Finley: Livonia gun scare raises 'What if' questions

Like a number of other Livonia families, mine spent a fitful night Monday, waking up and wondering, “what if?”

What if the young boy who brought a loaded handgun to Holmes Middle School earlier that day had not had second thoughts about what he intended to do?

What if, instead of turning it into school officials, he had turned it on his fellow students and teachers, or himself?

What if Holmes had joined the list of school names, starting with Columbine and extending through Oxford, forever seared in our memories for the blood spilled inside their walls?

More than 700 students were in the school, along with roughly 60 teachers and staff. Among them was my son-in-law, Russ Keberly, who teaches English at Holmes.

We have a back-and-forth, years-long thread of text messages about the vulnerability of schools to shooters, and how they could be made safer. Just a week ago we debated Tennessee’s decision to allow teachers to carry guns in their classrooms.

We agree on some things, disagree on many others, but share the opinion that despite decades of efforts to make schools more secure and guns more scarce, students and teachers remain vulnerable.

I can’t count the number of times he’s used the phrase, “we’re sitting ducks.” It could easily have become reality Monday.

“All of the district officials were here Tuesday morning, and every teacher told them the same thing,” Russ says. “We’ve got 700 kids walking into schools with backpacks and we have no idea what’s inside them.”

Oxford shooter Ethan Crumbley used a backpack to bring into the school the gun he used to kill four of his classmates. Yet a vast majority of Michigan students still walk into schools without passing through a metal detector or having their backpacks examined.

Those same kids face more scrutiny entering Comerica Park to watch the Tigers play than they do coming into a school building.

Like the Oxford shooter, the Holmes student had access to a loaded gun, presumably brought from home. Michigan has implemented a safe storage law requiring firearms to be locked away from children.

I support that law, but also recognize it largely works to penalize after the fact, rather than deter. Kids still have access to guns, obviously, and some of them still bring them to school.

Schools should have scanners in place to screen kids as they enter the building. Backpacks should be physically checked or they should be made of clear material, as Oxford schools have mandated.

Livonia does have armed, professional security guards in its schools, something that has eased the anxiety of students, teachers and parents.

These are basic protections that should be a top priority for education dollars.

Livonia, where my daughter also is a teacher, has implemented practices that likely worked to prevent a tragedy Monday.

“The district has invested in student support teams,” Russ says. “So, this student had a trusted adult to go to when he had a moment of clarity. That made a huge difference in saving his life, and perhaps others. Not all districts have those resources.”

They should have them. Treating relationship building with students as a security measure is smart, and effective.

But still, a gun got into the school.

As long as schools remain wide open, backpacks go unexamined and guns are within easy reach of distraught children, the sleep defying “what if?” question can easily become an anguished “why?”

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