Quote:
Originally Posted by Polar Bear
I haven't posted on Twitter in a long time. (Maybe not ever?) But this last attack on our innocent children motivated me to do so. I posted this...verbatim...on #ProtectOurChildren...
I don't mean ban all guns. I don't mean arm all teachers. But sensible national gun laws, a reasonable armed security presence, and secured point-entry to our schools would be a good start. We have to work together! My way or the highway won't work.
Sensible, reasonable discussion please.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeV
There is nothing stopping schools from doing all you say. The latest as well as all other shooters violated at least a dozen laws. More laws will not help. Gun free zones is the common denominator.
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Mike is correct. More laws aren't the answer as the majority, i.e. the law abiding citizens, are already following the laws. Instead of discussing additional gun laws that the criminals won't follow anyway, we should be questioning why the national background check database is not being kept current. Or how about the
numerous system failures that have been documented such as "troubling" social media posts, or students notifying adults of their concerns about a fellow/former student? Or the failure by our criminal system? Add in the HIPPA issues that prevents identifying those patients who suffer from specific mental health issues that should preclude them from obtaining a firearm. If these system failures continue, the cycle will repeat itself no matter how many laws are on the books.
Hardening the school system is an option that unfortunately should be explored, be it by adding police officers to the schools, enabling teachers who want to carry a gun to do so with the proper training, or perhaps engaging with our veterans and hiring them to help. Schools could lock down the doorways and have students enter and exit from one passageway, most likely with metal detectors utilized. Any option will have downstream impact that will also need to be addressed such as tax increases to pay for more police officers, students needing to be at school sooner in order to pass through a controlled checkpoint to enter the school, etc.
In order to make actual progress, inflammatory, inaccurate reporting (such as continually misrepresenting what an AR-15 rifle actually is, or claiming that no background checks are done at gun shows) must stop as it only fuels the fire. Let's also stop giving these criminals what they want, notoriety. Stop putting their names and pictures on the news 24/7 for weeks on end. In fact, don't show their photos or reveal their names at all if they have been apprehended. Why does the general public need to know who the criminal is or what they look like if they have already been arrested? What would we do with that information? I agree if the shooter is at large, then getting their name/photo out is important, but the tag-along information (such as is wanted for shooting xx number of people at xxxx) can be minimized. Merely indicate that this is a person of interest who is considered armed and dangerous and to call police if the person is spotted.