SAN ANGELO, TX — When Mark Bethune and his wife Sherrell, both of San Angelo, received news of the shooting on May 18 at Santa Fe High School where 10 were killed, the impact was greater than it would be for most. The husband and wife team are both graduates of Santa Fe High. Mark is class of 1985 and Sherrell 1990.
And there’s more. Mark and Sherrell survived the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest country music concert in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
Mark said the Vegas shooting gave him perspective on what the students and faculty at his alma mater were experiencing. When an organizer asked him to speak at a private event designed to comfort the Santa Fe community, he made the drive to the small community south of Houston on State Highway 6, located just northwest of the main bridge that takes you to Galveston Island.
The event allowed the kids and the adults to be separated. ‘It was a safe gathering where the kids could hang out and talk about what happened,” Bethune said. Adults, both victims and family members of the victims, gathered in another room. In all, about 2,000 people were present. Mark was scheduled to speak.
“I had prepared a talk, but when we got there, and I saw how the interactions between the people were happening, and how emotionally positive it was, I dismissed my prepared remarks,” Mark said. Instead, when he spoke, he made it short and sweet. He told the crowd he knew many people around the world were praying for them.
Santa Fe is not the same place where Mark grew up. The sprawling Houston urban growth has all but swallowed the former 3A school Mark knew that had other 3A rivals from the edges of Harris County, away from the urban center. They competed against other smaller high schools in close-knit communities like Bellville, Needville, and Katy. Swallowed by Houston today, it’s now 5A with nearly 1500 students enrolled. The urbanization of Santa Fe may have changed the community, but in many ways, Mark said, it’s still the same.
“At the private gathering, you had a lot of second, third, and fourth generation Santa Fe residents there,” he said. That family history still ties the community together tighter than a typical suburban, and new, high school can.
That kind of generational glue made the reactions to the Santa Fe shooting more heartbreaking but the healing process stronger and better, Mark said. . “They dealt with the tragedy in a healthy manner.”.
Even though he has been exposed to the tragedies of mass shootings, Mark said he remains pro-Second Amendment. Yet the tragedies have opened his eyes to the need for the country to come together for more responsible gun ownership. Specifically, Mark thinks we need to find ways to make guns that are owned less accessible.
“No current gun law could have stopped Santa Fe,” he said. The weapons the shooter used were taken from the shooter’s home. They were his father’s guns. The shooter was 17, effectively an adult. Texas Penal Code 46.13, the statute that can be used to charge the adult with a misdemeanor if a child could gain access to an adult’s guns, applies to children under 17.
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As a parent, it's a tough situation to be a gun owner... My children personally are young and I don't have to worry about them getting into my gun-safe, but they won't be young forever.
Communicate with the kiddos and stay on top of their emotional, "temperature".
Lock doors and windows, replace small screws in hinges and door jamb's with 4" screws.
Fingerprint safes that your kids don't have access to.
Choose a specific weapon that may be left within access for home defense, a full size 12 gauge isn't very discreet./ If your situation permits.
Lock up all weapon's if your kid's having a tough time.
Choose alternative defense method's that your kid can employ, "Home Alone" style, whey your're not home with them.
If a character attempts a home invasion but he can't kick the door in right away or easily get in the window, and your kid has a can of wasp spray, a bat, a slingshot, anything to do some damage... You're average criminal is looking for easy victims, not someone that will make it hell on them for trying to break in. Anything can be a weapon... Rain down hell on the dummy with a bb pistol from cover... You get the gist. Not all kids need to have access to a gun, more responsible and aware homeowners would help by not teaching their children bad habits like leaving the door unlocked... It may have worked for grandma and grandpa for 97 years, but you can't exactly predict a break in. I guess it's not breaking in if you didn't even offer a primary level of resistance at the door.
Attitude is the primary factor when faced with life and death, if we teach our kids the realities and actually take the time to implement layers of defense, they will be that much more prepared and focused when the real thing goes down... Joe could probably teach a thing or two about it... Having been in the Air Force, I'm sure that they teach the physiological responses to a threat, even a perceived threat. The first thing to go, when your system gets flooded with an adrenaline dump, is fine motor skills. Keep it simple, get to cover away from the threat, close doors, knock things over, call the police and put them on speaker, get ready to fight for your life if you have to. I've seen videos of a guy with a lawn chair beating the crap out of some dudes who jumped his fence with a shotgun, he had the awareness and will to survive that saved his life that night.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, let them know you have a gun and will shoot them, yell in your loudest voice, make yourself an unpleasant target and you may not ever have to shoot them... If that doesn't work, let them make it in the house first, don't shoot them outside in the process of gaining entry. You want the jury to understand that you gave the clown ample opportunity to avoid being killed by an armed citizen, because you will have to answer to shooting somebody, even if you obeyed every law in the book. Laws, those are good to research as well... Not just that, but proper training on what to say to the police after an incident also. We live in a culture now where the law rules the day and you need to know it to help prepare for defending yourself in court for exercising the right to defend yourself at home.
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