Secure schools not empower criminals, Gun control does not protect children, Sandy Hook poorly prepared, CT strict gun laws failed, Keep criminals and insane away from buildings
“the deadliest school-related massacre in American history happened in 1927, at an elementary school in Bath, Mich. A school board member named Andrew Kehoe, upset over a burdensome property tax, wired the building with dynamite and set it off in the morning of May 18. Kehoe’s actions killed 45 people, 38 of whom were children.”…NY Times December 18, 2012
“Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA – ordinary citizens don’t need guns, as their having guns doesn’t serve the State.”…Heinrich Himmler
“The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good”…George Washington
Gun control has never worked and never will work. It is the solution of dictators and those lacking reason and accountability.
We secure our businesses with armed guards and security cameras. Rational and responsible members of society protect their families with security systems and weapons. Why have we not protected our schools?
Focusing on gun control is a knee jerk reaction that does not work and does not address the real issues of protecting our children.
Guns are not the issue, school security is.
There are many ways to commit mass murders of children, including explosives as simple as molotov cocktails, fire, poisoned air, poisoned water, poisoned food, crashing vehicles, etc.
The worst school disaster happened in Bath Township, Michigan May 18, 1927. 38 elementary school children and 6 adults were killed and at least 58 others injured. Dynamite was used.
Elementary and Kindergarten aged children are the most vulnerable and should receive the most protection. Here are some common sense based remedies that will greatly improve the security for these children.
1. Monitor the areas outside the buildings. This would include monitored security cameras and some combination of walk arounds by staff and or security personnel.
2. Security alarms for illegal entry.
3. Buffered entry ways. i.e. double entry ways. The first door should set off the alarm and the second would slow down intrusion.
4. Stronger doorways.
5. Regular drills for emergency preparedness. We had those when I was in grade school.
6. As many armed school personnel as possible. “Good guys with guns to stop the bad guys with guns.” Each armed person should be psychologically evaluated.
As strange as it may sound, we have been fortunate that only guns have been mostly used. The Sandy Hook tragedy could have been much worse.
Thank God some people are waking up, purchasing weapons and taking advantage of free training.
Thank God also for the Tenth Amendment which allows for state autonomy.
Despite the idiotic Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990, many states allow weapons in schools under controlled circumstances.
Too bad they did not at Sandy Hook.
From NBC News January 14, 2013.
“Guns already allowed in schools with little restriction in many states”
“With the debate over gun violence reshaped by the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school last month, lawmakers across the country are pushing proposals to arm teachers in the classroom. But many of them may be wasting their time.
More than a third of the states already allow teachers and other adults to carry guns to school. In most cases, all you need is the equivalent of a note from the principal — you usually don’t even need law enforcement approval.
NBC News reviewed the firearms and education laws in all 50 states and found that 18 of them allow adults to have a loaded gun on school grounds, usually as long as they have written permission.
That’s for pretty much any reason; the list doesn’t include states that generally ban guns but carve out narrow exceptions for specific activities like safety demonstrations or military formations and parades.
The families of the children murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School, as well as other Newtown, Conn., community members, are demanding change. NBC’s Anne Thompson reports.
During a Tea Party forum in Fort Worth, Texas Gov. Rick Perry became one of the first prominent officials after the Dec. 14 shootings to call for teachers to be allowed to carry firearms to work — even though Texas already allows any qualified adult to do so as long as the principal OKs it.
Since then, lawmakers in several states have jumped on board with proposals that mirror laws already on the books.”
“The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 prohibits anyone from having a firearm in a school zone. But that law includes the same exception recognized by the states identified in NBC News’ survey: It doesn’t apply if the weapons are “approved by a school in the school zone.”
And in any event, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Steve Stockman, R-Texas, have introduced measures in the new Congress that would repeal the federal law altogether.
Here are the 18 states that allow adults to carry loaded weapons onto school grounds with few or minor conditions:
- Alabama (which bans possessing a weapon on school grounds only if the carrier has “intent to do bodily harm”)
- California (with approval of the superintendent)
- Connecticut (with approval of “school officials”)
- Hawaii (no specific law)
- Idaho (with school trustees’ approval)
- Iowa (with “authorization”)
- Kentucky (with school board approval)
- Massachusetts (with approval of the school board or principal)
- Mississippi (with school board approval)
- Montana (with school trustees’ permission)
- New Hampshire (ban applies only to pupils, not adults)
- New Jersey (with approval from the school’s “governing officer”)
- New York (with the school’s approval)
- Oregon (with school board approval)
- Rhode Island (with a state concealed weapons permit)
- Texas (with the school’s permission)
- Utah (with approval of the “responsible school administrator”)
- Wyoming (as long as it’s not concealed)”
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