School Safety, Gun Control and the March For Our Lives
I am in favor of measures that will ensure the safety of our schools and the children who attend them and for that reason I'm opposed to just about everything recommended by the students speaking at the March For Our Lives. What they recommend will accomplish nothing to further safety in the schools while they ignore ideas that will work. Furthermore, I find their bullying tactics of insulting and ridiculing on anyone who opposes their ideas deplorable.
At the CNN Town Hall, the NRA spokesperson was called a murderer. At the March For Our Lives event, US Senator Marco Rubio was labeled a "Kid Killer." These high school kids are trying to portray themselves as the adults in the room but they are engaging in juvenile name calling that alienates people rather than bringing them together. Do they really think they have a better chance of success attempting to insult and intimidate or is that really intended to promote themselves into more publicity?
Then there are the actions they are recommending. I believe the list includes banning "assault rifles" and restricting the sale of guns to people under the age of 21. However at least one prominent student speaker suggested those are just the tip of the iceberg and he wanted to see extensive gun control measures.
But none of these measures will make schools safer. The Columbine school shooting occurred during the period that assault rifles were banned. The shooters used pistols and had bombs available for use as well, so banning assault rifles has already proven ineffective. Recently, a young man was tried for killing his father to get his parent's weapons - so making guns illegal for people under 21 to purchase would not have helped the students he shot. The Boston Marathon bombing was done by two young men using backpacks and household supplies to create explosives and nails and screws and other small metal objects as shrapnel and in recent years a terrorist used a truck to run over people on a crowded NY sidewalk.
Things I think would be effective at providing safety for schools and students include:
- Armed security personnel who don't stand outside the school building hiding like the Broward County Deputy Sheriff did. Very recently, in Maryland, an armed resource officer intervened when a shooter came into the school He took one shot and the shooter stopped firing at the students. Only two people were injured. Earlier this year a shooter was killing people in a church. He was stopped when he went outside to get more weapons or ammunition and an armed neighbor fired at him. Proven measure.
- Law enforcement and school officials who take action when a person is identified as a danger. The FBI was warned about the young man who shot up the school in Florida and did nothing. The Sheriff's office was called 39 times to that man's home. The School District, manipulating statistics to make themselves look like they have less crime, failed to report the 21 incidents involving the shooter to the Sheriff's Office. Had the shooter been charged once, he could not have purchased a gun. Had he been identified as mentally ill and institutionalized, he might have received treatment to abate his violent tendencies. Proven measure - all it takes is Government bureaucrats doing their jobs.
- Security measures at schools similar to those at businesses. If people feel their children are important then why are the adult's offices harder to enter than the children's school buildings? Again, proven measures.
- Gun safety training. Protesters are saying people under 21 shouldn't be able to buy guns. That's interesting because people under 21 are allowed to enlist in the military and handle weapons significantly more powerful than anything someone can purchase on the market. Why is that? Someone I asked about that said "well they have training" - exactly! In the military, 18 year olds aren't banned from using weapons until they get older, they are given proper training. It works for the military with much more powerful weapons. Again, proven measure.
I want schools and students to be safe and to me proven measures are much preferable to ideas that sound sexy to the media but we know have been ineffective in the past and are unnecessary restrictions on personal freedoms. I'm willing to have a reasonable discussion with anyone and listen to their point of view so long as it does not involve name calling or bullying tactics.
If you have other ideas besides mine, I'd like to hear them. I do not claim to have all the answers and it may be that something I've suggested or said is not correct. Feel free to chime in.
At the CNN Town Hall, the NRA spokesperson was called a murderer. At the March For Our Lives event, US Senator Marco Rubio was labeled a "Kid Killer." These high school kids are trying to portray themselves as the adults in the room but they are engaging in juvenile name calling that alienates people rather than bringing them together. Do they really think they have a better chance of success attempting to insult and intimidate or is that really intended to promote themselves into more publicity?
Then there are the actions they are recommending. I believe the list includes banning "assault rifles" and restricting the sale of guns to people under the age of 21. However at least one prominent student speaker suggested those are just the tip of the iceberg and he wanted to see extensive gun control measures.
But none of these measures will make schools safer. The Columbine school shooting occurred during the period that assault rifles were banned. The shooters used pistols and had bombs available for use as well, so banning assault rifles has already proven ineffective. Recently, a young man was tried for killing his father to get his parent's weapons - so making guns illegal for people under 21 to purchase would not have helped the students he shot. The Boston Marathon bombing was done by two young men using backpacks and household supplies to create explosives and nails and screws and other small metal objects as shrapnel and in recent years a terrorist used a truck to run over people on a crowded NY sidewalk.
Things I think would be effective at providing safety for schools and students include:
- Armed security personnel who don't stand outside the school building hiding like the Broward County Deputy Sheriff did. Very recently, in Maryland, an armed resource officer intervened when a shooter came into the school He took one shot and the shooter stopped firing at the students. Only two people were injured. Earlier this year a shooter was killing people in a church. He was stopped when he went outside to get more weapons or ammunition and an armed neighbor fired at him. Proven measure.
- Law enforcement and school officials who take action when a person is identified as a danger. The FBI was warned about the young man who shot up the school in Florida and did nothing. The Sheriff's office was called 39 times to that man's home. The School District, manipulating statistics to make themselves look like they have less crime, failed to report the 21 incidents involving the shooter to the Sheriff's Office. Had the shooter been charged once, he could not have purchased a gun. Had he been identified as mentally ill and institutionalized, he might have received treatment to abate his violent tendencies. Proven measure - all it takes is Government bureaucrats doing their jobs.
- Security measures at schools similar to those at businesses. If people feel their children are important then why are the adult's offices harder to enter than the children's school buildings? Again, proven measures.
- Gun safety training. Protesters are saying people under 21 shouldn't be able to buy guns. That's interesting because people under 21 are allowed to enlist in the military and handle weapons significantly more powerful than anything someone can purchase on the market. Why is that? Someone I asked about that said "well they have training" - exactly! In the military, 18 year olds aren't banned from using weapons until they get older, they are given proper training. It works for the military with much more powerful weapons. Again, proven measure.
I want schools and students to be safe and to me proven measures are much preferable to ideas that sound sexy to the media but we know have been ineffective in the past and are unnecessary restrictions on personal freedoms. I'm willing to have a reasonable discussion with anyone and listen to their point of view so long as it does not involve name calling or bullying tactics.
If you have other ideas besides mine, I'd like to hear them. I do not claim to have all the answers and it may be that something I've suggested or said is not correct. Feel free to chime in.
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