Editorial by LA Daily News/LA Newspaper Group Opinion staff | http://bit.ly/VmZqGv
 | << The National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre pauses as he makes a statement during a news conference in response to the Connecticut school shooting on Dec. 21, 2012 in Washington. The National Rifle Association broke its silence Friday on last week's shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school that left 26 children and staff dead. (Evan Vucci/AP) |
12/21/2012 02:15:31 PM PST :: It took a lot of nerve this morning for the head of the National Rifle Association to call for armed guards in every school across the United States just one week after the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. Militarizing our country's schools is an extreme overreaction and not the answer to countering the killing.
During NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre's press conference, he disrespected the victims, blamed everyone but the gun culture and completely ignored the fact that there needs to be a wider discussion on how to prevent gun violence altogether, along with a need to improve care for mentally ill people like gunman Adam Lanza.
With all the funding cuts to education, LaPierre's idea to post armed guards at every school is unattainable and ludicrous. On top of that, schools are already capable of hiring guards to protect students. Further, it's not at all clear whether an armed guard posted at Sandy Hook would have been able to stop Lanza, who entered the school with a military-style weapon and high-capacity clip.
An armed guard was on duty during the 1999 shooting at Colorado's Columbine High School, but 12 students and a teacher were still gunned down by a pair of young men who were clearly disturbed.
"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," LaPierre said in a defiant rant that took aim at the influence of violent video games, how the news media allegedly "demonizes" gun owners and complacency by the federal government. Sorry to burst LaPierre's bubble, but stopping guns with more guns doesn't make us safer.
Not once did LaPierre discuss the need to balance firearm policy with Second Amendment protections for the sake of improving public safety. President Barack Obama has taken the right first step by appointing Vice President Joe Biden to oversee renewed efforts to end gun violence. Obama's call for action must be followed up quickly - and intelligently - to effectively end the senseless killing.
 | the 2nd amendmentA 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. |
smf: Isn’t that what the NRA is calling for? A mobilization of the militia and bivouacking them at every school in the nation? That’s the same as Senator Boxer asked for earlier in the week – the National Guard is the militia!
With Boxer and LaPierre in perfect lockstep what possibly could go wrong?
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