I'll start by saying that this is a very long read, that it's mostly my opinion, and a few facts that form my opinion.
The tragedy in CT has brought sadness, as well as concern to all parents. I guess I'm on the fence as far as what can be done to try and prevent this from happening again. I understand that people feel that some form of a weapons ban will fix it, I also understand the idea of having a police officer at the school, and the idea of allowing teachers to voluntarily be trained to carry a firearm.
There are so many sides to this issue, and realistically no solution. You can not stop a person that is driven to commit a crime, you can only deter that person in hope of not becoming the victim.
Our children have already become victims in the sense that our nations schools will become secure fortresses burning through funds that are already in short supply, and needed for education.
So here are my thoughts on the whole situation.
I personally believe that any weapons ban will only do more damage to society. This is a country that exists only in the shadow of its founders taking up arms and fighting for the freedoms we have today. This country is rare in its civil rights for the fact that the second amendment even exists. Our founders had to rebel against their government to gain freedom, and form the government we have today. I'm not anti government, and would hope that my next statement never come true. So take this in context! The second amendment was so important to out founders because it was the single most important right drafted into the bill of rights. The ownership of firearms ensures that as a people we are able to protect our home, our family, and our other rights.
George Washington said " A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."
I truly hope that this great nation never deteriorates to that point. I as well as you have to concede to the fact that this country would not exist without its people taking up arms against the English.
If you remove the legal right to own firearms you only encourage the criminal element. Criminals by definition do not respect law, and will only be more inclined to commit crimes knowing that victims will be unarmed. Not only is it my right as a law abiding citizen, but I feel that it is my god given right to have the ability to protect my home/my family/ my self!
You can not convince me that I should support any law restricting assault rifles, semi auto firearms, ect... until you can ensure me that criminals will not have access to those same weapons. As for politicians with the mindset to hinder the second amendment. I would like to give you a challenge. I challenge you to propose any legislation you fancy, but any proposal you make should also apply to your security. That means that if the President wants to ban assault weapons then the secret service should not have weapons that fall into that category! Hillary Clinton is pushing a weapons treaty through the UN, and I offer the same challenge!
Using Hillary Clinton as an example..... I'm sure that she has little concern for the second amendment seeing that she has had armed security since Bill Clinton took office as Gov of Arkansas in 1979.
We don't need more useless laws! We need laws that help prevent tragedies. You can't avoid it completely, but we can try.
The CT shooter was a law abiding citizen until that day. He committed 48 felonies in just under 2 hrs. For all these laws, none prevented this shooting, and none can be enforced on a dead man! I'm not a fan of more gun control, but I'm open to useful ideas. Believe me if a total ban was the solution, and would stop this from ever happening again, I would be all in. The facts just don't support that idea. There are some estimated 500,000,000 firearms in the US as of now. That's only an estimate, and more so a best guess. How would you go about confiscation of these weapons, and avoid a civil war? I just don't see Americans giving up something so important to them!
Should schools become fortresses, and have armed guards/police roaming the halls? I believe that a school should be a safe place for my children to get an education! It is a wonderful idea to secure schools as well as possible, but the problem is funding. Schools in the US are already suffering financially in the wake of budget cuts, unwilling public to raise taxes, and the local police being in the same position financially. Who is paying for my kids school to be evaluated, secured, and guarded? Between 2008 and 2012 President Obama, and Congress allowed funding to be cut, or not renewed for some half a dozen federal programs aimed at school security, school violence, and police presence in schools. The total loss of funding exceeded 1 billion dollars nation wide. This is all in the name of budget cuts! So this has left a serious gap in funding for school security. This was mirrored by deep cuts to programs for law enforcement, and should congress not find a solution to the budget crisis this cut will get deeper. If budget negotiations fail there are automatic cuts across a broad spectrum of budgets, federal law enforcement as a whole will take a 1.2 trillion dollar cut. What do you think that will do to your local police presence? These various agencies allocate funds in the form of grants to state/ local law enforcement. These funds are for everything from drug task force, to traffic enforcement. It provides equipment, pays salaries, and allows local law enforcement to provide services that otherwise would not be available through locally supported budgets. So again I ask, where will the funding and manpower come from to secure and guard our schools?
Teachers allowed to carry weapons in schools. My first thought was wow, I think that would be a step in the right direction! The details are the killing point for me.
I'm very cautious when it comes to firearms around my children. I have taught them gun safety from a very young age. They have been raised in a home with guns, taught the dangers of improper handling, understand the responsibility that comes every time the trigger is pulled, and taught to respect proper storage of guns as well as ammunition. I do not take my children to public firing ranges simply for those reasons. I have no way of knowing that other people have the same respect for firearms safety, and choose not to let them near people I can not trust with their safety. This leads me to worry about teachers having the ability to carry weapons. How well trained will they be, and can they manage a situation where they would have to use deadly force. I trust that police are taught to assess a situation, and use judgement when discharging a firearm. Will these teachers be trained as well? Who pays for that?
This is one fine dam mess, and as a parent, taxpayer, gun owner I don't have a good answer to my own questions.
The tragedy in CT has brought sadness, as well as concern to all parents. I guess I'm on the fence as far as what can be done to try and prevent this from happening again. I understand that people feel that some form of a weapons ban will fix it, I also understand the idea of having a police officer at the school, and the idea of allowing teachers to voluntarily be trained to carry a firearm.
There are so many sides to this issue, and realistically no solution. You can not stop a person that is driven to commit a crime, you can only deter that person in hope of not becoming the victim.
Our children have already become victims in the sense that our nations schools will become secure fortresses burning through funds that are already in short supply, and needed for education.
So here are my thoughts on the whole situation.
I personally believe that any weapons ban will only do more damage to society. This is a country that exists only in the shadow of its founders taking up arms and fighting for the freedoms we have today. This country is rare in its civil rights for the fact that the second amendment even exists. Our founders had to rebel against their government to gain freedom, and form the government we have today. I'm not anti government, and would hope that my next statement never come true. So take this in context! The second amendment was so important to out founders because it was the single most important right drafted into the bill of rights. The ownership of firearms ensures that as a people we are able to protect our home, our family, and our other rights.
George Washington said " A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."
I truly hope that this great nation never deteriorates to that point. I as well as you have to concede to the fact that this country would not exist without its people taking up arms against the English.
If you remove the legal right to own firearms you only encourage the criminal element. Criminals by definition do not respect law, and will only be more inclined to commit crimes knowing that victims will be unarmed. Not only is it my right as a law abiding citizen, but I feel that it is my god given right to have the ability to protect my home/my family/ my self!
You can not convince me that I should support any law restricting assault rifles, semi auto firearms, ect... until you can ensure me that criminals will not have access to those same weapons. As for politicians with the mindset to hinder the second amendment. I would like to give you a challenge. I challenge you to propose any legislation you fancy, but any proposal you make should also apply to your security. That means that if the President wants to ban assault weapons then the secret service should not have weapons that fall into that category! Hillary Clinton is pushing a weapons treaty through the UN, and I offer the same challenge!
Using Hillary Clinton as an example..... I'm sure that she has little concern for the second amendment seeing that she has had armed security since Bill Clinton took office as Gov of Arkansas in 1979.
We don't need more useless laws! We need laws that help prevent tragedies. You can't avoid it completely, but we can try.
The CT shooter was a law abiding citizen until that day. He committed 48 felonies in just under 2 hrs. For all these laws, none prevented this shooting, and none can be enforced on a dead man! I'm not a fan of more gun control, but I'm open to useful ideas. Believe me if a total ban was the solution, and would stop this from ever happening again, I would be all in. The facts just don't support that idea. There are some estimated 500,000,000 firearms in the US as of now. That's only an estimate, and more so a best guess. How would you go about confiscation of these weapons, and avoid a civil war? I just don't see Americans giving up something so important to them!
Should schools become fortresses, and have armed guards/police roaming the halls? I believe that a school should be a safe place for my children to get an education! It is a wonderful idea to secure schools as well as possible, but the problem is funding. Schools in the US are already suffering financially in the wake of budget cuts, unwilling public to raise taxes, and the local police being in the same position financially. Who is paying for my kids school to be evaluated, secured, and guarded? Between 2008 and 2012 President Obama, and Congress allowed funding to be cut, or not renewed for some half a dozen federal programs aimed at school security, school violence, and police presence in schools. The total loss of funding exceeded 1 billion dollars nation wide. This is all in the name of budget cuts! So this has left a serious gap in funding for school security. This was mirrored by deep cuts to programs for law enforcement, and should congress not find a solution to the budget crisis this cut will get deeper. If budget negotiations fail there are automatic cuts across a broad spectrum of budgets, federal law enforcement as a whole will take a 1.2 trillion dollar cut. What do you think that will do to your local police presence? These various agencies allocate funds in the form of grants to state/ local law enforcement. These funds are for everything from drug task force, to traffic enforcement. It provides equipment, pays salaries, and allows local law enforcement to provide services that otherwise would not be available through locally supported budgets. So again I ask, where will the funding and manpower come from to secure and guard our schools?
Teachers allowed to carry weapons in schools. My first thought was wow, I think that would be a step in the right direction! The details are the killing point for me.
I'm very cautious when it comes to firearms around my children. I have taught them gun safety from a very young age. They have been raised in a home with guns, taught the dangers of improper handling, understand the responsibility that comes every time the trigger is pulled, and taught to respect proper storage of guns as well as ammunition. I do not take my children to public firing ranges simply for those reasons. I have no way of knowing that other people have the same respect for firearms safety, and choose not to let them near people I can not trust with their safety. This leads me to worry about teachers having the ability to carry weapons. How well trained will they be, and can they manage a situation where they would have to use deadly force. I trust that police are taught to assess a situation, and use judgement when discharging a firearm. Will these teachers be trained as well? Who pays for that?
This is one fine dam mess, and as a parent, taxpayer, gun owner I don't have a good answer to my own questions.
