We Need School Security - Not Gun Control

Reaction in official circles to the Newtown school massacre has gone little beyond mindless demands for gun-control measures — which criminals always evade. The government already controls too much.

James Madison warned that in establishing a free government, "the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."

Thomas Jefferson warned that "free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power."

The "debate" America is now having in the wake of the slaughter of 20 elementary schoolchildren gives very short shrift to our Founders' fears of the U.S. eventually descending into despotism.

In just the last four years, our rulers have proved that under them the government cannot "control itself," and the people have been unable to "bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power."

The government has taken over our medical system, our banking system, even most of our car manufacturers. The public is woefully unaware of the fact that the 2008 global financial fiasco is the result of a U.S. government power grab: deciding who gets home loans.

President Obama in 2008 even proposed a national police force reporting straight to him. "We cannot continue to rely only on our military," he said. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

Last week, a lengthy article in the Wall Street Journal detailed how the federal government's "little-known National Counterterrorism Center" can now, under new authority, examine "the government files of U.S. citizens for possible criminal behavior, even if there is no reason to suspect them."

It "can copy entire government databases — flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and many others," keeping "data about innocent U.S. citizens for up to five years ... to analyze it for suspicious patterns of behavior."

In light of all these constitutionally dubious Washington power grabs, allowing emotion to rule in the discussion of how to better protect schools is beyond foolish.

Liberal newspapers like the New York Daily News and megalomaniacal politicians like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who dictates the size of New Yorkers' beverages, say not imposing massive gun-control measures leaves Congress with blood on its hands. But this subject requires careful study and congressional hearings — where plenty of criminologists will testify that gun control doesn't control crime.

Disarming our citizenry won't protect schools; it didn't, for instance, stop 52 public school students from being fatally shot during the 2009-11 school years in heavily gun-controlled Chicago.

Air passengers today have to take off their shoes and belts before boarding. Our schools could beef up security with, say, two entrances, both with metal-detectors, but one with visible security, the other with disguised safeguards. What isn't caught at the first door would be detected at the second.

The point is, America is a nation of innovators, and there's enough creativity in the private sector to come up with security systems for schools that do the job.

Schools could also require annual, or even more frequent, checkups by medical professionals with psychiatric training to perhaps detect the symptoms of disturbed individuals like the Newtown killer.

The Connecticut tragedy has exposed a school security vulnerability, not a gun-rights problem that a power-hungry government should be allowed to exploit.

http://news.investors.com/ibd-edito...er-grab-not-solution-school-safety.htm?p=full

 

>>The Connecticut tragedy has exposed a school security vulnerability, not a gun-rights problem that a power-hungry government should be allowed to exploit.<<

Exactly. Address the actual problem. How about a master switch in the school office that would lock all classroom doors? End of problem.

Some training of school personnel and students would not be a bad idea either.

 

We need to reinstate the assault weapons ban, ban high capacity clips, put a police officer at every school, and invest more in our mental health services. I personally would like to see us have the same gun laws as Japan, but that's never going to happen.

 

The type of rifle is not the problem. Mental health and school security are the problems.

 

Why not move to Japan?

As for the rest of your suggestions, they are useless. You can't ban assault weapons anymore. There are too many of them in circulation. Criminals who are intent on committing murder won't give a shit about your new ban.

 

At the very least, what we can do right now, is post an armed security officer at each campus and lock the buildings down; outside doors as well as each classroom.
Additionally, right now, any teacher who wishes, should be allowed to carry.
Gun control will be along later.

STOP THE MADNESS!

 

Your first question is stupid and I will not dignify it with a response. As for the issues, I agree that we'll never get all of them, but if we can get most of them it will at least be harder for deranged white kids who don't leave their homes to get their hands on them.

 

You won't even get most of them. And even if you somehow magically could, deranged white kids, as you call them, will just take pistols if they intend to do harm.

You can delude yourself into believing whatever it is you wish to, just don't try to convince us of it, please.

 

America is looking more "Nazi" every day. Aren't people paying attention... or does the prospect of "free ice cream" for the parasite class outweigh EVERYTHING??

 

Harry Reid: "I carried a gun everywhere I went."

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