Gun debate following school shooting guaranteed to yield little progress
Lewis DiuguidThe Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting will cause some Americans in great numbers to run from gun ownership and possession.
They are correct to think that guns are the problem, and having firearms will only make a bad situation worse.
But an equal number of Americans will feel just as passionate about owning more and more powerful weaponry after the school shootings in Connecticut, which left 28 people dead, including 20 children. They strongly believe that if more people had guns in schools that such shootings would be prevented.
It’s why Republican Rep. Mike Kelley of Lamar, Mo., is sponsoring a bill in the Missouri General Assembly with 24 co-sponsors that would allow any public school teacher or administrator with a concealed-weapon permit to carry guns into Missouri schools. These lawmakers aren’t thinking about teachers who securely lock up their purses and other valuables only to report them stolen in schools where kids have too many opportunities to get away with such thefts.
Firearms could be among those possessions that go “missing” if teachers and administrators are allowed to have guns in schools. Think of the havoc that would create at schools throughout Missouri.
The mushrooming debate over gun control only shows how nutty Americans are about their guns and Second Amendment rights. Stock in gun companies and gun sales dipped after the Sandy Hook shootings, but expect them to jump higher than after President Barack Obama’s election in 2008 and re-election in November as people’s unreasonable fears take over again.
Gun possession and ownership after the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass killings are the ultimate American conundrum. People in other countries constantly scratch their heads over why people in this nation with firearms are so out of control. Is it our Wild West history, or what? Does that justify children being gunned down?
In America, gun ownership and possession are as much a part of our way of life as prayer vigils, sad, sorry statements and funerals after each slaughter. The words are mouthed by elected officials who have the power to do something to end the senseless, needless death.
But a political paralysis sets in sponsored by the National Rifle Association and nothing happens.
The cycle just gets repeated with the next mass slaying.
Michael Parke
6 months agoOne of the great things about this country is that everyone is intitled to their opinions. However it is sad how misinformed and ignorant your article sounds. Lets look at a hypothetical situation…. You and your kids are walking through a crowded train station when a stranger with a knife grabs you child and procedes to run away with the knife pressed against him/her. Then suddenly a random samaritan pulls a gun out from his jacket and aims it at the asailant forcing him to release your child and keeps him there until authorities arrive. Think that might change ur views? Im sure lots of parents wish they had a gun when something like this happens. Its people like you who would like to leave good law abiding people defenseless. Now maybe we dont need assault riffles, im willing to compromise there. But if you or anyone else wants my handgun you better be ready to fight for it.