Paul Coverdell: “In the wake of the Littleton school shootings, we've heard a lot about educators' need to pay attention to the ``warning…”

“In the wake of the Littleton school shootings, we've heard a lot about educators' need to pay attention to the ``warning signs'' of potentially violent youngsters. In this case such signs were plain to see. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold produced videos and wrote essays for their classes depicting murderous fantasies. I make a point about the legal culture. A pair of Supreme Court rulings makes it difficult for educators to do anything at all when confronted with such warning signs. The warning sign in the case of the teacher in Georgia was a pistol pointed right at him. That is a little late. But he made a decision and he executed the decision, saved the child, and was not harmed himself. It is difficult for educators to do anything when confronted with the warning signs or, indeed, to even enforce ordinary discipline that kids need in order to be molded into citizens. That goes back to the point I was making a bit ago. Unfortunately, this happens in a lot of walks of life. It happens with employers. It happens with store owners. People stop making prudent decisions or become so overly cautious about the legal costs, which are passed on to the consumer, that they start doing things that do not make sense for society.”