Wild Wild West

The NRA has never been mistaken for an organization that suffers from overflowing empathy for gun violence victims and their response to the latest tragedy (which was followed a few days later by another killing in PA) thus wasn't much of a surprise. It wasn't quite on the level of Moses at Columbine ("I'll give you my gun when you pry (or take) it from my cold, dead hands" -- though he actually gave that speech a year later), but many have taken to the air, television, radio and internet waves to decry the statements of Chairman Wayne LaPierre.

What did he say exactly? Well, among other things ... “I call on Congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation, and to do it now, to make sure that blanket safety is in place when our kids return to school in January. The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” While some might find the first part of the statement reasonable, the second part has gotten a lot more attention. But lets look at each in turn. The first argument might seem reasonable on the surface. Yet do we really want armed security guards roaming the hallways of our elementary schools? And others have even called for arming teachers. While this might lead to less disciplinary issues it is the typical sort of argument we find when dealing with a technology-related issue. Don't actually address the problem with the technology, just get more technology to solve it. 

With guns, it is a more complex issue, but again, I'm not sure teachers and security guards being armed is a terribly good idea. For one, would that be a requirement for teaching in middle school. Most of the teachers I have trained for elementary and middle school over the years are not your typical NRA member. And what about the possibility a teacher could go crazy. It is even more troubling with security guards -- not among the glamor jobs in America today. Arming civilians just never seems like a terribly good idea to me. Just as a counterargument, liquor store owners often have guns and I don't think that has been a great deterrent to them being robbed. And what about all the tragedies involving police officers, who are well-trained on when to use force but have been involved in numerous tragedies where they killed innocent adults or children over the past 20 years. People often say that guns don't kill people, people kill people. But it's a hell of a lot easier with a gun -- particularly an automatic or semi-automatic one. Let's say that same 20-year old went into the school with a knife. How many people could he kill? England has a lot of crime, but the difficulty in getting guns means substantially less murder and gun violence in general. The same would be true here if we started to address the issue of so many having access to guns. 

As to the second argument, the big problem is, of course, who the good people and bad people are exactly. Certainly someone who goes into a school to kill children is a bad person. But what makes a good person? Was George Zimmerman a good person? Was Bernie Goetz? Sure both are heroes to some, but I think many of us agree that it is not right, nor sane, to put guns in the hands of those who might have very different ideas of justice than the law advocates or supports. On top of this is the reality that those with guns in a robbery are actually more likely to be injured or killed. It seems to me only well-trained police officers should be carrying around guns. 

The NRA and many of its most adamant supporters believe that we should return to the wild west, with six shooters on our hips ready to fire at the least provocation. But is that really the world we want to live in? It seems more measured solution makes a lot more sense. Why don't we make it harder for people to attain and carry guns around, have better background checks and ban assault rifles and other weapons that can easily be transformed into semi- or completely automatic? Why not place checks on ammo and limit the amount people can buy over a period of time. I, for one, would much rather see metal detectors in every school then armed policeman or guards roaming the hallways.