Firearms skill and safety training.
The above pic is from a Massachusettes High School in 1959.
Posted on 10/13/2006 2:33:17 PM PDT by NapkinUser
More school shootings, and the inevitable commentary on the evening news: "I didn't think this sort of thing could happen here."
The heartfelt, but naive belief that murderous rampages "don't happen here" begs the question: "Where do you think such things happen?"
Labels exist for the places where shootings occur: urban, inner city.
But one thing urban folks can tell their scared suburban friends right now is that a good part of the horrendous violence in their communities is due to the proliferation of guns.
Sometimes it seems like everyone is packing. Someone disrespects your girl? Shoot 'em. Someone looks at you wrong? Shoot 'em. Someone mouths off to you at a party? Shoot 'em.
So for once, maybe the suburbs and rural America can take a cue from the cities: "Get the guns out of your homes."
Because while much of America lulled itself into believing that these things "do not happen here," they were also stockpiling. Where they live guns are used for hunting, for target practice and for a misplaced sense of security. I get that, my mother's family has those references. Mother's stories about growing up on the Kansas farm often involve guns.
There was the time when grandfather's favorite dog turned up rabid. "Get the gun!" Grandpa shouted from the field, knowing he had to shoot his dog before it bit his family.
There are stories about hunting rabbits and duck for dinner and shooting coyotes so they wouldn't kill the livestock.
But mother gave up fetching food from the woods long ago. She goes to the grocery now. She feels safe with good locks on the house. Grandfather's guns have been passed down as family heirlooms, not loaded weapons.
She has no use for a gun.
More people who live in these "couldn't happen here" communities need to come to the same revelation.
Because for all the recent head scratching about how to prevent more school shootings, studies have made several things clear: School shooters almost always are boys. The shootings are planned attacks, not spur of the moment. And the guns come from the shooters' homes.
We need to quit dancing around these facts, starting with the president. George Bush's recent summit should have been titled "Gun violence in schools."
Apparently that would have been too to-the-point. So it was proclaimed the less accurate but more benevolent, "Conference on School Safety."
The little political commentary about guns in schools has been insane commentary. Wisconsin Rep. Frank Lasee proposes teachers carry guns. Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt made the same suggestion, until smarter heads backed him away from the idea.
Arm the teachers? How about disarm the kids?
The best way to do that would be to address where school shooters get their guns - from their homes. Oh I know, people will talk about their right to bear arms, the need for self-protection, that they like to hunt wild game. All are understandable replies.
But anyone giving these answers should also honestly address two questions: Do you really need a gun in the house, and if so, how secure is it? And, how well do you know your son?
I can hear the refrain now: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Nice slogan.
Here's the truth: Troubled boys with access to their parents' guns have killed their classmates, their teachers and quite often, themselves.
And yes, it can happen anywhere.
Oh hag go to New York with the rest of the nuts of the world....
Let's get personal. It ain't 'kids,' it's Rosie, Da Spoon, O'Donnell.
Post # 15.........."911 was a number to call when you needed a public servant to come mop up the blood and haul off the corpse"........Love it!!!!!
Yes. This has happened millions hundreds of thousands thousands ... Hmmm.... Maybe we shouldn't set national policy based on what happens to one person in a million.
Liberals have no sense.
LOL Your Kalifornia sister-in-law calling 911: "Thank...you...for...calling. If...you...have...an...emergency...and...wish...to...speak...in...Spanish...press...1. All...of...our...dispatchers...are...on...the...other...lines. Please...hold...for...the...next..."
BANG! BANG! BAM-BAM! BANG!
....................If...you...still...need...help...you...may...leave...a...message............
Works for me because I won't be trying to break any doors down. I was being sarcastic but really I should have said "build around my gun safes". Because a fellow really does not have many guns unless it takes more than one safe to store them.
I changed my tage line for this thread...
*FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1994
The National Literacy Act of 1991 defines literacy as “an individual’s ability to read, write, and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one’s goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potential."
According to this same Act,
nearly 30,000,000 adults in the United States have serious problems with literacy; (Approximately 10% of population)
How Many Schools?
95,615
Number of public elementary and secondary schools. The corresponding number of private elementary and secondary schools is 29,273.
www.census.gov
Approximately 125,000 schools vs. 30,000,000 illiterates. Thats 240 illiterates per school.
Schools are 24000 times more likely to produce an illiterate, than a gun is to be used in any type of crime.
Schools cause illiteracy.
Tell her how you really feel...
msanchez@kcstar.com
LOL!
That's one wild website.
People don't house people, houses do.
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