Will NRA's call to arms have lasting impact?
The pro-gun lobby suggests placing armed security guards in every American school. The idea was dismissed by many, however, and didn't seem to gain much policital support.
The National Rifle Association says the answer to school shooting massacres is more guns in school. It's hardly a surprising position advocated by the largest gun-rights lobby in the country.But what will the group's call mean? Will it have any impact beyond a day of heated debate? Is this a fundamental, significant moment in America's complicated relationship with guns or a throwaway grab for headlines?
Investors in gun stocks seemed underwhelmed. The share price for Sturm Ruger (RGR) barely budged and closed Friday down 0.4%. Smith and Wesson (SWHC) shares closed down 1.9%.
The country has seen a week of intense focus on gun control since 20-year-old Adam Lanza walked into a Connecticut elementary school on Dec. 14 and killed 20 children and six educators. America has struggled to understand the attack, to figure out what may have motivated Lanza, who also killed his mother and himself.
The NRA's top lobbyist, Wayne LaPierre, said guns were not to blame. He did blame the media, video games, movies and music videos. He described a "race to the bottom" in which companies compete to be more shocking and offensive. Violent films, he added, were "the filthiest form of pornography."
LaPierre suggested placing armed security guards in every American school. The gun-free zone in place in many schools "tells every killer that schools are the safest place" for mass shootings, he added.
He didn't specify how the program would be paid for, how guards would be trained, what procedures would be in place or how the scenario would be any different from Columbine High School, which had an armed guard when two gunmen killed numerous students in 1999, or Virginia Tech, which had its own armed police force when a student went on a deadly rampage in 2007.
His ideas didn't appear to address whether high-capacity assault weapons should be legal.
LaPierre's suggestions run counter to renewed calls for more gun control and stricter background checks since the shootings. President Obama has appointed Vice President Joe Biden to run a task force on the issue and deliver proposals by next month.
The NRA's highly anticipated announcement was quickly criticized from many sides. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said LaPierre's ideas were "a shameful evasion of the crisis facing our country."
There weren't many who vocally supported LaPierre's plan. Even on the conservative website The Corner, run by the National Review, commenters were far more critical of the proposal than they were supportive. "Any sort of policy that's based on extremely rare, isolated incidents is almost guaranteed to do more unintended harm than good, wrote one. "That goes for both the anti-gun and the pro-gun crowd trying to wave the bloody shirt."
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I taught for 30 years. I have a concealed carry permit. I never miss the kill zone in practice.
I felt helpless while in the classroom without my pistol, knowing that I would at least have had a decent probability of stopping an attacker.
My husband also taught and felt the same way.
Let well trained teachers carry.
The school I went to almost 40 yr ago had an armed policeman on duty in our halls. I think it is a very good idea. I don't think teachers should pack guns. They should teach. I do not think they should have to deal with security. People who commit these unspeakable acts are obviously not mentally right. Most are intelligent enough to know where they will meet the least resistance, soft targets. Stop the foreign aid and keep the money at home to be spent at home.
Violating the constitution is not the answer. Security and Mental health care. That is a real solution.
Being pro life doesn't mean you love guns (an inanimate object) or war. However it is the supporters of the second amendment that allow the citizens of America to remain free. The people that want to disarm the public are merely pawns of those that want to end our freedom. The democracy cannot be sustained if our citizens cannot defend themselves. Our enemies will not use weapons of mass destruction for fear they will damage the resources they covet.
I would be scared to death of missing a perp and killing a bystander in most stress situations.
I'm more afraid of a poorly trained civilian than running into a criminal, especially since I live in Arizona where you must own guns or relinquish your gonads.
Some fail to realize or remember that the gunman took his own life. All the laws in the world against LAW ABIDING CITIZENS will not prevent a PSYCHOPATH from doing what he did or anyone like him doing what they want. Laws were the last thing on his mind. These people exist all over the world and I have RIGHT to be able to defend myself with whatever means are at my disposal.
We send our troops overseas to fight an enemy and expect our soldiers to fight by the rules against people that don't know the meaning of the word. But the GOVERNMENT ties their hands and forces them to get SLAUGHTERED for the sake of doing it by the book.
I will not be defenseless against people who do not care about laws or wether they live or die.
Tie your own hands and leave mine the HELL ALONE. SURVIVAL IS NOT PRETTY SOMETIMES!!!!!!!
NRA is suggesting to keep armed security at tax payer's expense.Why cann"t they
volunteer from NRA organization. They have millions of members.That would reduce
national deficit burdan.Any way they collect lot of money from members.Plus they
get lot of money from gun and ammunation makers.
Well,
Everyone has there right to their opinion, so, why not have one - three individuals per school that are licensed & trained to carry a firearm with a high enough capacity clip to stop an individual who would think about doing harm to any children. Sometimes, people knowing, that if they try to harm anyone and people are willing to stop them with force, they turn out to be the true cowards they really are and probably may think twice about hurting innocent people. Your politicians can give Billions to foreign goverments that seem to lose most of the money somehow, but, lack the muster to provide phyiscal protection with security at schools and will tell you they can not find the money, passing laws will not protect our children. These cowardly indididuals that do these unspeakable acts only unstand force with force! Hey current administration, put all of are veterans that are trained with firearms and out of work and give them a job protecting our schools. Now that is a common sense approach to a on going problem and not all the hype you politicians and media spin.
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