Gregg Newbury, San Clemente
Not many people had heard of Columbine High School prior to 1999. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida is in the news now because of a mass shooting by a former student. Sandy Hook Elementary School, Las Vegas and Aurora took place in between. What can be done to reduce the possibility of such attacks?
Schools are targeted in part because they are no-gun zones. A person wanting to do harm on society knows they will be the only one with guns when they show up at a school. This dynamic needs to change.
Every time we have a mass shooting, we hear “ban guns, outlaw bumpstocks, tighten background checks, eliminate the gun show loophole, increase the age to buy guns, arm the teachers.” I heard an idea recently I really like.
A caller to the Rush Limbaugh radio show told a story about his local police department running out of office space in their city hall building, so they created a satellite office at their local high school.
What a wonderful idea. This placed a trained, armed, skilled and experienced officer at the high school at all times. And it is their duty to protect citizens. The added expense to cover the schools is minimal.
I am suggesting that this idea be considered in San Clemente so we can remain a sleeping, unknown town on the Pacific Coast with a view of Catalina Island.
It is no coincidence that this is happening in gun free zones. Florida was a systemic failure of government at all levels (education, federal, state, local, and police) to protect citizens.
While the suggestions mentioned above may be part of some kind of solution there needs to be a more comprehensive and failure-proof process to prevent credible threats from being ignored.
Nick Freitas from VA made some exceptional points in this video about respect and using real and accurate data to address issues –
https://www.facebook.com/NickFreitasVA/videos/1575471789187997/
To both Gregg and Enrique,
It is NOT the government’s duty to protect citizens. There are several legal cases that have yielded this result, all brought up by people who falsely assumed that the government was required to protect them, or other people:
Warren v. District of Columbia
Castle Rock v. Gonzales
DeShaney v. Winnebago County
Riss v. City of New York
Bowers v. DeVito
Sapp v. Tallahassee
South v. Maryland
And there are probably many others.
Respectfully, Bob, that is not what I was I am saying. Did you watch Nick’s video??
I am pointing out that in gun free zones who is left to protect us when the government impedes peoples ability to protect themselves.
I am also pointing out that Florida was a catastrophic failure by the school system, federal, state, and local government to deal with a credible threat.