The National Rifle Association’s call Friday for armed volunteers at every school was a breathtaking self-parody. People who regarded the group as principled defenders of individual liberties were exposed to Wayne LaPierre, the NRA vice president, declaring, “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
This vision, straight out of the Wild West, is farcical. There are 132,000 elementary and secondary schools and 6,700 colleges in the nation to protect. Despite the NRA’s promise to train a volunteer militia, its members won’t have the judgment of police in making split-second decisions about when to shoot or back off. The NRA’s solution would probably result in more students killed in accidental shootings.
Comments
This comment has been removed.
Actually, Mr. LaPierre did a great service to our nation. He exposed the NRA's intractability with his use of apocryphal stories and conjecture surrounding the issue of gun violence. A PR opportunity squandered in the worst way, he only made the NRA -and himself- appear quite foolish and out-of-touch.
There have been almost 120 people shot to death in the United States since the Newtown gun murders. That's correct, since last week.
mobile.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/12/gun_death_tally_every_american_gun_death_since_newtown_sandy_hook_shooting.html
Just curious. Does the NRA actually believe that a lone security guard is mobile enough to reach and then stop someone carrying an AK 15, which is capable of shooting 45 rounds per minute? The NRA is completely out of touch with a feasible reality. Need I remind them there was an armed guard at Columbine. A lot of good he did.
Have those advocating teachers carry weapons actually looked at many of our overworked school teachers of the day. I hate to inform them, but last I checked Rambo wasn’t teaching. Do they actually believe that your typical 60 year old blue haired English teacher or bespectacled math professor is going to launch into action at the sound of gunshots, navigate the obstacle course of hallways and stairwells that centipede through today’s elementary schools, and then with the marksmanship of a sharpshooting biathlete hit their target with deadly accuracy? And please spare me the gym teacher or Phys. Ed guy whose seen better days. Unless we’re talking about a one room schoolhouse from 1859 and everyone is carrying a six shooter this isn’t a strategy that’s going to work. And anyone that thinks so is certifiably insane. Even the NRA, who’s completely delusional, thinking that retired cops, barely capable of passing their PT’s, can do the job, isn’t advocating for this... yet. They probably will but they’ll wait a week before making a statement.
This comment has been removed.
This comment has been removed.
I'm no psychiatrist and I can't diagnose mental illnesses, but there's definitely something wrong with Wayne LaPierre. He's scary. The expressions on his face when he's talking are very hostile. I may be wrong, but he looks like a dangerous, irrational man to me, and I think he should be disarmed.