Monday, December 24, 2012

How important are your kids?

Most have heard by now about the NRA's suggestion that we place armed personnel in every school in the nation. Many are outraged at this and many others are in favor, you can count me in the second group.

We're regularly reminded of school "gun free zones" so the sick individuals that commit these horrible acts don't even have to wonder if they'll meet opposition...they know they won't, with a few exceptions of course. The Harrold Independent School District in Harrold, TX is one that has armed teachers right now, still others have armed security guards like the LAB school on the U of C campus (Chicago)...guess where Mayor Emmanuel's children attend school.

It would appear that the Sidwell Friends school in DC has armed security, though I haven't been able to confirm this. Scanning their faculty and staff roster reveals 11 security folks, several are listed as Police.  Of course, since the President's daughters attend Sidwell Friends, there is definitely a Secret Service presence there and all students benefit from that.

NBC's David Gregory also sends his children to Sidwell Friends, which is very hypocritical given his treatment of the NRA's suggestion that schools have armed security.  Mr. Gregory pretty much blasted Wayne LaPierre and said that arming school security or teachers wouldn't be effective but I guess he just means my kid, since his are protected. I tend to take offense to the idea that I and my child are not elite enough to enjoy security, while others are.

In Utah, any adult that has a Concealed Weapons Permit can carry a weapon on any state run college campus. This is actually called out by legislation: Utah Code 53-5a-102 (6) (a)
23 other states leave the decisions about carrying weapons on college campuses up the individual schools. (We'll soon see how Illinois handles this)

It would seem that a large amount of those "outraged" can afford to be. They know that their children are protected at school already but they want to deny you that same piece of mind.

Just think, if the next potential murderer knows (or even suspects) that a school may have an armed response that could deprive them of their fifteen minutes of fame...they might just skip it. If they don't skip it, wouldn't it be much better if a good guy or gal could meet force with force and end things quickly?

Even though some are screaming "NO" to arming folks in schools, many others are saying "YES".
I urge you to go to your school board and politely demand that they get to work implementing a REAL security plan. Don't wait for the debate to be over, take action now for the safety of all the kids. If you get the brush off, don't give up... not even a little bit. Attend every board meeting that you can or ask someone that is like minded to do so if you can't. Write, phone and email your elected officials and demand the same of them too.

The folks committing these atrocities aren't going to be stopped by another gun law, it's up to us to stop them.


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