warrensville Heights and Bedford Heights have had incidents of gun violence, Solon has enjoyed relative tranquility up until now.  This morning, at 7:45 AM, John Adams, a fifteen year old junior, got into a verbal argument with another junior Scott Walker about a shared interest in fellow junior Lisa Munroe.  The argument soon erupted into some pushing and shoving and the other students milling around the locker room area tried to intervene and separate them.  John Adams at this time lost his composure, reached into his locker to grab his semi-automatic Colt 45 and started shooting into the crowded hallway.  Many students ducked for cover and several others reached into their own lockers, grabbed their weapons and started shooting.  Within a few minutes, the school security arrived with fully automatic weapons and not being sure about the reason for the gun fire, ensured that all students with weapons were taken down.  When the bodies were counted, in all fifteen students were killed and thirty other students were transported to area hospitals with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.  At least three of the students are in critical condition and are not expected to survive.  Classes resumed within thirty minutes of the end of the gunfire.  The principal made an announcement over the PA system about the need to show restraint while getting into any arguments and encouraged the students to avoid reaching for their guns first.  Later that afternoon he called the parents of the slain students to inform them about the tragedy.  He also posted the list of the names of the slain students in the school Notice Board.

While there was no candle light vigil or any such remembrance for the slain students, a small group of mothers, may be not more than six, associated with an organization called “Mothers Against Arming Children (MAAC)” staged a thirty minute rally in front of school protesting the rights of students to bring firearms into school buildings.  They were roundly booed by a larger group of people, ostensibly supporters of the NRA.  The passing cars honked their horns in support of the NRA supporters.  Luckily, the protesting mothers and the NRA supporters dispersed in about 30 minutes without any untoward incidents.

It is apt to recall that, about twenty years back, in the neighboring city of Chardon, TJ Lane, a high school student, walked into his school cafeteria one early morning in February and started randomly shooting at his schoolmates.  The resulting carnage left three students dead.  The incident triggered a furious debate in the state with gun control advocates pushing for stronger controls on gun purchase.  The NRA and their supporters resorted to the familiar argument that it is not the guns that kill, but it is the people.  They argued that if the other students in Chardon had carried guns, TJ Lane could have been taken down by another student with a gun.  The NRA argument prevailed that day.  The NRA and gun rights advocates worked hard in the state legislatures to successfully remove the designation of schools as “gun free” zones.  The incident in Solon leaves one to wonder what would be today’s argument by the NRA.”

It is also worthwhile to observe that there was no national or local coverage for the incident in Solon other than the report in the Plain Dealer.

September 2033, as reported in the Oberlin-News Tribune

On September 21, 2013, the Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial started the following way “Oberlin, Ohio was the latest victim Monday night of firearms aficionados who seem intent on turning the entire state into a shooting range”.  The Plain Dealer editorial was lamenting the action the previous week by the Oberlin City Council to rescind a local ordinance that had prohibited weapons in Oberlin’s public parks.  

The words of the Plain Dealer editorial were prescient and it came to be yesterday evening, almost twenty years to the day.  Yesterday evening, the soccer field on the City Park turned into a shooting range that saw pitched gun battles between several parents that resulted in the death of eight adults and ten children.  It all started when Joey Forina, a ten year old fifth grader, fouled Marco Swanson, a much smaller nine year old fourth grader.  The parents of the two boys were watching from the sidelines.  Marco was visibly hurt from the kick to his shin and both his parents rushed to his side to check on him.  They also scolded Joey for his unsportsmanlike conduct in not helping Marco to his feet.  Joey’s parents, who were also watching the boys from the sidelines, did not take kindly to Marco’s parents exchanging any words with their son.  The two parents got into an argument that led to other parents getting involved in the argument and people taking sides.  Unfortunately the tensions boiled over.  It is not clear who reached for their guns first, but it is safe to say that many parents came to the soccer grounds packing their guns.  It appears that is the custom these days in all public parks.  The police arrived within a few minutes of the starting of the melee and was able to stop any further carnage.

Since 2013, when the ordinance to designate city parks as gun free zones was rescinded, the city has seen several gun related incidents that have resulted in occasional gun fights and unfortunate resulting casualties.  But the city has never seen anything of the scale as we witnessed today.  There is already debate starting in the city halls that the city should allow its citizens to carry automatic weapons and also be able to openly display that they are carrying arms.  The argument goes that if the parents who engaged in the gun fights knew that others were armed and were able to see the type of ammo they were packing, they would have been less reluctant to reach for their guns.  The NRA representative made this argument very strongly in front of a crowd of parents that had assembled in the soccer stadium.  From the body language of the assembled crowd, it appears that the NRA has a winning argument.  The NRA representative indicated that the City Council members supporting its position would soon introduce bills to allow the citizens to openly display any ammunition they pack, including the likes of AK-47 and AR-15 guns.