George Rebane
RR has always taken the position that keeping certain facilities (public and private) as ‘gun free zones’ has been and continues to be a terribly misguided policy. There are millions of CCW permit holders in America who regularly carry, and keeping these folks out of ‘gun free zones’ has demonstrated that the only ones who then do take guns into such facilities are criminals, terrorists, the mentally disturbed, …, and occasionally LE officials when called.
After the recent Parkland, Florida massacre the gun control debate has now expanded to doing something real to prevent and/or mitigate such future massacres by arming selected school staffers with concealed carry firearms. President Trump has now indicated his backing for this sane policy which is already quietly practiced in multiple school districts across the land. Giving credit where due, NPR this morning broadcast an interview with a Texas school superintendent about schools in his district which have practiced an armed staff policy for some time with the full support of parents and voters. (The liberal interviewer did do his best to ask a couple of gotcha questions to which the superintendent had no problem supplying civil and utterly reasonable answers.)
Private schools for the elites have fielded an armed defense presence for years. These are implemented surreptitiously so that there is no obvious evidence of the school being viewed by anyone, including the students, as either an armed camp or a fortress under imminent siege. That is the (Israeli) approach which is now returning as a national debate/discussion – the fielding of trained CCW staff and/or volunteers in school districts that so choose to defend their kids against wanton massacres.
As an analog, consider armed air marshals who have been flying on select flights for years. When that policy was implemented, airline hijackings stopped immediately with the historically tragic exception of 9/11 on which no legal gun happened to be present, and boxcutter wielding terrorists were able to kill thousands. Imagine airline travel with CCW holders able to fly with their concealed firearms.
The two-part proposition I have is – remove all laws and legal strictures that would prevent 1) CCW permit holders to carry everywhere (with some obvious controlled locations excepted), and 2) implement the ‘Israeli solution’ of CCW armed staff in schools. I commend its consideration to RR readers.
[update] It is hard to contemplate the abysmal mentality of progressives in light of Moonbeam signing into law a stricture that removes the last opportunity for California's school districts to readily protect their students from wanton walk-in massacres. In my universe the man is a certified idiot or the most evil cynical politician on record to do that during the ongoing national debate on arming school staffs – already implemented in sparse practice across the country and until today was also in California – which is the ONLY practical remedy and alternative to dedicated teachers shielding their students from the killer’s bullets with their own bodies. And note that more evidence continues to roll in that government really was the problem in the Parkland massacre as armed deputies cowered outside listening to the killer continuing to murder and maim students and teachers inside the school. ‘We’re from the government, and we’re here to help.’
[26feb18 update] Mr George Boardman’s column in the 26feb18 Union (here) is a sad but yet again a revelatory commentary on his and the progressives’ beliefs. The short version is that he
- Does the obligatory vilification of the NRA;
- Demonstrates his total misunderstanding of ‘Par Force’;
- Thinks arming school personnel (the ‘Israeli solution’) is ridiculous;
- And recommends that students start wearing armor to school (vests and helmets).
Not much can be said about his pot shots at the NRA, for the Left it is a rite of confirming membership in good standing, and must be expressed whenever an intellectual of that ilk considers to whom Republicans are beholden, any discussion of firearms and the 2nd Amendment, and, of course, everything that comes under ‘gun violence’ (save the decades long and ongoing slaughter in the Democrat run urban ghettos).
Through either ignorance or political cynicism, he misconstrues par force to be equivalent to “mutual assured destruction”. Apparently impervious to its purpose of assuring that a popular grievance gets aired before local authorities can ‘black out’ the message that may or not motivate others to join in the protest. Mr Boardman is an intelligent man, so I give it an 80/20 tradeoff between his agenda-driven cynicism and ignorance.
He would rather have crazed killers be the only ones on campus with guns than arm trained staff to provide a defense that would immediately halt the massacre. His reasoning – and here’s where that 20% favoring ignorance comes in – is that it’s better for teachers to sacrifice themselves and shield students momentarily with their bodies than engage the killer with a legal weapon. Why? (seatbelts please) “Students could find themselves in a crossfire between two people who aren’t very good shots.” Not only is Mr Boardman ignorant of the reasoning taught by the Rev Bayes, but he has no concept of the dynamics and psychology that dominate an unexpected firefight when the shooter suddenly realizes that he is being engaged by another armed person. The last thing the killer will then do is calmly continue executing students.
And the solution of having students start wearing bullet-proof garments and Kevlar helmets in America’s schools takes the discussion to a new level enquiry, the advisability of which (sans the levity it naturally evokes) should be considered under a separate commentary, one which I would invite Mr Boardman to contribute.
rebanesruminations.com 
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