NRA calls for armed police officers in all U.S. schools

[Ozy_Flame]

So they expect to station an armed guard at a school, and then go all John McClane on the attacker who will likely be more armed?

Good luck with that. Cops serve better purposes than guards at schools do (for everyday occurrences), and in addition to basic protection duties, they can also counsel and mentor.

[GreenLantern]

NRA is just trying to deflect attention, you can't put a gun in every school across America.. if anything that sounds like a slogan they might use.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

NRA is just trying to deflect attention, you can't put a gun in every school across America.. if anything that sounds like a slogan they might use.

SHHHHHH


We will see that slogan soon.

[Ozy_Flame]

Also, most shootings of this nature are from attackers who know their environment well. Lanza knew the school he attacked, Seung-Hui Cho was an undergrad at Virginia Tech, and Klebold/Harris were students at Columbine.

I would venture to guess that knowing a guard is in the building, they will simply change tactics - lure the guard out to exposed fire, and then proceed to enter.

An armed guard at a school is not a guarantee - it is only one more layer of defense against such violence, of which the root cause needs to be identified and dealt with. Adding band-aid solutions and escalating gun violence is absolutely the wrong approach.

[octothorp]

I imagine that this statement is exactly what gun control advocates were hoping to hear. Any sign that the NRA would have been willing to accept a discussion on control - even if just regarding clip size reductions - would have meant that they needed to be included in the discussion on some level. But this head-in-the-sand statement will make it possible for them to be painted as outdated extremists who have no place in the debate.

I think cops (not just armed guards) in schools is actually an okay policy when combined with drastic reductions in the availability of guns. On its own, it's a totally pointless policy that is unlikely to have averted this tragedy.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by WilderPegasus

So he's just going to random houses killing people until he finds a house with guns in it?

Honest question Wilder - do you know people who own guns (and I am going to assume you live in Canada, a country with a form of Gun control)? You could probably go and find them.

If so, do we have enough Gun Control? How much more restricted should it be? What should the US change?

While I agree in large part for crimes of impulse, easier access to guns will play a factor in severity, I really don't think this shooting was a case of impulse.

[WilderPegasus]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Honest question Wilder - do you know people who own guns (and I am going to assume you live in Canada, a country with a form of Gun control)? You could probably go and find them.

I remember a colleague at work mentioning that he has a hand gun that he keeps locked up at home. I don't know where he lives though. I know a few other people with guns who live far from me and all they own are long barrel guns.

If I wanted to go get a gun right now I don't know a single house that I could go to and be sure that there was one inside.

If so, do we have enough Gun Control? How much more restricted should it be? What should the US change?

While I agree in large part for crimes of impulse, easier access to guns will play a factor in severity, I really don't think this shooting was a case of impulse.

I don't know if we have enough gun control or not but I don't think people should be able to amass arsenals of automatic weapons. Clearly the US needs more gun control. How much I can't say but whatever more is is better than the status quo there.

[Red Ice Player]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/1...and-gun-owners

This isn't over...The NRA will not be able to stop a mounting tide of dissent.

[Wormius]

Without understanding how lobbyists work, how can this roughly, 1-2% of the population of gun-owners in the US affect what the majority of Americans want?

What does even belonging to the NRA do for a person?

[GoinAllTheWay]

I may be mistaken but I think the primary reason for belonging to the NRA is members are covered by their liaiblity plan. Accidents occuring during legal shooting activities are covered up to $5mil.

[PIMking]

We had an armed, uniformed officer at both of my highschools.

Also, I'm not an NRA member and never will be. Those guys even scare me, now that's scary

[smoothpops]

Originally Posted by Rerun

That doesn't work either. Bad guys will always be able to get their hands on guns.

This is what I've never understood. The people who say this, are the same people that support tougher on crime measures, such as longer jail sentences. If you restrict access to assault weapons and increase stiffer penalties, the gov would be doing exactly what you wanted for other crimes, why is it so different in this case?

In a weird way, it's like they are admitting that the justice system and tougher sentences to deter crime, are ineffective so we should do nothing.

[MarchHare]

Since the NRA played the old "it's really the fault of violent video games!" card:

Spoiler for size:

Spoiler!

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Since the NRA played the old "it's really the fault of violent video games!" card:

Spoiler for size:

Spoiler!

Report: sky blue.

The NRA has succeeded though. Here we all are talking about their ridiculous proposals as if they are worthy of civilized discussion instead of dismissing and shaming them for the obvious tragedy exploitation and misdirection that they are.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

This guy killed his mom for access to guns. I don't think it is out of the realm of possibility to think that if his mom didn't have guns, he would have probably got them from someone / somewhere else.

Well technically, the guy had access to his mom's guns, and he killed her with one of them.

But yes, he probably could have got them somewhere else -- he could have bought them at a store. Or a gun show.

This character didn't exactly seem like the type to make forays into the criminal underworld, and apparently he wouldn't have had to.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by SeeBass

Reps go after unions, now Dems go after NRA

the third rails are now touchable

Next up, The Tea Party goes after the Armed School Guards Union, and the circle of life is complete.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Next up, The Tea Party goes after the Armed School Guards Union, and the circle of life is complete.

They're glorified babysitters of babysitters!

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by _Q_

I remember having a cop in high school here in Calgary back in the 90s. I assume he was armed. How is this any different than that?

That one police officer would travel to many schools during the week. Unless your school had something different than the schools I went to, he was only there a few hours one day a week.

I knew the NRA was going to suggest something like this. About as predictable as it gets. The silly thing is the education system is already horribly underfunded down there. The teachers make about half of what they do up here. The education system is worst in the 1st world and worse than many other places in the 2nd world, and instead of using money to help the kids with, oh, I dunno, learning, they want to start paying for armed guards.

God America is backwards.

[SeeBass]

Isn't their solution the same as the plot to Kindergarten Cop?

But seriously, if its not the gun but the gunman how is it the game but not the gamer

[Biff]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Yes with a slight difference, the security guard would have been the first one shot, assuming he was at the front door. The shooter was wearing Kevlar body armour and using a semi auto rifle, he was, from a strictly tactical point of veiw, virtually impervious to some old geezer with a 9mm pistol that doesn't know he's coming.

Even assuming you assigned 2 or 3 guards and made them wander the schools in full body armour themselves toting a .50 caliber rifle with kevlar (and class room wall) penetrating bullets they are still at a distinct disadvantage to a prepared shooter with the ability to ambush them unawares.

Failing this the shooter will just shoot the kids in the playground on recess from across the road or alternatively approach the school from a back entrance and use the 2 or 3 minutes it would take for the guards to respond to kill 20 or 30 kids, not to mention the chaos of 100 or 200 kids running up a hallway with security guards and shooter engaing in a shoot out through the crowd.

Failing that a deranged wack job that wishes to scrimp on bullet proof vests will just target a little league game or a ballet school or the like.

Then there is the possibility that one of your guards themselves goes off the deep end and decides to off the little #######s that have been teasing him about his weight issues for a few years just before he got laid off.

It takes about 5 seconds of thought to realise that the idea is idiotic and NRA stands for Not Rationally Aware these days.

What are you doing in my head? It's crowded enough in there without another personality. Seriously though, thank you for writing pretty much exactly what I was preparing to post.

b