Groups in Utah are training teachers to carry guns, Tennessee is hiring armed “security specialists” for $11.50 an hour and the National Rifle Association is working on a plan to arm school volunteers even as teachers gather in protest outside the group’s headquarters.
Are security specialists the answer? Are armed teachers the answer? I don’t think that “good” vs “bad” is the answer. I think that well-trained and present vs. disturbed might be more to the point. What we don’t need out there is the amatuer hour if a school violence issue arises. Too many people’s lives are at stake.
The $11.50 an hour security specialist just isn’t really much more of a guard than the security guard at the Holocaust museum.
Armed school volunteers make me shudder. I have visions of who would be up there volunteering. I have seen plenty of them. Anyone who would “volunteer” to be that go to person arouses my suspicions instantly. I see someone who wants to work on those control issues by having lots and lots and lots of control.
The American public is going to demand some change. Now, I am not sure what their change is going to be or even if the change will be something that will have any impact whatsoever on this current outcropping of massacre type shootings.
I keep waiting for meaningful discussion about how we are going to identify folks with these mental issues. The idea that nothing can be done until something happens is ludicrous. That needs to change. Every single one of these mass shootings was done by someone that other people thought was a nut case. Society needs to be able to put these people on some sort of a watch track. Perhaps we need to have laws for gunowners that say, if you keep these kinds of weapons unsecured then you are going to be fined to the point of extinction. That’s a starting place. Someone should have spotted Cho (and they did) and simply sent him packing home without fear of law suits.
How do we limit or regulate sales and use of high powered weapons capable of doing extreme damage AND get some of these people with stability issues off the street and away from these weapons?
You know, an AK-47 or similar type weapon might be fine at the range. I bet it is fun to fire one. I would enjoy that. I don’t need to be walking around town with that same gun though. Maybe how we house and secure our weapons might be a partial answer.
Its not going to go away. No civilized country is going to walk away when 20 innocent children are riddled with bullets. There will be change.
Response—????
At $11.50 an hour, they’re really going to get the cream of the crop. I wouldn’t want my kids around that. I would suspect the “volunteers” would be a motley crew also, when it comes to skills in a gunfight.
Either that or my fear, the minutemen wanna-bes.
@Scout
That’s the standard rate for armed security guards.
I believe we want more than security guards. That was Scout’s point, if I am not mistaken.
Up in Pennsylvania, quite a few of the guys and gals are either moonlighting Police/Sheriff Deputies, retired or former military. Personally, someone who already has knowledge of a weapon and knows how to properly react is the type that should be hired.
As for a meaningful discussion of identifying and tracking people with mental health issues, that all went out the door long ago in the late ’70s and early ’80s when the movement to close State Mental Hospitals was in full swing. Many would say the approach to revive the identyfing and tracking impinges on civil rights.
That tracking thing has to change also. Hippa laws have to be rewritten.
Looking at the mass murderers of the past few years…do you think those people would have been in hospitals in the 60s? I don’t think so. I visited those hell houses as a student. Those folks couldn’t even function. Often they couldn’t even care for themselves.
The only reason Hinkley is in the facility he is in is because he attempted to shoot the POTUS.
I have read that former military personnel wouldn’t be shoe ins because they aren’t trained like LEOS. I had never thought of that but…someone had a point. Its one thing to have weapons training. Its another thing to know how to respond in those kinds of crowded situations.
Apparently cops aren’t much better as the shooting of 9 passersby by the cops during the take down of a murderer in NYC proved.
Perhaps specific training programs for school environments can be developed. There are a variety of schools that could provide that.
1 incident–1 incident proves nothing.
I have no problem with special training for school environments. Its a good idea.
What kind of profile would you want on the $11 an hour renta cop?
Monday is the one-month anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty innocent children and six brave adults lost their lives, and the tragedy sparked a real debate about gun violence in this country — at least for now.
Newspaper headlines and TV news anchors are reporting that our number one priority — fixing the criminal background check system — is at the top of the president’s agenda. That’s a huge victory, and it’s thanks to supporters like you.
Unfortunately, our elected leaders can have short memories. Conventional wisdom in Washington, DC says that if the legislative process drags on long enough, the urgency will fade and Congress won’t have to act. We can’t let them forget Newtown. And we can’t wait for the next tragedy to fix our broken gun laws.
Join demandaplan.org. Think of those babies and all the other children killed by guns. Support them or not.
That little Green girl would be 2 years older today than she was the day her life was snuffed out.
There is just something about children this age being snuffed out that gets our attention and keeps it.
Of course if it is your child or niece or nephew, I don’t suppose age matters. I feel certain the Tech parents ache as much today and the Sandy Hook parents do.
@Moon-howler
What kind of profile? I don’t know what you are asking.
The Empire State Building Not So Friendly Fire incident doesn’t indicate that untrained amateurs should be given responsibility for providing armed resistance around schools. It does prove that even trained police officers can make horrendous, fatal mistakes in some situations. This stuff ain’t easy.
Actually, none of the citizens were killed, Just shot.
If they insist on putting armed guards in schools, then go right to the top. Hire Blackwater mercenaries. They would be expensive, but it would be preferable to hiring old, crippled, blind volunteers. If Blackwater mercs are good enough to work in Afghanistan, they’re good enough to work in elementary schools.
Those dudes are very expensive. Don’t they train right down there near Coinjock, NC?
Blackwater doesn’t exist anymore. I don’t know the name of the company that replaced it. I don’t think its in NC anymore.
I bet it really does and it has just gone dark. To you and me it doesn’t exist.
What took its place is called Xe pronounced Zee.
Moycock, NC.
Right on the old road to Nagshead.
More information:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/government-inc/2009/02/behind_the_blackwater_name_cha.html
Xe. The periodic table element that signifies a colorless, odorless gas. That’s where Blackwater has gone.
In other words, it exists, we just can’t see it.
Oh, so its still there. Cool.
The BW company was sold. Its former CEO did some stupid stuff apparently.
The State Dept loved Blackwater. Not one, single, State dept personnel came to harm while protected by Blackwater while they were in Iraq. NOT one.
http://youtu.be/9gYvW0nwkwM
Blackwater in Najaf, protecting a State Dept building and assisting Marines.
Warning. Combat sniping from roof and harsh language
ah that was an addictive little session. I am just sorry I coudn’t see better into the ‘field.’
The problem with mercenary outfits like Blackwater is that they all train at the expense of the United States, us. Then they go make 5 times more than our military folks are making. It caused a morale problem. They also seem to be able to circumvent some of our military code of ethics.
Just some observations.
@Moon-howler
What you say is true. However, they also lose the protection of the “status of forces agreements”, lose the support structure, benefits, etc.
I didn’t see a morale problem in the soldiers I talked with. As for the code of ethics…if you mean the UCMJ… yes. If you mean local law or agreements made by the hiring entity..no.
They still had to fall under State Dept. guidelines. And Blackwater failed partly because Iraq was able to kick them out because of actions that the Iraqis disagreed with.
They accused the bodyguards of firing into a crowd. They stated that they were under attack and shooting at the enemy. The Iraqis destroyed the evidence. The BW operators left Iraq. It was a huge mess.