Fooling Us Twice On Gun Violence

We should applaud the outraged activist students from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. They have been fulfilling the requirements for being a citizen in a democratic republic. They are expressing themselves as well informed and actively engaged, which is so essential to the political processes that produce the laws that we have agreed to govern us.

I can only congratulate them. Some victories at the margins of gun responsibilities were won in Florida. Banning "bump stocks" (devices that allow weapons to fire multiple shots in rapid succession) is a definite win.

My concerns now move toward churches, synagogues, temples, fairs, concerts, art shows, and so on. Will the well-armed minister, priest, rabbi, imam, clown, roadie, or curator work to keep us safe ? It seems like the strategy of the day is to bring more guns to a gun fight.

The primary goal is to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them.

In my view, increasing the wait periods to purchase a gun, or raising the age to purchase a gun does little to ensure that guns still won't fall into the hands of someone who shouldn't have one.

Advocacy for gun registration, gun licensing, and gun liability insurance would be much more effective.

It's the vetting of individuals and the guns they own that will be crucial to increasing gun safety with respect to who should have one, and who should not. There would be no better designation for effective sorting than to utilize insurers to accomplish this. The personal history of an applicant for gun liability insurance and the type of gun they want to insure allows for a risk assessment that could prove to be exceptionally productive. Gun liability insurance merely expects gun owners to accept personal responsibility for the guns they themselves have elected to own (not to mention providing something compensatory for unfortunate victims). Although these three companion requirements could do much of what needs to be done, the resistance to them will be overwhelming, primarily BECAUSE it means accepting responsibility.

Remember how there wasn't going to be any more tax money directed toward education until the outcomes improved ? Remember how teachers wouldn't be paid more ?

Let's go over what this new gun legislation in Florida costs.

$400 million for mental health and school safety programs,
$98 million to make schools more physically secured
$87 million to establish a Safe Schools program
$69 million for mental health assistance
$25 million to replace the classroom building where the massacre occurred
$18.3 million for mobile crisis teams
$500,000 for mental health first aid training
Total: $697,800,000

Why is it that there always seems to be more money for guns in our society?

Collectively we pay for this. Isn't it better to ask gun owners themselves to pay for gun liabilities ?

Now envision children living in a daily environment where more police patrol the campuses carrying more guns. Imagine having children cower in the corners of cloakrooms, donning bulletproof blankets, as "active shooter" drills/simulations become routine regimens, as are the "securing" of students so that they must pass through metal detectors to enter, or the being kept in during "lock-downs". Consider what is being "taught" in such fear-filled environments.

Then think again about the churches, synagogues, temples, fairs, concerts, art shows, and so on.

The "Safe Schools" program initiates a "school marshal" element, where employees of the schools can volunteer to be trained and carry guns on school campuses ready to oppose active shooters. A seeming extension of the notion that "an armed society is a polite society", or the belief that "the best defense against a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun". We should question whether those things are true, especially in the presence of chaos.

Please watch this video on active shooter training.

As we are standing with our hands over our hearts singing "the land of the free, and the home of the brave", we must consider what we are really teaching.