There Is Another Solution
By Devvy Kidd
12-22-12
It's been nine days since the unspeakable horror of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. I was in Danbury, CT., in March 2009, doing research so I know the area.
I watched it unfold on FOX live as probably a few million other people did around the country. My first reaction, like so many others: not again. When the streaming feed said 26 dead, 18 children, I literally had trouble processing those numbers. I have watched every horror unfold on the tube from Ruby Ridge to WACO to TWA Flight 800, OKC, 9/11, the murder of former Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, the murder of Vince Foster and most of the school shootings televised.
Every time something so horrendous happens, the media are all over it like locust. Coverage over the years has become shoddier as every network and Internet news site tries to out do each other. Media staples like Geraldo Rivera ascend on location to get the scoop from people who have been shocked into a state where the pain is so raw they can barely function. I want to tell them: Go away and leave those people alone. After the first day, I don't watch anymore of the circus, so they don't get a ratings bump from me.
As the "dust settles," there are endless corrections. Then comes all the talking heads with their analysis on violence and the head experts; what you end up with is non stop noise on the tube.
All the words that can be said or written about the victims, their families and that community have already been said and written. The same as the dozens before Newtown. Even now as I type this column, I can only imagine what they're going through and wish to God it never happened. My daughter and her husband are both teachers. I think about it a lot.
Newtown isn't the worst if you're looking at numbers:
"The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, and four other adults; at least 58 people were injured. The perpetrator first killed his wife, then committed suicide with his last explosion. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–14 years of age attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history.
"The bomber was the school board treasurer, Andrew Kehoe, age 55, who was angry after being defeated in the spring 1926 election for township clerk. He was thought to have planned his "murderous revenge" after that public defeat; he had a reputation for difficulty on the school board and in personal dealings. For much of the next year, a neighbor noticed Kehoe had stopped working on his farm and thought he might be planning suicide. During that period, Kehoe carried out steps in his plan to destroy the school and his farm by purchasing and hiding explosives.
"Kehoe's wife was ill with tuberculosis, and he had stopped making mortgage payments; he was under pressure for foreclosure. Some time between May 16 and the morning of May 18, 1927, Kehoe murdered his wife by hitting her on the head. On the morning of May 18 about 8:45, he exploded incendiary devices in his house and farm buildings, setting them on fire and destroying them.
"Almost simultaneously, an explosion devastated the north wing of the school building, killing many schoolchildren. Kehoe had used a timed detonator to ignite dynamite and hundreds of pounds of incendiary pyrotol, which he had secretly planted inside the school over the course of many months. As rescuers gathered at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped, and used a rifle to detonate dynamite inside his shrapnel-filled truck, killing himself, the school superintendent, and several others nearby, as well as injuring more bystanders. During rescue efforts at the school, searchers discovered an additional 500 pounds (230 kg) of unexploded dynamite and pyrotol connected to a timing device and planted throughout the basement of the south wing. Kehoe had apparently intended to blow up and destroy the entire school."
If someone wants to kill children, adults or both, he/she doesn't need a gun.
Every time the unthinkable happens, shooting at a school or university, the anti-gun zealots are all over the idiot box with their rabid ranting about gun control. More endless vomit that guns are evil. Professional prostitutes (members of Congress) go into high gear with the usual call to ban this weapon or that one. The hysteria this time around has crossed the line by many:
Actress Marg Helgenberger: ‘One can only hope’ NRA members get shot - "On Friday, Author Joyce Carol Oates tweeted in response to that “NRA-sponsored massacre” that new gun control legislation might be forthcoming “if sizable numbers of NRA members become gun-victims themselves.” If that wasn't enough to be considered an implicit wish for more shootings, “CSI” star Marg Helgenberger made sure it was, tweeting that “one can only hope.”
Then we have the mentally ill socialists and communists aka progressives, liberals, Democrats who say things like: "If you belong to the NRA you should have to shoot your kids." and worse.
Mindless, dangerous zombies. Not surprising when you have an illegitimate U.S. Attorney General who hates the U.S. Constitution, the Dis-Honorable Racist, Eric Holder:
'We need to brainwash people to think differently about guns'
"Holder, now Obama’s attorney general, proposed using various levers of media and pop culture to attach a social stigma to guns, just as smoking has been stigmatized in recent decades. “One thing that I think is clear with young people and with adults as well, is that we just have to be repetitive about this,” Holder told the Women's National Democratic Club while discussing how to curb gun violence in D.C. “It's not enough to simply have a catchy ad on a Monday and then only do it every Monday. We need to do this every day of the week and just really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way.”
It doesn't matter how many columns are written about guns saving lives. This nation is filled with people who run on emotion and not facts, which is exploited by popular media made up of sissy males and empty headed females. The impostor in the White House thinks he's going to further restrict gun ownership: Obama demands 'concrete proposals' on gun violence by January
Let me just say this: That guy's real name is Barry Soetoro and that is what everyone should call him from this day forward. There is no record anywhere of him changing his name from Barry Soetoro to Barack Hussein Obama. He is a pathological liar. A malignant narcissist who is making demands he has no constitutional authority to make. Of course, Soetoro has never worried about the U.S. Constitution. He can appoint braying ass, Joseph Biden, to as many task forces as wants. But, they know there are millions of gun owners in this country who are making it loudly known we will not give up our guns.
As usual, the warped mind of those who want to completely disarm America conveniently over look how many precious children are killed every year in this country sans guns. I covered that in my column, The Killing Fields of America - Infants, babies, teens. As you see in the short list I provided, mothers, fathers, boyfriends - killed babies, toddlers, pre teens and teens by beatings, throwing them against a wall, beating or choking to death; in some cases, a gun was used. That list was only what I could fit into one column. One source I found from 2008, said based on reported deaths: 1,500 children a year are murdered by parents; four precious children a day.
People don't see how horrendous the problem is until they see a list all in one place. They don't see the carnage going on all over this country every day. Chicago has some of the most anti-Second Amendment "laws" in the country, yet the number of deaths this year alone number 436 as of October 29, 2012. 107 children, youth, young adults killed in Chicago in one year - that article covers March 2011 to March 2012. One can see the escalation. I did find one other item: 446 school age children shot in Chicago so far this year with strongest gun laws in country.
It's really beyond words anymore to describe how violent our society has become, but it's not because of guns. They are inanimate objects just the same as knives, baseball bats and dynamite. It's the user.
Things that don't add up in Newtown
There are some major things about the massacre in Newtown that I have a problem with as far as coincidences, second and third shooters allegedly taken into custody. The key word being allegedly. Yes, I've listened to the police scanner and seen the helicopter clips. As with OKC and 9/11, spontaneous and first impressions and film clips contain a lot of truth that is later suppressed or "massaged".
We have learned a great deal about the killer, his mother and the possible stresser that set that 20-year old off into a psychotic break. The Internet has been burning up with many untrue things or speculation taken as fact regarding medications the killer was or wasn't taking. I have saved a plethora of items and will get to another column early next year. You have to obtain official documents (search warrant affidavits) and things toxicology reports before blasting out there what you think might be in them. That takes time.
There's suggestions about putting an armed guard or police officer in every school in America - a bad idea. Who do you think a deranged killer is going to target first? Why, the one person on campus in a uniform with a gun. Wouldn't take much recon to figure out a pattern for a rent-a-guard at a school. Some school campuses are very large. One isn't going to do it or deter a shooter.
But, how do we protect children and adults in schools and university campuses?
A few days ago, Rep. Dennis Richardson, who serves in the Oregon State Legislature sent out what I believe is a workable, sensible plan that can be implemented all over the country:
"Training in classroom lock-down techniques is valuable, but passive. Classroom lock-down procedures alone fail to protect the children and adults who continue to be murdered before the police arrive.
"To start the discussion, here is a simple, inexpensive way to enable immediate response after the first gunshot in a school is fired. Establish a program of Campus Responders.
"Campus Responders could be two or three responsible adult volunteers in every school (administrators, staff members, teachers or members of the community such as retired law enforcement or military personnel), who are enlisted and encouraged to obtain additional training and regular practice in the use of firearms. Each Campus Responder would have a firearm concealed on their person or locked and concealed in a secure metal gun box bolted in their desks. School district employees with prior military or law enforcement experience would be the initial candidates for this voluntary assignment. No one outside of school and district administration would know the identity of these volunteers.
"In short, having armed and trained personnel in every school would enable immediate response with lethal force if and when the lives of our children and teachers were endangered by a mass murderer.
"If this procedure had been implemented, the number of students and educators killed in every school massacre from Columbine to Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook might have been greatly reduced. (The same would be true if implemented by shop-keepers and mall personnel such as those in Clackamas) In Texas the Harrold School District's “Guardian Plan” already has implemented such a policy. Under present Oregon Firearm Law, school districts already have the authority to do likewise. In Israel and Thailand armed school personnel save the lives of their children. In America the slaughter of our school children continues.
"To refocus this important debate let's consider the following: (1.) Mass murderers may be armed with guns, knives, explosives, and, as we saw last year in China, even hammers. (2.) From the 1998 killings in Oregon's own Thurston High School to last week's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary our students and educators have continued to be slaughtered in our public schools. (3.) There is less than a one in a million chance that a mass shooting will occur in a school on any given day. (4.) Police response times are at least five minutes; and, (5.) The costs are prohibitive and counter-productive to a quality education to turn our schools into educational prisons, with high fences, bullet proof doors and continual police patrols. Nevertheless, as last Friday's tragedy reminds us all, school campus massacres continue to occur and our passive policies have failed to adequately limit the number of innocent victims once the rampage begins."
Now you see, that makes sense in a mad world. No expense to the school and it can be enacted fairly quickly. Of the tens of millions of Americans who own guns, you can add in school teachers, administrators, janitors, sport coaches and others on campus. Some are likely former military; men and women who are already trained. Same applies for retired local police officers and sheriffs. In more rural areas, kids grow up around guns and know how to shoot. They might now be school personnel. No one except those tapped for duty would know who or how many armed personnel are at a school everyday. They would not all be in the same location, so when shots ring out, they can converge on the shooter long before any local police or SWAT show up. THAT will save lives and guess what? A gun will stop a gun toting killer dead in his tracks.
Rep. Richardson is also right about classroom lock down. Students become sitting ducks because it doesn't take much fire power to blow the lock and handle off a door. The best solution is for the shooter coming through the door is to find himself looking right down the barrel of .357 magnum. Bang. You're dead, not more children or teachers.
Additionally, we have tens of millions of retired military and policemen and women. Not all, but I would venture to say that large numbers of them would be willing to donate maybe two hours a day at a school. For smaller schools, one at the front entrance and one at the back. If you have more volunteers, do it in shifts for the day. Kids will get to know those men and women, potential shooters will know they will die instantly if they even try. College campuses present a bigger challenge, but not one that can't be solved if responsible gun owners, administrators and local law enforcement all come together.
For every school district that implements such a sensible plan, make sure the population gets saturated by the media. Schools should send a notice to every parent letting them know so that all students know. TV, radio and newspapers (hard copy and on line) letting the public know. Publicizing the fact that every school in a district now has armed personnel on campus will make potential killers think twice. Maybe not all of them because of mental health issues (another column), but it will have a chilling effect.
Gun free zones are magnets for killing.
That issue has to be addressed with your local school board, NOT the Outlaw Congress:
United States v. Lopez (93-1260), 514 U.S. 549 (1995).
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 93-1260
UNITED STATES, PETITIONER v. ALFONSO LOPEZ, Jr.
on writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the fifth circuit
[April 26, 1995]
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.
"In the Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990, Congress made it a federal offense "for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone." 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(1)(A) (1988 ed., Supp. V). The Act neither regulates a commercial activity nor contains a requirement that the possession be connected in any way to interstate commerce. We hold that the Act exceeds the authority of Congress "[t]o regulate Commerce . . . among the several States . . . ." U. S. Const., Art. I, §8, cl. 3.
"On March 10, 1992, respondent, who was then a 12th grade student, arrived at Edison High School in San Antonio, Texas, carrying a concealed .38 caliber handgun and five bullets. Acting upon an anonymous tip, school authorities confronted respondent, who admitted that he was carrying the weapon. He was arrested and charged under Texas law with firearm possession on school premises. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. §46.03(a)(1) (Supp. 1994). The next day, the state charges were dismissed after federal agents charged respondent by complaint with violating the Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990. 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(1)(A) (1988 ed., Supp. V). [n.1]
"A federal grand jury indicted respondent on one count of knowing possession of a firearm at a school zone, in violation of §922(q). Respondent moved to dismiss his federal indictment on the ground that §922(q) "is unconstitutional as it is beyond the power of Congress to legislate control over our public schools." The District Court denied the motion, concluding that §922(q) "is a constitutional exercise of Congress' well defined power to regulate activities in and affecting commerce, and the `business' of elementary, middle and high schools . . . affects interstate commerce." App. to Pet. for Cert. 55a. Respondent waived his right to a jury trial. The District Court conducted a bench trial, found him guilty of violating §922(q), and sentenced him to six months' imprisonment and two years' supervised release.
"On appeal, respondent challenged his conviction based on his claim that §922(q) exceeded Congress' power to legislate under the Commerce Clause. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed and reversed respondent's conviction. It held that, in light of what it characterized as insufficient congressional findings and legislative history, "section 922(q), in the full reach of its terms, is invalid as beyond the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause." 2 F. 3d 1342, 1367-1368 (1993). Because of the importance of the issue, we granted certiorari, 511 U. S. ___ (1994), and we now affirm.
"For the foregoing reasons the judgment of the Court of Appeals is Affirmed."
The right step forward:
• Texas School District Will Let Teachers Carry Guns
• Oath Keepers to Provide Teachers With Free Firearms and Self-Defense Training
More to come on all the shootings we've seen from workplace to schools.
Links:
1- The Killing fields of America
2- The Killing Fields of America - Infants, babies, teens
3- Guns and God
4- Harvard Study: Gun Control Is Counterproductive
5- Harry Reid in 2010: "I Carried a Gun Every Place I Went"
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