Okay, what say you about NRA official Wayne LaPierre’s call for armed guards in every school? U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal told the Hartford Courant LaPierre’s suggestion is “sadly and shamefully inadequate.”
“Their only solution is more guns and they reject any real action against gun violence. At a defining historic moment demanding courageous leadership, the NRA has declined to step forward as a credible and constructive partner. The NRA’s proposal for more armed guards in schools may be helpful in some instances, but it falls far short the strong, serious, comprehensive action needed to stop the kind of horrific tragedy that occurred one week ago in Newtown.”
Blumenthal said that there was an armed guard at the school during the Columbine massacre in 1999.
“The American people are demanding real change, and the Newtown tragedy is a call to action, but the NRA has failed to answer that call. So I am going to continue working with all sides that are committed to sensible common-sense measures,” Blumenthal said. He added: “The NRA will have to alter its approach to be taken seriously in this national debate.”
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, opposes the NRA proposal, stating today armed guards won’t make schools safer.
“You don’t want to make this an armed camp for kids. I don’t think that’s a positive example for children. We should be able to figure out other ways to enhance safety.”
Twenty babies are shot dead and Wayne LaPierre said the answer is buy more guns and have a cop in every school, this guy and the NRA are a joke.
Wayne La Pierre is an asshole, a right-wing bigot with an agenda. Blame the school officials, blame violent video games, blame the media. None of which is responsible for the proliferation of assault-style weapons on the streets of America. Governors and legislators around the country are revisiting gun laws. Some, like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, have proposed strengthening that state’s laws prohibiting assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines. That’s all fine and good but will mean nothing. Gun control must begin with Washington getting over its fear of the NRA.
At one time the primary motivation of the NRA was gun safety. Now the agenda is lobbying against gun control. That ought to be more than enough to determine the organization’s priorities are seriously fucked up.
This man is the biggest asshole in Washington, DC. His statement that “the only person who can stop a bad guy with a gun “is a good guy with a gun” is pure gun nut rhetoric. His call for armed police officers in public schools amounts to martial law.
It’s interesting to see conservative political causes under fire. First, John Boehner calls off a vote on his “plan B” because he doesn’t have enough support from his party. Then Wayne La Pierre Weighs in with what is wrong with American society: movies, video games and a culture that glorifies violence. Canadians have the same stuff we do, the same video games, the same violent R-rated movies. They don’t have any problem with school shootings.
Below are the 10 craziest statements from NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s prepared remarks:
1) Gun-free schools zones “tell every insane killer in America that schools are their safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk.”
2) “There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.”
3) “Violent crime is increasing again for the first time in 19 years! Add another hurricane, terrorist attack or some other natural or man-made disaster, and you’ve got a recipe for a national nightmare of violence and victimization.”
4) “We need to have every single school in America immediately deploy a protection program proven to work–and by that I mean armed security.”
5) “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Would you rather have your 911 call bring a good guy with a gun from a mile away … or a minute away?”
6) “And throughout it all, too many in our national media … their corporate owners … and their stockholders … act as silent enablers, if not complicit co-conspirators.”
7) “Then there’s the blood-soaked slasher films like ‘American Psycho’ and ‘Natural Born Killers’ that are aired like propaganda loops on Splatterdays and every day, and a thousand music videos that portray life as a joke and murder as a way of life.”
8) “In a race to the bottom, media conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing an ever-more-toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty into our homes–every minute of every day of every month of every year.”
9) “Through vicious, violent video games with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Splatterhouse. And here’s one: it’s called Kindergarten Killers. It’s been online for 10 years. How come my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn’t or didn’t want anyone to know you had found it?”
10) “Isn’t fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?”
Armed guards in the schools? Guess it’s time for shooters to pick another target (movie theaters maybe) … but we can pay the estimated $80,000 a year per school (is that what I read?) by taxing the imitation assault rifles (and the corresponding ammunition and magazines) red state America needs so badly.
That is an interesting idea, but one problem. You know no one in a grade school has a gun. There may be a Republican in the movie theater.
Chances are your heroic Republican won’t be packing an AR-15 (what’s the saying? “Use your pistol to get to your rifle”). And it’s hard to see much more than a silhouette looking towards the screen, whereas the audience is all lit up from down front, where I think the Aurora CO shooter made his entrance in protective clothing and helmet, toting shotgun, Smith & Wesson MP-15 and his Glock, much as the boy in Newtown was outfitted, in vest and helmet. They just needed a couple of minutes, so I hope your pistol-packing Republican is well trained and has some experience in deadly situations. If movie theaters don’t pan out for the would-be shooters, there are endless other possibilities–churches, McDonald’s at rush hour, train or bus stations etc. Not to imply pistols are useless in these situations, just not as accurate at range.
www .washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/us-mass-shootings-2012/
True, our armed pedestrian would only have a pistol. Him being un-uniformed and anonymous the attacker would not instantly target this person. Our intrepid pedestrian would have to plan his defense in order to be effective.
Secondly, vests and helmets et al. are not the same as being in a tank. A vest just stops the bullet from penetrating you. It is still like being hit in the chest with a bat. Broken ribs and internal injuries are likely. Death is still possible. Incapacitation is likely. If the shooter is wearing a low-level vest he would only be protected from a 22. It would be obvious if someone were wearing a mid-level vest because they are bulky. Nothing anyone could do would be foolproof. In any situation like the one in Newtown at least one shot would be fired. No one could shoot someone in anticipation of them opening fire in the same way you cannot arrest someone before they commit a crime. The question is what would be best. What would be the most effective at a reasonable cost and infringe on the fewest rights?
Mark Kelly, a former NASA astronaut and husband of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in Arizona, said, “The NRA could have chosen to be a voice for the vast majority of its own members who want common sense, reasonable safeguards on deadly firearms, but instead it chose to defend extreme pro-gun positions that aren’t even popular among the law-abiding gun owners it represents.”
BPK–You seem to have a lot of critique but not many answers. We already have cops in the high schools but only guards in the other schools. The guards can do little more than yell ‘stop or I will yell stop again.’ We could post ‘no guns allowed’ signs. We could arm the teachers. There is nothing scarier than an elderly, out-of-shape educator with a gun.
We have the guns in the system. If gangs can get drugs over the boarder terrorists can get guns in. This kid in Newtown took his mom’s gun and did this thing. No law would have stopped that. The mom should have had the guns locked up. Especially knowing her kid was a head case, but she did not. Do you really think someone in Bridgeport would really have a problem getting a gun? Felons get guns, drug dealers get guns and kids get guns. None from a gun store. The only things ‘anti-gun’ laws do is make it hard for you to get a gun (that might not be a bad thing) and drive up the value of the guns already in the system as people sell them to each other. Look at how the value of ‘pre-ban mags’ skyrocketed after the last ban.
The sad truth is the more we try to protect ourselves the more restrictive our society becomes. We could raid people’s houses and take their guns. Legislate what people can watch, games they can play, what they can say and think. We can send our kids to underground bunker schools with armed guards and electric fences. In any free society there is some risk. How much risk should we accept and how many rights are we willing to sacrifice? People who want to make mayhem will get guns or something. A guy in China attacked a bunch of people with a knife.
Reread the copy. The solution to the problem is banning assault weapons, large-capacity magazines and focusing on gun safety. Firearms safety was the original motive of the NRA. Wayne La Pierre, a professional lobbyist, changed all that by focusing his efforts on preventing any meaningful dialogue on gun control legislation at the state and federal level. More than a few people were shocked by his blaming the schools, the news media, Hollywood and the video game industry for the events in Newtown. This is the man who invoked an image of Nazi Germany by referring to federal law enforcement officers as “jackbooted thugs.” (He was later forced to apologize.)
The Bridgeport Kid, you make a great point when you said, “It’s interesting to see conservative political causes under fire. First, John Boehner calls off a vote on his “plan B” because he doesn’t have enough support from his party. Then Wayne La Pierre weighs in with what is wrong with American society.” What we are witnessing is the core of the Republican Party coming apart, the American voters want the tax rates on the rick to go up but the Republicans want to fight to help the rich and now 20 babies are shot down in school and the American voters are demanding changes in gun laws. The Republican Party core values are not in step with America.
Not really, Ron. 47.5% of the population voted Republican and 50.8% of the population was boondoggled by Obama’s Robin Hood-esque promises to steal from the rich and give to the poor.
This is what most people want to do in the wake of the shooting–more cops in the schools. Banning assault rifles is #4.
www .gallup.com/poll/159422/stop-shootings-americans-focus-police-mental-health.aspx
Gun violence is not a political issue anymore. 20 children were slaughtered by a 20-year-old with serious mental health issues. He used a Bushmaster .223-caliber semiautomatic assault rifle modeled after the AR-15 used by American troops in Vietnam. You can thank George W. Bush for allowing the assault weapons ban to expire in 2004. That ban was lacking a few teeth; at least one US Senator has stated she would introduce similar legislation when the new Congress convenes in January. Good. Assault weapons have no place in anyone’s personal arsenal. No one ever used a Bushmaster or a Kalishnikov to hunt bear, deer, elk, moose, duck or pheasant.
BOE SPY, I’m talking about right now, Dec. 21, 2012, the American public is outraged over the shooting of 20 babies and are demanding action and they also want the rich to pay higher taxes and what is the Republican Party doing, NOTHING. Obama has the Republicans trapped and they don’t know what to do.
You are right. The election was 11/6. The Gallup poll was from December 19, 2012 and on 12/19 most people wanted armed security followed by increased mental healthcare. I guess things could have changed in the last two days.
Ron, that is what the Republican party needs to do in order to get what they want. What do the Rep’s want? Reduced federal spending and for everyone to share in the cost of the benefits that we reap. That is what will happen when the automatic ‘fiscal cliff’ tax increases and spending cuts kick in. BTW–Obama went on vacation today.
There is armed security at airports. Every governor has armed security. Federal buildings have armed security. I would be astounded if there isn’t armed security up in Hartford when congress is in session. How can any of these guys say armed security isn’t part of the answer with a straight face? I don’t see Blumenthal, Christie, Himes or any other member of congress saying they want *their* armed security taken away. Or are they more important than our kids?
You are all hypocrites if any solution you propose for the security of our kids is not the same solution for your own.
So now we will have armed security at the movies, playgrounds, libraries, little league games, school cookouts or any other place where large number of children gather?
No Ron, people are banned from bringing a gun into a governmental building. The library has an armed guard. At any other public event, if you feel you may be in danger or just want to, you can bring your own gun. By banning you from bringing your own gun into a governmental building it is up to the government to provide you with the protection they ban you from providing for yourself, like they do with the armed guard at the library.
If I were the Devil by Paul Harvey.
www .youtube.com/watch?v=H3Az0okaHig
The solution is to put more weapons in the hands of those who need to be protected? Seems to me all that policy would produce is a bunch of ‘Fredos,’ dangerously bumbling when confronted in a potentially lethal situation.
Had Wayne LaPeeyoo been one of the very first responders who entered that classroom, his twisted attitude would certainly have been changed.
The reality in the fractured political climate in which we currently live is no politician seeking reelection will be successful without an endorsement from the NRA. The NRA has a grading system applied to all of our congress people and senators indicating support of NRA principles. Dreadful.
The NRA represents the gun and ammunition industry, part and parcel of the military industrial complex Dwight Eisenhower spoke of 50 years ago.
www .youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY
The military industrial complex, tied to defense budgets, is a major component of the corporatocracy that now comprises America, along with big oil/energy, pharmaceutical/health care, Hollywood/TV/journalism, the finance/insurance/real estate industry and others. By controlling the politicians (lobbyists, campaign funds, the promise of life after politics and methods too sophisticated for me to comprehend), they make the rules and call the shots. Mussolini defined fascism as the merger of the State and the Corporation–today it is known as corporatism.
It is time to bring back the assault weapons ban. There is no reason why anyone needs a rifle with a 30-round magazine. There is no reason why our schools, businesses, govt offices, national parks, entertainment arenas should be armed camps. AK47s are not sporting weapons, they are not even accurate, during the assault weapons ban they imported versions of the AK47 with limited-round magazines, civilian style stock and no military style features and guess what their sales plummeted, my point there is no sporting use they are designed for hunting alright … hunting humans and there is no excuse for allowing that.
Amen!
I don’t pretend to have any answers but I have given this some thought. Nothing is really going to stop a person hell bent on mass murder. The one thing we may be able to do is make it harder to obtain these weapons of mass death.
1. Eliminate the sale of assault weapons
2. Eliminate magazines that hold more than the normal amount of ammunition. There is no need for a magazine with 100 bullets.
3. Prevent states like Virginia from selling multiple weapons based on a drivers license. Many of the guns in Bridgeport are from this state.
4. Eliminate selling weapons and ammunition over the Internet.
5. Put a federal tax of $10,000 on each assault weapon.
6. Stop the sale of armor-piercing shells.
7. Increase jail time for people with unlicensed guns.
There is no need for anyone to own a semi-automatic weapon.
It’s almost like the old cold war arms race–one needs better, bigger and more sophisticated weapons to protect against the other guy’s better, bigger and more sophisticated weapons …
The subject is not for the NRA or its spokesperson to control. It is broader than comments pro or con gun control. The subject would include rights and responsibilities of those with mental and emotional health issues. I enclose a prayer I wrote last week to indicate a possible redirection of our attention. Let us peacefully talk about this. Our race thus far has placed us where we are.
Psalm XVI – December 17, 2012 (Sandy Hook School Massacre)
In the words of Amos, “And in all vineyards shall be wailing.” And today there is wailing for the slaughter of 20 innocents and their brave unarmed protectors. The world looks on and understands the injustice and shock visited upon the people of Newtown, especially the families of the slaughtered victims. The power of the media has spread the story afar. And yet we cry WHY and try to understand.
The children were murdered with special man-made tools sanctioned by our laws, by a young man who had grown in years but not in knowledge, sensitivity or ability to appreciate his neighbors within the community or to understand his responsibility to do no harm, to use no power for ill against the young, the weak and the innocent. And we cry WHY and try to understand.
Many of our leaders direct us to the serious conversations we must have together, as we have suffered days of grief and outrage too often in recent times. There are no easy answers, or they would have been chosen before this. But You have given us eyes to see. And You have provided us with minds to reason. And You have provided us with hearts to bear the full burden of generations yet unborn who need protection. And still we cry WHY and try to understand.
So we will converse together from our present position of ‘unknowing’ for we cannot forget this moment yet one more time. We will proceed because a compassionate heart will undertake this priority. And we will struggle with the question and all answers in silent prayer in these times. And ultimately we shall listen to Your Spirit that will once again guide us in this desert time. Lord, let us know Your presence. Assist the families with their grief and help our land to heal, we pray. AMEN.
*** This suggestion simply shows just how “out of touch” the NRA is with average folk in general. Any public place of gathering would need armed guards according to the NRA, no? *** THERE IS NO EASY ANSWER ***
No, in reality you are worrying about nothing. In this article:
www .washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/us-mass-shootings-2012/
It shows 14 mass shootings in the US in 2012. In 5 of them assault rifles were used. That would be about 1/3. 84 people were killed altogether. A terrible thing. Every day in the US 102 people are killed by cars. On average 10 of those people are under the age of 9. That is every day.
About 10% of the people who get struck by lightning every year die for a total of 40-50 people. You would be slightly more likely to be killed in a mass shooting than to be struck and killed by lightning.
BOE SPY, there is nothing we can do about people being struck by lightning but we can damn well do something about the sale of assault weapons and eliminate magazines that hold more than the normal amount of ammunition. There is no need for a magazine with 100 bullets.
As far as I know, none of the mass shootings involved a mag that held more than 30 rounds (the normal amount of ammunition for these rifles) and only 33% of the shootings involved assault rifles. Those shooters usually had another gun so your law would only have affected less than 33% of the shootings. 86% involved handguns. But if you want to start outlawing things that people do not need why stop with mags that hold 100 rounds? Why not include cars that go faster than 65 MPH? Radios that go greater than 40 Dbs? There is no more we can do about the sale of assault rifles than we can do about the sale of marijuana, cocaine and alcohol to people under 21. The only person we can stop from buying an assault rifle is you and that is because you do not want one. Since when does what people buy in this country have anything to do with what they need? Also, with the proper training and education the number of people killed by lightning could be reduced to 0 but that was just an example of how unlikely anyone is to be involved in a mass shooting. Mass shootings are like plane crashes or lottery wins. They happen, the media sensationalizes the event for ratings, but they will probably never happen to you.
What does any legitimate gun owner need a 30-round magazine for? Can you give us an answer to that question? Hmmm? Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster .223, a bullet slightly larger than a .22. The difference is the Bushmaster rounds are HIGH VELOCITY. The detective investigating the shooting scene discovered several rounds fired inside the school damaged automobiles in the school parking lot several hundred yards away. Tell me why anyone would need a weapon of such power. I would really like to know. You can cite chapter and verse about the second amendment but the fact of the matter is the US Supreme Court ruled restricting access to assault weapons falls well within concerns for public safety.
By the way, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were armed with 9mm machine pistols capable of firing 30 rounds a second. Hold the trigger and empty the clip.
BPK–No, Harris was equipped with a 12-gauge Savage-Springfield 67H pump-action shotgun (which he discharged a total of 25 times) and a Hi-Point 995 Carbine 9mm carbine with thirteen 10-round magazines, which he fired a total of 96 times.
Klebold was equipped with a 9mm Intratec TEC-9–semi-automatic–handgun with one 52-, one 32- and one 28-round magazine and a 12-gauge Stevens 311D double-barreled sawed-off shotgun. Klebold primarily fired the TEC-9 handgun, for a total of 55 times.
None of the guns were full auto. Klebold had a civilian copy of a full-auto gun but it was semi-auto. One bullet for one pull of the trigger. Interestingly, Klebold also had hi-cap mags but shot less than Harris. Harris had the a Hi-Point 995 Carbine which is a semi-automatic S&W 9mm pistol in a short, plastic rifle stock (carbine) with 10-round mags.
And between them they murdered 13 people for sport.
Yes they did. Finding out why they did it would go a lot farther in stopping the behavior than taking away how they did it. I am going to assume you work. If I want you to stay home it would be more efficient for me to take away the reason you go to work (maybe I would put you on welfare) than it would for me to take away how you get to work. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Any mechanically inclined person can easily convert a civilianized semi-auto version of a fully auto weapon into fully automatic.
Maybe with the AK47 but the AR15 would take some intense machining. You would have to re-engineer the entire bolt assembly. Someone with that kind of machining skill and the machines could build an entire gun. However, this was not done at any of the mass shootings to date so your point is moot.
People like 30-round mags because when you go to the ranges that charge by the hour you can shoot a lot and not have to reload. How much fun would bowling be if you had to manually reset the pins after every roll and you were charged by the hour? Look at these statistics:
www .justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp
There are roughly 300 million firearms owned by civilians in the United States as of 2010. Of these, about 100 million are handguns. Last year 25 guns were used in these horrific acts in 14 incidents.
Weak argument.
You think? It is just you want to punish 300 million responsible gun owners for what 15-18 people did. How about this argument? In 2009 there were 254,212,610 cars (about the same number of cars as there are guns) registered in the US and they kill 102 people every day. This does not include every car in town because some are unregistered. They should pass a law that makes driving an unregistered car illegal.
BOE SPY, at the Columbine shooting there were two armed guards and what did they stop? NOTHING.
It stopped those kids from killing more. Like I said before, the shooter will have to fire at least one shot before anyone can do anything.
BOE SPY, read the story and you will find those two armed hardships did NOTHING to stop those killings, NOTHING.
It does not say exactly what the armed guards were doing while the attack was going on. I did find some article that said one guard was at lunch and one guard fired at one attacker from 60 yards with a hand gun and missed. The guard did not pursue the shooter. It does say laws did NOTHING to stop the killings.
They committed numerous felony violations of state and federal law, including the National Firearms Act and the Gun Control Act of 1968, before they began the massacre.
They did not use an assault rifle or a rifle at all. Most of the rounds fired were 9mm hand gun rounds from 10-round mags.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre
Pearl High School, Mississippi: This incident began the morning of Oct. 1, 1997, when 16-year-old student Luke Windham entered the school with a rifle. Wearing only an orange jumpsuit and a trench coat and making no effort to hide his weapon, he initially entered the school and shot and killed two students, injuring seven others. He was stopped by assistant principal Joel Myrick, who retrieved a .45 cal. handgun from the glove box of his truck.
Appalachia Law School, Virginia: On Jan. 16, 2002, Peter Odighizuwa, 43, a former student from Nigeria, arrived on the campus of the school with a handgun around 1:00 p.m. and immediately killed three people, at least two of them at point-blank range. Two students–Mikael Gross and Tracy Bridges–both retrieved handguns from their vehicles and confronted Odighizuwa. As former police officers, both men were trained to subdue suspects but the fact is they were on the scene and armed, and helped prevent more killings.
Colorado Springs, Colo.: On Dec. 9, 2007, gunman Mathew Murray, 24, launched an armed attack against the parishioners of the New Life Church that ultimately left two innocent victims dead. But the toll could have been much higher, were it not for the heroic actions of former police officer Jeanne Assam from Minnesota. In an interview she said she very nearly decided not to go to church that morning but because she saw a headline on her computer indicating that two young people were murdered at a training center for Christian missionaries about 70 miles away in the Denver suburb of Arvada, she changed her mind. Murray shot a total of five people before an armed Assam shot and killed him. There were about 7,000 people at the church at the time of the attack.
Would-be massacre stopped in a Portland-area mall by an armed citizen with a concealed-carry permit. 22-year-old Nick Meli was carrying his Glock 22 at the Clackamas Town Center, a mall in a town outside of Portland, Oregon, on the same day as the Newtown massacre. The contrast between the unarmed victims in Newtown and the Clackamas shooting was stark. Meli, seeing suspect 22-year-old Jacob Tyler Roberts shooting random shoppers with his AR-15, pulled his gun as Roberts’ gun jammed. Meli never even had to fire his gun to stop the shooting spree, which ended in the death of two innocents and the shooter himself. Meli held his fire because of the risk of shooting an innocent person. “As I was going down to pull, I saw someone in the back of the Charlotte move, and I knew if I fired and missed, I could hit them,” Meli told the local television station. “I know that after he saw me, I think that the last shot he fired was the one he used on himself.”