The enigma of making schools safe, doing so sensibly and surely

June 7, 2022

More mass shootings at schools, and other events. Obviously, everyone wants a solution to this problem, particularly the shootings in schools, where young children are targeted by thugs and the mentally ill, who want to kill innocent and unprotected people.

There are lots of ideas being offered to solve this problem. Most of them are spawned by emotion, which is somewhat understandable under these circumstances. But emotional solutions are usually the wrong ones.

The first emotional response is against guns. Let’s ban guns, or certain guns, like “assault weapons” and “weapons of war,” and “large-capacity clips.” But are guns really the main problem?

When I was in high school a “few” years ago, it was not uncommon to see a rifle on a gun rack in a student’s or teacher’s or staff member’s vehicle in the parking lot. Yet, there was never a problem. None of these gun-owning people brought the gun into the school, shot at people, or even threatened anyone. This occurred across the United States. Some schools actually taught marksmanship and had rifle teams. 

That is perhaps the most obvious clue to what the problem with school shootings is. It’s not guns. It’s the mental state or mind-set of the perpetrator. And that is what must be addressed.

The first step is to secure school buildings. Schools must have just one entrance, with a security system that checks and clears everyone before they are allowed to enter the school. 

But making schools safe from maniacs with guns, knives, explosives or whatever, also requires armed personnel who will protect the school.

Having armed personnel in schools who are screened, trained and prepared to address a situation where someone manages to get through the school security system makes sense. That could include retired or no longer active military personnel, former law enforcement officers, and even teachers or staff members that volunteer for that duty.

It isn’t just about the guns, knives, pipe bombs or whatever some murderer incorporates to do his/her evil, it’s about the motivation to do it. It’s about the failure of our culture to teach young people about good and evil, and how to live a good, productive life, and also those with mental problems. In many or most cases, the killers have given signals on social media or elsewhere about their evil plans. These clues must be acted on.

Other factors are the defund the police movement, and the idiocy of prosecutors/DAs who refuse to adequately prosecute criminals and release the guilty to commit more crimes. These things encourage criminal behavior.

And the right of Americans to keep and bear arms for self-defense is also quite sensible. One example of this occurred last month in Charleston, West Virginia. A woman with a pistol and a concealed carry permit took down a crazed man spraying bullets at a graduation party there, as reported by WCHS-TV. The man drove up and started firing on the party with an AR15 when the woman, instead of running away, shot him dead. A good gal with a gun stopped a bad guy with a gun!

The “progressive” left thinks banning guns is the answer. If all guns are banned, criminals will have guns, but the law-abiding citizen will be undefended. That’s how it works: criminals don’t obey laws; but their targets mostly do.

The left sometimes backs off a bit and wants to ban only certain guns. But even that runs up against Second Amendment protections.

The most sensible idea is to make it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to purchase guns or ammunition, with the exception of those who have served in the military and been properly trained in weapons handling. Background checks offer some level of safety, and red flag laws may also. But the red flag process often denies due process rights to the person targeted until after their weapons have been confiscated. That is unconstitutional. And they are open to fraudulent claims. 

“Who needs an AR-15, or a 30-round clip to hunt?” the left asks. Well, that is totally irrelevant. This is America. We are guaranteed certain rights, freedom of speech and the right to keep and bear arms, among them. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not say, “the right to keep and bear muskets.” It also doesn’t say “the right to bear arms for hunting.” And, by the way, AR does NOT stand for “Assault Rifle.”

Taking a different tack on that idea, who needs a Rolls Royce, or a Bentley? Nobody really needs one, but we can have one if we choose to and can afford one. That same privilege applies to guns, and is constitutionally protected. With the exception of fully automatic weapons, law-abiding citizens can have pretty much any gun they want and can afford. And that proved to be a good thing in Charleston last month.

Punishing law-abiding Americans with gun bans because some thugs or mentally ill people want to kill innocent people really makes no sense. And, more to the point, it won’t help solve the problem. But it will help to make it easier for the radical leftists to take over the country and turn it into Venezuela.