Happiness is a warm gun?

By Nancy Black

The best part of online high school? Students come home alive.

I was going to write this week about how wonderful online high school has been for my teenager and me. All the classes are on the computer. My student talks with teachers and other students, does daily assignments and has huge projects to complete — and it’s all done virtually. We’ve only had to print out ONE PIECE OF PAPER for the ENTIRE SCHOOL YEAR!

Both my children used to come home daily with mounds of paperwork. Oh, what a waste of trees it was. By the end of any given school year, they could fill a recycling barrel full of paper. But, no more. We are saving acres of trees just in our one household by participating in online schooling.

There are other benefits, too. No more frenzied morning and afternoon carpool traffic jams. No more making sure there’s enough money in the lunchroom account. No more screaming: “Hurry up! You’re going to be late!” I could name more. But truly, today — during this month of May 2018 in the United States of America — I am forever grateful that my child is home, safe and sound, and doing school work in the next room.

I remembered seeing a news alert on my cell phone Friday morning. I was at the dentist when I got the notice, so I could only glance at the message — “10 dead in school shooting.” Then, later in the day, I drove by our local police station and saw the flags at half-staff. “Who died now?” I wondered, since the flags have been in the same position recently for fallen Dallas Police officer Rogelio Santander and for Former First Lady Barbara Bush. Then, with a sinking feeling, I remembered about the school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas.

The pain the parents and families of those murdered at the school must be going through is unimaginable. My thoughts and prayers go out to them during this horrific time in their lives. But I’m going to do more than just pray. I’m going to vote. And when I cast my ballot, it will be for politicians who support real gun reform.

Stop it, NRA (National Rifle Association), with all the propaganda about people wanting to take away your members’ precious guns. Buying a gun should be at least as difficult as it is to get a driver’s license — period. That means being of legal age, receiving gun education (like driver’s ed), passing a shooting test (like the dreaded driving test) and then waiting forever at the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) office, like everyone who drives a car has to do at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) office.

What is so offensive to the Second Amendment about that?!

My freshman and I have a long list of reasons why we love online high school. We just never thought safety would be No. 1.