WASHINGTON — The National Rifle Association Friday called for stationing armed police officers at every school in the nation to shield children and teachers from such carnage as the attack that killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., a week earlier. Democrats and gun control advocates immediately denounced the proposal.
At a news conference in the nation’s capital, NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre said that school children are extremely vulnerable in a culture that glorifies violence, in video games and in movies. “We as a society leave them utterly defenseless, and the monsters and predators of this world know it, and exploit it,” he said.
Comments
It’s obvious now that we have to turn our elementary schools into fortresses. Today I heard on the radio, the killer came through a window in the school, obviously with no one in the room where he entered. This seems strange that there was a window to an empty room. But apart from that, what is needed is that all windows and doors be locked down to prevent outside entry. Then, of course, the school would have to have air conditioning for the firest floors, which admittedly would be extremely expensive. Is there another option? If outside entry is impossible, then there would be no need for an armed guard, some would argue but for extra precaution, why not? There should be security cameras surrounding the schools feeding into the local police station. Anyone seen roaming around the building could immediately be seen and escorted off the property. Of course, if they have weapons with them, they should be arrested and charged. But if the suspect knew he could not gain entry from the outside in the first place, he would be a fool to try to risk arrest, being seen roaming around a building he cannot enter. Then if he were fool enough to smash open a window, all windows would have to have an alarm system, alerting the principal’s office and all classrooms. Teachers licensed to pack handguns, would then be at the ready.
Safety for the elementary children when playing outside during lunch time. This becomes a difficult safety problem to solve. We can ask the security experts how this could best be done. My amateur solution would be that the security cameras would now serve their most useful purpose. Need I further explain how? In addition, the play yard for the children would have to be fenced off with brick walls.
When they leave school to enter the buses, the whole area with the use of the security cameras would have to be screened to ensure the children’s safety before and during their departure. Teachers, again packing handguns would escort them or the local police could. Sounds crazy? Yes, but it’s a crazy world we are living in.
I also recommend that all teachers be licensed to pack a handgun . For high school, colleges and universities, that’s a whole new chapter for this small space.
As an elementary educator I find your proposal appalling. Living in a civil society is a leap of faith. What you are suggesting is to surrender our society to the "crazy world we are living in". What crazy world is that? A world where insane people can get guns and we need more guns to stop them, even if that means exponentially increasing the risk of accidental gun deaths? Is that the society we want to establish for our children? Unfortunately, there will always be people who are insane, however, limiting their access to guns seems a more reasonable path.
I think this must be sarcasm. Hoping it is, anyway.
Hands down the stupidiest cluster of ideas I've heard in a long time. After we redesign all the schools to be fortresses with armed guards and teachers. After we list all nut cases (even those who haven't shown themselves to be nut cases I suppose) and after we make it manditory that shoppers, movie goers, ball game attendees, etc go through xray stations...then what? Nuts with guns will escalate. When we continue to fuel the crazies with our constant descriptions of the devestation, the culprit, and the mourners we will have a steady stream of wannabe "heros in their own mind" who need to prove how brave they are. If they can get their hands on a weapon they will find a new and improved way to commit mayhem.
It is a complicated new system we need. Medical care for those who need it. Gun control for hand held weapons of mass destruction and NO droning on and on and on about mass murder. None but those immediately involved have any need for the gory details.
The NRA suggestion to put armed guards in the schools is as irrelevant as the organization itself. If the NRA has so much money to spend, its sources should be questioned; where do they get such funding? Disgust with the NRA has never been at a higher level; shame on them!
The NRA is basically a lobby for the gun manufacturers. That`s where most of their money comes from and why they oppose any effort at making any kind of gun illegal.
It's official. The NRA leadership is insane.
I suspect the rank and file of the NRA might not be completely on board with this proposal, which seems to call for a new bureaucracy and enlarge government in a way that usually incenses conservatives. If roughly 100,000 schools need guards, hiring 50-100k trained, armed guards (2 to 3 times the size of the NYPD) by the proposed January date seems fairly fantastical.
Parents might wonder to what standard these people have been trained and by whom, since they would presumably start from diverse backgrounds (military, retired police, national guard, others) with no specialized experience in school settings.
Who might certify them and how would their backgrounds be checked? School officials with no knowledge of guns, the local police, the military, the NRA?
Who would pay them? Underfunded local school districts, states, a national program? How would you measure their effectiveness and justify continuing to fund them?
And worse, who would be responsible if an unsuitable person were hired: among 50k new guards, not everyone would be expected to work out) and would such an armed, trained hire be a greater threat than a protector? The consequences for single errors could be very grave, both morally and legally.
This comment has been removed.
I'd hate to run into this guy in a dark alley. He looks and sounds like one of those unreal James Bond villains -- Dr. No, Goldfinger, or Blofeld (SPECTOR). And he's armed. Scary.
Both the Globe and the New York Times called it a news conference. Wrong. Get out your dictionary. A conference is where people discuss or consult about something. This was a speech, a rant really. He took no questions because he wasn't going to allow himself to be challenged.
I wish I didn't have to breathe the same air as the NRA chief executive, and I'd rather never see or hear him again. A sub-human without an ounce caring or conscience.
Maybe if the media stopped providing vehicles for nuts like this NRA wack job, gun violence would drop in half. After hearing this proposal if I had a gun I would have shot the nearest TV set to make sure no one else would see how unbalanced the NRA leadership truly is.
We need a social media attack on the NRA for this dangerous, insane remark.
Not surprising that the NRA's solution to tragedies like Newtown is more guns.
At what point do you just say No to these idiots?
If not now, when?
Whats' bizarre to me is that people are ok with having armed guards in places like the white house, capitol, obama's kids' schools, but not my kids' schools. That ticks me off. There are obviously people out there what will want to kill other people, for whatever reason. Deal with it.
Here's the rub: there were armed guards at Columbine and Virginia Tech.
(1) We don't have near enough police to put one in every school and the cost of hiring and training them would be huge. There are about 100,000 public schools alone. It wouldn't just requre hiring maybe 150,000 new police, I would require a whole new bureaucracy or bureaucracies.
(2) One cop is not likely to be effective. You'd need several in a large school. These killers don't expect to survive. Besides, there were armed guards at several schools and shopping centers where mass killing took place.
(3) What about theaters, restaurants -- other places where mass murders have taken place?
Mr. LaPierre can serve as a perfect example of a common species of NRA lab rat. The NRA leadership cadre has become so emamored over time, with the obsession of unlimited gun ownership' that their mental balance is unhinged and their critical thought process long ago french fried. When stimulated to think outside their self limiting parameters; all we get is this vomit from their endless, mindless, distorted loop. Hopefully at least a portion of the NRA membership can do better than these nutjobs.
No, No... We can't have logic and common sense in this debate.... Why ? Then we'd lose... Doh !
I think Mr LaPierre and the NRA have been watching too many episodes of "The Rifleman" with Chuck Connors. sic the episode "New Orleans Menace". I just saw it this am and was amazed at the simplicity, innocence and sheer stupidity of it. However it was quaint and harking to a simpler time..... It was hilarious when the henchmen just rode off into the sunset along the next scene with Mark sleeping soundly in his bed, when just this afternoon, his father has killed a man right outside the door of his house. Too bad we as adults have to/ or should be more contemplative of our answers.
This comment has been removed.
Pathetic!
Armedd, trained officers in elementary schools. Let's suppose we do it. But only a handful of mass shootings occur in elementary schools. What about middle schools? High schools? Colleges and universities - and let's remember every building at every institution would need a trained, armed guard? What about malls? Cinemas? ....
This is an inane idea and I'm happy that the Globe's commenters recognized it as such. The NRA has nothing to contribute if this is the level it's capable of reaching.
NRA trying to exploit this tragedy to increase its influence. More gun carrying guards that owe their jobs to NRA. NRA had a real chance to negotiate reasonable changes to our gun laws and the extreme right wingers have blown it. I am a right leaning independent that is not so right leaning at the moment.
The proposal is complete nonsense. Columbine and Virgina Tech had armed guards. Additionally, the Newtown and Denver killers wore body armor.
Uhm.....Mr LaPierre..... Weren't there plenty of guns along with many people who were trained to use them at Fort Hood when Nidal Hasan went on his rampage. Why don't you stick that up your chamber and see what comes out. As they say in computer technology.....Garbage in..... Garbage OUT
If rank and file NRA members are as reasonable and level-headed as reported in the media this past week, there should be an internal movement to oust this gentleman. His proposal is out of touch with reality. We need a ban on military-grade assault weapons and high capacity mags. We need background checks and waiting periods. We need gunshow sales to stop.
I can hardly believe the naïveté of this proposal. The NRA must be a collection of fools if they can reduce this problem to a puerile good guys vs. bad guys solution.
I really tried to give the NRA the benefit of any doubt and I looked for a response filled with compassion while admitting that their members don't hunt ducks with assault rifles fitted with drum clips! We almost turned the radio off during this so-called press conference. I am so glad Mitt Romney did not win the election. If he had, this would have been a real circus. Instead, I hope my NRA friends do resign their memberships in response to this chilling reply to a school shooting that really wounded America.
This comment has been removed.
Did did any one actually read beyond the headline? If this proposal came from the NEA rather than the NRA there would be editorials in support. Personally I don't think it is a truly practical idea. I don't suppose giving teachers personal alarm activators that would indicate need for assistance from fire or police would be approved by unions or civil rights types.
Everyone speaks of the buzzword "conversation". Apparently conversation means you must be in lockstop with the liberal view. Let an organization of citizens like the NRA voice an opinion that differs and they are shouted down. Some conversation!
The answer lies somewhere in between those who would ban guns in the hands of all but the military and police and those who want guns everywhere.
It was a smart marketing move on behalf of the NRA and the munitions makers who are suffering financially since the end of the Iraq war and the pullout from Afghanistan: provide more guns and ammo to hundreds of more police and put them in schools. Brilliant.