Mass shootings

A Riverhead Middle School student made a “verbal threat” against the school and its students, causing the Riverhead Police Department to launch an investigation into the incident, according to a letter sent to the school community around 3:30 p.m. today.

Opinion: No, gun control laws won’t prevent all gun violence. And yes, every mass shooter is by definition mentally ill. But focusing on one of these to the exclusion of the other is as effective as “thoughts and prayers” are for healing the hearts of grieving parents, siblings and other family members of the 19 little children and their teachers whose bodies were shredded by hundreds of rounds of bullets in a Texas classroom this week. It does next to nothing. And that's exactly what the gun lobby wants.

Even as we grapple with our own emotions in reaction to the latest mass shooting at a school, as parents we also have to figure out how best to answer our children's questions— questions that have no good answers. Column by Maria Piedrabuena