Yes, the school could have called police, searched the kid's backpack or taken other actions; and yes, the school district will probably be paying out millions in liability judgements. But in the context of present-day Amerika I think it's wrong to pin special blame on the school officials.
First note that, while schools are allowed to search lockers without a warrant — the lockers are school property — this does not apply to backpacks. To forcibly search a backpack without permission from student or parents requires "reasonable suspicion" or, in some cases, "probable cause." Is the school supposed to shell out $200, or whatever it is, for a lawyer's opinion on every incident?
Yes, a judge (if appointed by Democrats) would probably decide that such a search had at least "reasonable suspicion." But legal-system judges are not the relevant judges in post-rational Amerika. Whether they found a gun in the backpack or not, Karen Crumbley would have been posting on Facebook about the assault on their 4th, 2nd and 1st Amendment rights. School officials would start getting death threats. And, when Ethan's suspension was finished and he came back firing a gun, the particular school official who searched the backpack would be first on Ethan's hit-list.
Several Congressmen are receiving death threats repeatedly. (Ilhan Omar is literally up to
thousands.) QOP Congressmen are receiving death threats just for voting not to shut-down the government. True, most of these threats won't be acted on; but receiving them is still scary. Kudos to Ilhan and other brave people who persist despite these threats, but millions would not. QOPAnon has learned that, while one man gets only one vote, sending hundreds of death threats gives a single QOPAnoner more political power than dozens of ordinary voters.
In the 1940's the U.S. lost many soldiers rescuing Europe from tyranny. The victims of the Oxford school massacre are martyrs whose deaths should also be turned to good; opinion-makers need to use such incidents to shed light on Amerika's festering faults. If rational citizens are now more likely to vote, or some of the saner Trumpists clear their heads, then these children will not have died in vain.
[off-topic:]
The parents have responsibility towards abs for their son.
This sentence makes no sense.
"abs" is not a word.
Tom
It's supposed to be "and". The B and the S are right next to the N and the D on a standard US keyboard.
Nitpick: If the fingers were all off a key, the 'a' would have hit CapsLock and 'and' would change to 'BS', not 'abs.'