There’s a Reason We No Longer Live in the Fucking Medieval Age.
By It took less than 24 hours, but the NRA-sponsored argument to “arm the teachers!” is being field-tested, as noted by Erik, and as illustrated in a charming graphic, circulating on facebook, extolling the virtues of a “staff heavily armed and trained . . . any attempt to harm the children will be met with deadly force”.
Ultimately, such an asinine, idiotic argument serves to defend a mythic mis-interpretation of our 2nd Amendment rights. So let’s talk about the rights that we do have, or should have, in a modern society.
Sorry, assholes, but my six year old daughter has more of a right to attend her fucking elementary school without fear. Her teacher has the right to concentrate on excellence in pedagogy and not in SWAT tactics. I have the right as a university professor to assume that when the door to my lecture hall opens, as it does five times per hour, it’s another late student, and not my long awaited chance to unholster the Glock I’m packing in order to pop off a couple untrained rounds in playing hero.
When I go to a shopping mall in Clackamas County, where I live while in Oregon (I’m there now, indeed I arrived at PDX just a couple hours after the now forgotten Clackamas Town Center shooting on Tuesday), I have the right to not worry about not only some over-armed deranged soul taking out his frustrations and insecurities and self-perceived failures on the general population, but likewise I shouldn’t have to wonder how many of my fellow shoppers are armed, untrained, yet itching for the chance for a righteous firefight, especially after three post work beers. Because nothing makes me feel safer than eight or ten well meaning “good guys” trying to take out the one lunatic against the backdrop of 10,000 holiday shoppers.
Our response, as a society, should be to examine the multitude of reasons why these events kick off. One thing should be perfectly fucking clear, however. Introduce readily available firearms, especially those that no recreational pursuit requires, the efficiency of the slaughter increases tremendously. As we all know, on the same day as Sandy Hook, CT, a similar rampage happened in China. The lunatic in China was armed with only a knife, not two side arms and an AR4 .223.
And holy crap! No children in China died. 22 wounded. Nine went to hospital, two in serious condition.
Did I mention that no children died in China?
The response of a significant component of our population in the United States is to arm the teachers, not question the underlying conditions and assumptions that brought us here. I’m not at all sorry when I say this: that’s fucking ridiculous.
I don’t mind guns, I’ve liked hunting, I’ve been known to be a pretty decent shot, but the asinine line “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” is bullshit.
Guns make the killing a hell of a lot more efficient.
And I’m thankful that my six year old daughter goes to school in England, because if “arm the teachers!” is the best that we can do here, we’ve blown right past the Gilded Age and are plowing head on to a return to medieval times.
