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Militarizing American Schools

Sorry I’m late to this, but I’ve been away for the afternoon and early evening doing Christmas shopping and seeing “The Hobbit” (it was good!). I caught this story on the radio on the way home: After a weeklong silence, the National Rifle Association announced Friday that it wants to arm security officers at every school in […]

Sorry I’m late to this, but I’ve been away for the afternoon and early evening doing Christmas shopping and seeing “The Hobbit” (it was good!). I caught this story on the radio on the way home:

After a weeklong silence, the National Rifle Association announced Friday that it wants to arm security officers at every school in the country. It pointed the finger at violent video games, the news media and lax law enforcement — not guns — as culprits in the recent rash of mass shootings.

“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” said Wayne LaPierre, the N.R.A. vice president, said at a media event that was interrupted by protesters.

This is a special kind of crazy. As others were quick to note, Columbine High School did have an armed guard, which didn’t prevent Klebold and Harris from carrying out their massacre. Sure, an armed security guard might have stopped Adam Lanza, but Adam Lanza might have killed the security guard before the guard had a chance to draw his gun.

When I say this is a “special kind of crazy,” I mean the idea that America is now a place where we entertain the idea that we need men with guns roaming the halls of our elementary schools to keep kids safe. If that is true, then we are a morally insane country. I don’t think it is true, but man, LaPierre is getting his Hobbes on bigtime. I can’t figure out if he’s really that paranoid, or really that cynical.

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