> TEOTWAWKI Blog: How do we protect our children?

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12/17/12

How do we protect our children?

The gun banners on the left are already using the Sandy Hook shootings as a new platform to promote gun control. I've seen far more talk of new gun laws--including introducing many which are already in existence--than I have of helping survivors, dealing with mental illness, and so on. No, the left and the media are politicizing the deaths of these poor children to further their agenda.

If you want to be really disgusted by the nation, though, read some of the comments sections at the end of the articles on gun bans. I've seen calls for confiscation of every gun by force, gun owners to be lined up and shot and all manner of disgusting, irrational knee jerk reactions. And, of course, the media is happy to quote commandant Bloomberg, the guy who banned large soft drinks, and the Chinese government on how they think we should run our country.

It's a frightening time for our nation, and I'm concerned about where things go from here, and just angry in general. I wasn't going to dive into this issue on T-Blog out of respect for the victims of the shootings, but the way the media seized on the gun control issue, I feel like I need to.

In a speech the other night, President Obama declared that we, as a nation, were failing to protect our children from harm and violence. I agree completely. Something should be done.


But let's think RATIONALLY about this for a second--not hysterically.

If we have something or someone very valuable, how do we protect it? With armed guards. Mr. Obama travels the country with a small army of secret service agents to ensure his safety. Celebrities, politicians and the wealthy have armed body guards. Banks have security guards and armored transport.

None rely on laws and "gun free" signs, because, deep down, these people KNOW THEY DON'T WORK!

Everything the shooter in Connecticut did on Friday was against the law! Did that stop him? Connecticut has some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation...did that help?

The Columbine shooting happened DURING the last assault weapons ban--did that help?

Mexico has incredibly tough gun laws--and they're in the middle of a near civil war with well armed drug cartels!

By extension, cocaine, heroin and crystal meth have been illegal for a long, long time, but that doesn't stop the drug dealers and addicts from getting a hold of them!

Laws don't stop criminals or the violently insane from doing anything! If the perpetrators are caught breaking the law, then our legal system can go to work on punishing them, but laws are NOT preventative to those who are really serious about committing their crimes. They just don't care!

The mass shooting lunatics are fundamentally cowards--the maniac on Friday shot himself at the first sound of a defensive response. And they don't go shoot up places where they know they will find opposition to their murderous, suicidal rampage. You don't see many mass shootings at police stations, gun shows, or even places where there is even only a relatively small armed presence--moderate security and a few on-duty police officers at professional sports have kept lunatics away from those targets.

Allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons is not the complete answer--it might be part of it, but you need a united show of force, at every school.

There are hundreds of thousands of ex-military and very well trained civilians who stand ready to respond to a call to watch over and protect our schools and our children--on a paid or volunteer basis. Give them more training. Make them pass through pre-qualification tests. Vet them all that you want. Then, let them get out there and actually PROTECT our children, in the same way that President Obama is protected.

With the unemployment rate still high and a President who likes to spend, this kind of program could be a powerful tool for both securing our children and providing meaningful jobs. There are roughly 100k public schools in the United States, and if we were to hire two trained security professionals at each school for say, $50k a year, that would bring the rough cost to $10B a year. In the grand scheme of government spending, that's not a lot of money.

And, because it's America, you could just ask for volunteers and many of us would gladly raise our hands and jump through training requirement hoops in order to just help out, free of charge.

This is how you truly protect our children and our schools from murderers like this. Provide armed, trained opposition--not hope that laws will do the job for you!