U.S. gun lobby slams anti-gun 'elites' after Florida school massacre

[webfact]

U.S. gun lobby slams anti-gun 'elites' after Florida school massacre

By Roberta Rampton and Makini Brice

 

Protestors rally outside the Capitol urging Florida lawmakers to reform gun laws, in the wake of last week's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Tallahassee, Florida, U.S., February 21, 2018. REUTERS/Colin Hackley

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the National Rifle Association lashed out at gun control advocates on Thursday, saying Democratic elites are politicizing the latest mass school shooting in the United States to try to erode constitutionally guaranteed gun rights.

 

NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre echoed President Donald Trump's call to arm teachers to prevent school shootings, and weighed in on a long-running political and cultural divide over access to weapons that has been inflamed by last week's massacre at a Florida high school that killed 17 students and staff.

 

"The elites don't care not one whit about America's school system and school children," LaPierre told a friendly audience of conservatives outside Washington. "Their goal is to eliminate the Second Amendment and our firearms freedoms so they can eradicate all individual freedoms."

 

The U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms.

 

At the White House, Trump told local and state school officials he had discussed his ideas to stem gun violence in schools with the NRA, the politically influential gun lobby that backed him in the 2016 campaign. He called the group "Great American Patriots."

 

"There's a tremendous feeling that we want to get something done," he said. "The NRA wants to do the right thing."

 

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer condemned LaPierre's comments and said the NRA was "once again spewing pathetic, out of touch ideas, blaming everything but guns."

 

The Feb. 14 rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was the latest in a series of deadly shootings at U.S. schools and has spurred unprecedented youth-led protests in cities across the country. Many of the teenagers and their parents taking part have called for more curbs on guns.

 

LaPierre, speaking at the annual gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference, portrayed the NRA as the true protector of the country's schoolchildren and offered free training to those who want to bear arms to protect schools.

 

"We must immediately harden our schools," he said. "Every day, young children are being dropped off at schools that are virtually wide open, soft targets for anyone bent on mass murder." It should not be easier to shoot up a school than a bank or a jewelry store, he added.

 

The NRA set up a booth at the conference to sign up new members and recruit campaign field workers for the November mid-term elections in which Democrats are trying to take over control of Congress from Trump's fellow Republicans.

 

ARMED TEACHERS

 

"I'm strongly for concealed carry, strongly for arming the teachers like Trump said," said Nick Fuentes, 19, from Chicago, as he stood outside the booth. "Teachers who are adept at firearms should be armed."

 

LaPierre attacked Democrats by name including Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Christopher Murphy and also took a swipe at the FBI for failing to follow up on a tip about the alleged shooter in the Parkland massacre. The FBI has said it failed to act on the tip.

 

Florida Governor Rick Scott also criticized the FBI for failing so far to provide details about why it did not respond to the tip. "Family members and loved ones of the victims deserve answers today," Scott said in a statement.

 

Trump reiterated his idea, first raised on Wednesday during an emotional discussion with people affected by the shooting, to arm teachers, a notion raised by some politicians in the past but dismissed by critics as fraught with danger.

 

"Anyone who pushes arming teachers doesn't understand teachers and doesn't understand our schools. Adding more guns to schools may create an illusion of safety, but in reality it would make our classrooms less safe," said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers union.

 

At an hourlong meeting on school safety with 10 state and local officials, Trump said armed teachers with an aptitude for guns would deter would-be shooters.

 

"A gun-free zone to a killer, or somebody that wants to be a killer, that's like going in for the ice cream," Trump said. "They're not going to walk into a school if 20 percent of the teachers have guns."

 

Trump repeated his support for tightening background checks for gun buyers, with an emphasis on mental health, and lifting the age limit to buy some kinds of guns. He also said he would push for an end to the sale of bump stocks, which allow rifles to shoot hundreds of rounds a minute.

 

The White House said Trump does not want to ban sales of an entire class of firearms despite mounting pressure to put assault weapons such as the one used in the Florida shooting out of civilian reach.

 

While gun laws vary widely by state, most federal gun control measures would require Congress to act.

 

A 19-year-old former student at Stoneman Douglas, Nikolas Cruz, has been charged with carrying out the Parkland shooting. Authorities say he was armed with a semiautomatic AR-15 assault-style rifle that he had purchased legally last year.

 

(Additional reporting by Alex Dubuzinskis in Los Angeles, Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu in Washington; Writing by Doina Chiacu and John Whitesides; Editing by Frances Kerry and Will Dunham)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-02-23

[Get Real]

Maybe time to understand the all the rights given to people the took affect 228 years ago, today can be considered to be an outdated perscription for disater.

What´s the big fuzz about guns? If the right to have is taken away, or if it gets harder to get permission to own guns, then that is affecting all people the same way. Ok, except criminals, but they can find guns even in countries with or withhout gun restrictions.

Is it as simple as the people in the US, just can´t feel like humans if they can´t be an owner of a gun? If so, then there is a big problem!

[sirineou]

And the beat goes on 

[JAG]

It is my understanding, that the "second ammendment" was enacted to allow for a militia to exist to defend the nascent republic from the various threats it faced in its early years, rather than to allow people to own military assault rifles. I understand hunting (don't do it myself), I understand target shooting as a sport. AR15 rifles and the like are weapons designed to put down a lot of fire, to kill people in large numbers. There is no sporting reason whatsoever for owning such a weapon.

Banning them would have no effect upon "individual freedoms" other than the right to slaughter children because you are pissed off with something. It would have no effect upon sporting activities. Mr LaPierre is barking at the moon.

As for arming teachers! Dear God...

[MajarTheLion]

Thank god for the NRA and American citizens who can walk upright. In a free country, there are various tuypes of savages. Some kill with cars. Some kill with knives. Some kill with blunt objects. Some kill with guns. The problem is the savages, not the inanimate object.

 

What a shame there are so many empty skulls who don't understand such basic concepts.

 

In this Florida shooting case, once again there were numerous warning signs government hacks ignored. Because of the deranged evil perpetrator and the incompetence of the government hacks who could have and should have done something, people died.

 

Does anyone really believe raising the rifle purchase age limit to 21 would have prevented this evil lunatic from doing what he did? If you believe that, I think it's time I tell you about some wonderful business opportunities you'll definitely want to invest in.

[Samui Bodoh]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

"We must immediately harden our schools," he said. "Every day, young children are being dropped off at schools that are virtually wide open, soft targets for anyone bent on mass murder." It should not be easier to shoot up a school than a bank or a jewelry store, he added.

 

"...We must immediately harden our schools..."

 

That is one of the scariest, saddest things I have ever read. Schools are supposed to be a place where children go to learn and expand their minds and make friends and have fun. Gun loonies seem to view schools as places where there needs to be high-level security against other gun loonies.

 

What's next? Snipers on all school roofs? Gun bunkers at all entrances? Mandatory body armor for all students? Razor wire at all perimeters? Allocate hand grenades to students for self-defense? 

 

The US has truly gone mad. Or more accurately, a small portion of the US has gone mad and the rest of the good and decent people won't stop them.

 

Jesus wept.

 

Edited February 23, 2018 by Samui Bodoh
Lack of coffee

[wwest5829]

Rightly, I recognize the international community's amazement at the US fixation with guns. If you are not aware, here is the 2nd Amendment wording, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The NRA and its supporters declare that any restrictions is an attempt to take away this "Right to own guns". For those of us with the ability to think, we realize all "Rights" have reasonable limitations to protect the "Rights" of others. For my money, an American's "Right" to own an assualt weapon is outweighed by my "Right" to be secure in my person. In the interest of full disclosure, I am an American, a gun owner and hold a CDWL. I support banning the sale of these weapons and other reasonable restrictions (strong background checks, restoration of stopping those with mental issues from buying guns, etc.).

[sungod]

Unbelievable, the days they even start to talk about arming school teachers, America needs to take a good long look at its self, getting close to a failed state, I'd agree with Trump on one thing- massive mental healthy issues in the US!!!!

 

Fact is more Americans kill each other in schools than ISIS/AQ have ever done, millions/billions are spent on fighting terrorism, banning Muslims from the US etc. Yet another high school massacre and they dont want to do anything.

 

I think the day teachers have guns is the day we should school kids at home.

 

 

[Berkshire]

These gun lobby dudes are really clever.  It's called divide and conquer and works every time.  Blame the usual suspects, whether real or made-up.  Make it about us and them.  And the hardcore believers will dig in.  No Republican politician will go against the NRA.  Wont' happen. 

[alanrchase]

I read an article today that said the first police officer to arrive on the scene has resigned due to an investigation into why he remained outside instead of immediately entering the building and killing the gunman. One would have assumed he had been very well trained for the situation. (Not blaming him myself as he probably had little idea of the whole situation ) Why would anyone think an armed teacher with a bit of gun range training be any better?

[keith101]

The so called right to bare arms was introduced on December 15th 1791 and is now so outdated the second amendment should be scrapped or completely overhauled into real time not the bloody dark ages .

I used to be a gun owner until the massacre in Tasmania after which mine was one of tens of thousands handed into the Government and destroyed .

Edited February 23, 2018 by keith101

[Langsuan Man]

4 minutes ago, alanrchase said:

I read an article today that said the first police officer to arrive on the scene has resigned due to an investigation into why he remained outside instead of immediately entering the building and killing the gunman. One would have assumed he had been very well trained for the situation. (Not blaming him myself as he probably had little idea of the whole situation ) Why would anyone think an armed teacher with a bit of gun range training be any better?

It's worse than that, the coward was the School's Resource Officer (SRO) assigned to  this school since 2009 and had enough years on the job to be able to retire instead of facing disciplinary action by the Sheriff (20 years in most jurisdictions but I don''t know about Florida)

 

So much for arming teachers Mr. Trump 

[Becker]

2 hours ago, MajarTheLion said:

Thank god for the NRA and American citizens who can walk upright. In a free country, there are various tuypes of savages. Some kill with cars. Some kill with knives. Some kill with blunt objects. Some kill with guns. The problem is the savages, not the inanimate object.

 

What a shame there are so many empty skulls who don't understand such basic concepts.

 

In this Florida shooting case, once again there were numerous warning signs government hacks ignored. Because of the deranged evil perpetrator and the incompetence of the government hacks who could have and should have done something, people died.

 

Does anyone really believe raising the rifle purchase age limit to 21 would have prevented this evil lunatic from doing what he did? If you believe that, I think it's time I tell you about some wonderful business opportunities you'll definitely want to invest in.

How delicious to be called an "empty skull" by such a genius like yourself. Time for a change to the constitution. Time to do away with the second amendment and to take their assault rifles away - from their cold dead hands if need be.

[JAG]

2 hours ago, MajarTheLion said:

Thank god for the NRA and American citizens who can walk upright. In a free country, there are various tuypes of savages. Some kill with cars. Some kill with knives. Some kill with blunt objects. Some kill with guns. The problem is the savages, not the inanimate object.

 

What a shame there are so many empty skulls who don't understand such basic concepts.

 

In this Florida shooting case, once again there were numerous warning signs government hacks ignored. Because of the deranged evil perpetrator and the incompetence of the government hacks who could have and should have done something, people died.

 

Does anyone really believe raising the rifle purchase age limit to 21 would have prevented this evil lunatic from doing what he did? If you believe that, I think it's time I tell you about some wonderful business opportunities you'll definitely want to invest in.

I'm not advocating raising the purchase age, I'm advocating removing semi automatic assault rifles from society. The only place they belong is in a military arms kote. We (the UK) did it after a shooting episode (Hungerford) some years ago, we did it with pistols too after another school shooting (Dunblane). I understand Australia has done so too. We are still free nations. Remove these weapons from US society and it will still be a free nation. The gun nutters can indulge some other hopefully less lethal onanistic fantasy than how many hits they can score on a running child at 20 metres range, and they can still keep their dressing up boxes of camouflage fatigues and tactical assault vests if that is what fuels their wet dreams. They are sad sick people who are inflicting sad sick results upon your country. For the sake of your children snap out of it for God's sake! Do you really think that the decent honourable men who crafted your constitution, and it's second amendment, ever, in their wildest dreams, expected it to be used to justify this?

 

You will still be able to "walk upright", in fact it will be easier because you won't have to clamber over the corpses of slaughtered schoolchildren.

Edited February 23, 2018 by JAG

[Time Traveller]

1 hour ago, wwest5829 said:

Rightly, I recognize the international community's amazement at the US fixation with guns. If you are not aware, here is the 2nd Amendment wording, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The NRA and its supporters declare that any restrictions is an attempt to take away this "Right to own guns". For those of us with the ability to think, we realize all "Rights" have reasonable limitations to protect the "Rights" of others. For my money, an American's "Right" to own an assualt weapon is outweighed by my "Right" to be secure in my person. In the interest of full disclosure, I am an American, a gun owner and hold a CDWL. I support banning the sale of these weapons and other reasonable restrictions (strong background checks, restoration of stopping those with mental issues from buying guns, etc.).

Totally understand your feeling, but the logic is not entirely correct. There is a right to life i.e. the right to be able to protect yourself against threats to your life and this is where the argument for legal gun ownership is born. There's no such thing as a right to "be secure".  The distinction is subtle but it was fully understood at the time the 2nd Ammendment was drafted.

 

And there is no such thing as limitations on rights. How can they be rights, if we selectively choose when they apply and to which persons? A right is a right. You don't need to justify your decision to exercise or not exercise a right. 

Imagine a pedestration demanding cars be banned simply because their "right to be secure" outweighs other drivers rights to own and drive cars!!! Even if those other drivers are fully compliant with the law.  Sorry but the whole anti gun argument does not make logical sense. 

 

Those whose lives feel threatened by others should consider the legal carry of firearms. It's commonsense, criminals will look for the easiest targets, Schools as gun-free zones are simply the weakest link. 

 

And I fully understand many on the gun control side won't agree with me, but very few on the anti gun side can coherently argue their viewpoint without resorting to silly name calling. It's quite shocking how angry hateful and threatening some people on the anti gun side can be. I can't accept that law abibing people should be denied their rights because of the actions of a handfull of criminals. That's not the American way. Peace.

 

Edited February 23, 2018 by Time Traveller

[Time Traveller]

2 minutes ago, JAG said:

I'm not advocating raising the purchase age, I'm advocating removing semi automatic assault rifles from society. The only place they belong is in a military arms kote. We (the UK) did it after a shooting episode (Hungerford) some years ago, we did it with pistols too after another school shooting (Dunblane). I understand Australia has done so too. We are still free nations. Remove these weapons from US society and it will still be a free nation. The gun nutters can indulge some other hopefully less lethal onanistic fantasy than how many hits they can score on a running child at 20 metres range, and they can still keep their dressing up boxes of camouflage fatigues and tactical assault vests if that is what fuels their wet dreams. They are sad sick people who are inflicting sad sick results upon your country. For the sake of your children snap out of it for God's sake! Do you really think that the decent honourable men who crafted your constitution, and it's second amendment, ever, in their wildest dreams, expected it to be used to justify this?

 

You will still be able to "walk tall", in fact it will be easier because you won't have to clamber over the corpses of slaughtered schoolchildren.

It was so close, you almost had me agreeing on the semi-automatic ban, until I saw you say that UK & Australia "are still free nations". Then laughter got the better of me.....for sake of amusement, what freedoms still exist in those countries? 

[lvr181]

2 hours ago, MajarTheLion said:

Thank god for the NRA and American citizens who can walk upright. In a free country, there are various tuypes of savages. Some kill with cars. Some kill with knives. Some kill with blunt objects. Some kill with guns. The problem is the savages, not the inanimate object.

 

What a shame there are so many empty skulls who don't understand such basic concepts.

 

In this Florida shooting case, once again there were numerous warning signs government hacks ignored. Because of the deranged evil perpetrator and the incompetence of the government hacks who could have and should have done something, people died.

 

Does anyone really believe raising the rifle purchase age limit to 21 would have prevented this evil lunatic from doing what he did? If you believe that, I think it's time I tell you about some wonderful business opportunities you'll definitely want to invest in.

OMG. A member of the NRA? People in many other nations walk upright in their free countries. Or is that a 'basic concept' you don't understand? 

 

The current 'discussion' is about GUN CONTROL not prohibition.

 

And if your thoughts on an 'age limit of 21' is any guide then I guess age limits should be abolished on e.g. driving licenses, drinking, sex and voting to name a few?

[Becker]

4 minutes ago, Time Traveller said:

It was so close, you almost had me agreeing on the semi-automatic ban, until I saw you say that UK & Australia "are still free nations". Then laughter got the better of me.....for sake of amusement, what freedoms still exist in those countries? 

And I almost took your previous posts seriously until your last sentence.

[lvr181]

3 minutes ago, Time Traveller said:

what freedoms still exist in those countries?

The freedom of voting, free speech, the expectation of sending children to school to learn and not be killed.................just to name a few. 

[wwest5829]

8 minutes ago, Time Traveller said:

Totally understand your feeling, but the logic is not entirely correct. There is a right to life i.e. the right to be able to protect yourself against threats to your life and this is where the argument for legal gun ownership is born. There's no such thing as a right to "be secure".  The distinction is subtle but it was fully understood at the time the 2nd Ammendment was drafted.

 

And there is no such thing as limitations on rights. How can they be rights, if we selectively choose when they apply and to which persons? A right is a right. You don't need to justify your decision to exercise or not exercise a right. 

Imagine a pedestration demanding cars be banned simply because their "right to be secure" outweighs other drivers rights to own and drive cars!!! Even if those other drivers are fully compliant with the law.  Sorry but the whole anti gun argument does not make logical sense. 

 

Those whose lives feel threatened by others should consider the legal carry of firearms. It's commonsense, criminals will look for the easiest targets, Schools as gun-free zones are simply the weakest link. 

 

And I fully understand many on the gun control side won't agree with me, but very few on the anti gun side can coherently argue their viewpoint without resorting to silly name calling. It's quite shocking how angry hateful and threatening some people on the anti gun side can be. I can't accept that law abibing people should be denied their rights because of the actions of a handfull of criminals. That's not the American way. Peace.

 

The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides that "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects...

One can argue that my reading has been focused on government entities, not individuals but that does not preclude the application as I stated.

 

It was Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes who famously explained the our “Right” to free speech does not give one the “ Right” to yell “ fire “ in a crowded theater when there is no fire. It is the purpose of the Supreme Court of the US to weigh out Constitutional conflicts including the balancing of “Rights”.

[boomerangutang]

2 hours ago, MajarTheLion said:

Thank god for the NRA and American citizens who can walk upright. In a free country, there are various tuypes of savages. Some kill with cars. Some kill with knives. Some kill with blunt objects. Some kill with guns. The problem is the savages, not the inanimate object. What a shame there are so many empty skulls who don't understand such basic concepts. In this Florida shooting case, once again there were numerous warning signs government hacks ignored. Because of the deranged evil perpetrator and the incompetence of the government hacks who could have and should have done something, people died. Does anyone really believe raising the rifle purchase age limit to 21 would have prevented this evil lunatic from doing what he did? If you believe that, I think it's time I tell you about some wonderful business opportunities you'll definitely want to invest in.

Majar opines: "Thank god for the NRA and American citizens who can walk upright."

 

Boomer responds: Those 15 kids and two teachers can no longer walk upright.  They can't even sit.  They're dead and buried.  Same for the toddlers at Sandy Hook, and the thousands of other shooting victims in the US.

 

NRA (and religious Bible Thumpers, and men who beat/cheat on their wives) can justify anything they want to do, by twisting words.  

 

Majar, if I hang in your town with a massive bludgeon (which I dipped in a cesspool), with 3" spikes sticking out of it, and wave it menacingly in the face of any person who takes a parking spot I'm looking at, or cuts in front of me in a grocery line queue - it's perfectly alright with you, .....BECAUSE I'M EXERCISING MY RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS.

[simon43]

AR15 rifles and the like are weapons designed to put down a lot of fire, to kill people in large numbers. There is no sporting reason whatsoever for owning such a weapon.

This....

Handguns for personal protection = OK
Sporting rifles for sports, hunting = OK
Shotguns for pest control, farmers = OK
AR15 rifles for armies, war etc

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, JAG said:

It is my understanding, that the "second ammendment" was enacted to allow for a militia to exist to defend the nascent republic from the various threats it faced in its early years, rather than to allow people to own military assault rifles. I understand hunting (don't do it myself), I understand target shooting as a sport. AR15 rifles and the like are weapons designed to put down a lot of fire, to kill people in large numbers. There is no sporting reason whatsoever for owning such a weapon.

Banning them would have no effect upon "individual freedoms" other than the right to slaughter children because you are pissed off with something. It would have no effect upon sporting activities. Mr LaPierre is barking at the moon.

As for arming teachers! Dear God...

Soooooo, you think if AR15s had existed 200 years ago they would have excluded them from the constitutional amendment?

Absolutely arm teachers willing to carry weapons. Nothing else will work in the short term.

Don't do so, and IMO expect more candle vigils and crying parents.

[thaibeachlovers]

25 minutes ago, Time Traveller said:

It was so close, you almost had me agreeing on the semi-automatic ban, until I saw you say that UK & Australia "are still free nations". Then laughter got the better of me.....for sake of amusement, what freedoms still exist in those countries? 

Exactly, but some are so willfully blind they actually believe that they are "free".

[sirineou]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Soooooo, you think if AR15s had existed 200 years ago they would have excluded them from the constitutional amendment?

Absolutely arm teachers willing to carry weapons. Nothing else will work in the short term.

Don't do so, and IMO expect more candle vigils and crying parents.

 if the Americans had AR16s 200 years ago, you will all be speaking American right now.

 

[boomerangutang]

"Thank god for the NRA and American citizens who can walk upright."

 

Whomever wrote that, ......is that person insinuating those who do the shooting, and survive, are god-blessed, ....whereas those who are shot and killed, are not?

 

 

[Stargeezr]

For those that actually think that the US of A has more freedoms than the UK, or Australia. Yes you have the freedom to die at the hands of some nut job with a gun, that was of course Legally purchased, somewhere.

Wonderful freedom that is.  It is a shame that still so many Americans still think, they will just die, if the 2nd ammendment is modified, or for Gods sake, actually rewritten. Charlston Heston is dead of old age, and His last hurrah for the NRA was a shame. Sorry to hear of Billy Grahams passing at 99, but wow that was a very long life.

Geezer

[thaibeachlovers]

33 minutes ago, JAG said:

I'm not advocating raising the purchase age, I'm advocating removing semi automatic assault rifles from society. The only place they belong is in a military arms kote. We (the UK) did it after a shooting episode (Hungerford) some years ago, we did it with pistols too after another school shooting (Dunblane). I understand Australia has done so too. We are still free nations. Remove these weapons from US society and it will still be a free nation. The gun nutters can indulge some other hopefully less lethal onanistic fantasy than how many hits they can score on a running child at 20 metres range, and they can still keep their dressing up boxes of camouflage fatigues and tactical assault vests if that is what fuels their wet dreams. They are sad sick people who are inflicting sad sick results upon your country. For the sake of your children snap out of it for God's sake! Do you really think that the decent honourable men who crafted your constitution, and it's second amendment, ever, in their wildest dreams, expected it to be used to justify this?

 

You will still be able to "walk upright", in fact it will be easier because you won't have to clamber over the corpses of slaughtered schoolchildren.

Given that you are apparently British ( from your post ) as vehicles are apparently the weapon of choice in the UK, are you advocating banning cars? I know you'll say not, but that is as valid a point of discussion as proposing to ban semi auto rifles when they have been used in very few mass killings in the US? The vast majority are carried out with handguns.

Many people own actual military weapons in Switzerland and keep them at home, yet they have, far as I know, no mass shootings. The reason for the US situation exists more, IMO, in the American psych than in the availability of weapons.

Either deal with the reality of nutters with weapons, or live in some mythical world where removing any category of weapon in the US will usher in a "perfect world".

[sungod]

7 minutes ago, sirineou said:

 if the Americans had AR16s 200 years ago, you will all be speaking American right now.

 

Or they would have wiped each other out. 

[boomerangutang]

10 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Soooooo, you think if AR15s had existed 200 years ago they would have excluded them from the constitutional amendment?  Absolutely arm teachers willing to carry weapons. Nothing else will work in the short term. Don't do so, and IMO expect more candle vigils and crying parents.

Arming teachers is sooooooo wrong-headed.  If I listed all the reasons that would be counter-productive, it would hog too much space in this blog.  

 

Whomever says that (dumbo Trump included) either doesn't see the problems inherent in such a flawed policy, or has a death wish for innocent Americans.