In the wake of the appalling school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were brutally executed, many uncomfortable truths need to be addressed and difficult questions asked.

Predictably, many on the left politicized and weaponized the tragedy to call for gun control. As we have seen unfold in countless tragedies, criminals will do whatever is necessary to harm innocent people, whether a truck, knife, homemade bomb or gun.

Instead of punishing law-abiding citizens and emboldening criminals who break the law regardless of legislative action, we must take a more comprehensive look at what is causing evil to triumph over good.

To protect our children, we need to revamp the security of school facilities, implement meticulous training programs for law enforcement officers, and address the root causes of violence embedded in our culture.

As a former Navy SEAL with three wartime deployments to Iraq, I understand the unique safety threats we face on the homefront. This issue is also deeply personal to me, as I was involved in implementing upgraded security measures in my daughter’s school. These steps would all save more innocent children and teachers’ lives than targeting the weapon of choice.

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We must immediately invest in commonsense security reform. The voices of parents must also be considered. School administrators must sit down with them and lay out comprehensive standard operating procedures to ensure primary and contingency plans.

Essential to all of this is accountability for decision-makers and cohesion between schools and law enforcement. Accordingly, here are some questions that need to be answered:

All these issues can be addressed with proper funding. However, you cannot simply outsource these responsibilities to our inept government.

With law enforcement agencies overburdened with record-high crime across the country, schools also need to prioritize deterrence, which requires addressing an uncomfortable truth: the deterioration of the nuclear family. The common denominator among school shooters is the lack of a strong, present father figure in their lives.

In an examination in 2016 of the 25 most-cited school shooters since Columbine, psychologist Dr. Peter Langman, a preeminent expert on school shooters, found that most came from broken homes. These toxic environments often go beyond divorce to include drug abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence or marital infidelity.

Children raised without stable family environments are far more susceptible to poverty, behavior problems, drugs and crime.

With roughly 1 in 4 Americans growing up in a single-parent household, we need to understand that our school safety epidemic will likely continue without a cultural shift.

Children and teachers deserve to go to school free from fear. It is the responsibility of the United States government to ensure their safety.

Real solutions are more complex than grabbing guns. Real solutions will require us to commit to overhauling the security apparatus and law enforcement training procedure. And we must have an honest conversation about the ramifications of undermining foundational intuitions like the family and religion.

If we genuinely care about school safety, we will have these conversations and ask these questions. We need new leaders willing to do both.

Eli Crane is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and an America First candidate for Arizona's 2nd Congressional District. Reach him at pat@eliforarizona.com.