Getting ready for school
It’s hard to believe that the NRA thinks it can get any traction by upping the ante in school hallways. But I was on the school board once upon a time and I know that when parents feel threatened, they become somewhat, um, irrational. (Remind me to tell you about the woman who threw a baggie full of her daughter’s golden lice ridden hair at the BOE and demanded we shut the schools down until the critters were gone for good. True story. Oh, the stories I could tell.)
The NRA’s Wayne La Pierre said this today:
“The only way — the only way — to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection,” Mr. LaPierre said. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Gun-free school zones identified by signs, he said, serve only to “tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to effect maximum mayhem with minimum risk.”
“So why is the idea of a gun good when it’s used to protect the president of our country or our police but bad when it’s used to protect our children in our schools?” he continued. “They’re our kids. They’re our responsibility. And it’s not just our duty to protect them; it’s our right to protect them.”
Clever. LaPierre goes right to the gut, which has been well known to circumvent the brain, especially when it comes to parents and their children. What might be lost on parents, but certainly not lost on LaPierre, is that the latest gun catastrophe is a primo business opportunity.
If you’re terrified that your kids are going to be slaughtered on the way to second period, no amount of protection will be sufficient. I don’t think making schools into fortresses with armed guards is enough. Can we get some razor wire on the 20 foot fence? How about kevlar body armor for everyone, K-12? And forget gym class. We can have target practice every day, mandatory.
Because, according to LaPierre, childhood is for sissies and slackers. The “only way” to keep insane killers from killing our kids is to arm ourselves to the teeth, terrify parents and watch all that property tax money flow to the security industry instead of the string program or the arts teachers.
It’s the only way. Increasing the separation between insane killers and their guns will not work. Or we could try never allowing our kids to leave the womb. That might work. Don’t think it hasn’t crossed some parents’ minds.
But doesn’t that mean that the persons with the most freedom and liberty are insane killers with guns? They’re apparently allowed to do whatever they want. There’s no stopping them. And if you aren’t packing heat, well, then you’re asking for it. We can’t deprive these people of their right to be both insane and armed.
LaPierre is probably Ok with cuts to Social Security too. Damn seniors need to learn to hunt for their dinner.
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In the same NYTimes article, US Rep Mike Thompson (D California) made this disturbing statement:
“Everyone agrees our schools, movie theaters shopping malls, streets and communities need to be safer,” said a statement by Representative Mike Thompson, Democrat of California. “But we need a comprehensive approach that goes beyond just arming more people with more guns to make this happen.”
I don’t agree that what we need is to make public spaces safer. The burden and expense keeps getting dumped on the innocent who can’t move around freely and must always be on their guard. I’m really shocked that a Democrat would make this statement. It’s a complete capitulation to the security industry. That’s how they want us to feel- like no place is safe enough. Shame on Thompson. He needs to be calming people down, not giving into their gut reactions to an insane act.
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Lenore Skenazy at FreeRangeKids posts about the fallout of Sandy Hook that results in disintegration of community spirit and increase in distrust. I doubt that insane killers care one way or the other but the 1% are absolutely delighted that we’re eyeing each other and keeping our distances.
Hmmm, maybe what we need is Family Movie Night:
Filed under: General | Tagged: a bug's life, ants vs grasshoppers, lenore skenazy, NRA, schools, security industry, Wayne LaPierre |
The Confluence 
I’m not sure who is really going for the gut here, the usually crazy guy who is basically suggesting that you might want a cop patrolling a school if you’re serious about preventing violent crime, or the Lord Mayor of New York (protected, lest we forget, 24/7 by a heavily armed personal security detail).
I have to put my foot down about adding any additional security anywhere. It’s getting to be stupid and a real pain in the ass for Americans to get on with their lives with peace of mind just so some gun enthusiast’s right to own an at-hand arsenal is preserved.
I guess you would have to have kids growing up in a post 9-11 world to understand how ubiquitous the security issue has become.
Enough is enough. It’s time to disarm America. Having a single non-assault revolver or rifle in your house for protection or hunting is fine. Anything more than that violates other people’s right to liberty.
Now that is a case of “Take away X and the criminal will just find Y.”
Secure the schools and malls, and the killers will go for public parks, bus stops, anywhere there are lines of people on the sidewalks….
My approach: Keep the most dangerous people from easily getting the most dangerous guns.
Kim,
The worst mass murders in this country’s history were accomplished with:
1) box cutters
2) explosives
3) gasoline
4) fertilizer and diesel fuel (as distinguished from actual, regulated explosives)
And yes, it is getting difficult for Americans to get on with their lives – mostly because of absurd “security” theatrics (of which the 1994 “assault weapons” ban was a prime example).
As I said, if you haven’t had a kid in school in the past decade, you have no idea how locked down school is and how terrified everyone is of every little thing.
You don’t say anything about my proposal but you bring up domestic terrorism completely ignoring the domestic terror generated by macho gun addicts with assault weapons feeling their cheerios as they strut around the country because they think no one can touch them.
THAT is trampling on our rights. We shouldn’t have to walk around in fear.
Think back to when you were a kid. What was wrong with those days when we didn’t have the NRA shoving guns down everyone’s throats?? You don’t need an assault rifle in your home. You don’t need an arsenal. If you want to play survivor, go do it where there aren’t any people who don’t want want to participate. Otherwise, there is no reason for you to have more than a simple revolver OR rifle.
It’s time to ratchet it down.
No, don’t even tell me about it. I’m sick of the gun lobby’s arguments. If you don’t have a kid who’s missed out on their childhoods in the last decade, you have no idea what the fear and gun industry have done. Enough is enough.
The worst mass murders in this country’s history were accomplished with:
1) box cutters
That’s box cutters plus jet planes, which are no longer so easy to come by.
I’ve seen the look on parents faces as the police chaplain told them their child is no more. I don’t want to see it ever again and damn to those who jam up reasonable efforts at gun control so they can keep their kill toys.