It’s Raining Guns
Guns, guns, guns. We need more guns.
A New York town that began assigning an armed police officer to guard a high school in the wake of the Connecticut massacre has suspended the program after an officer accidentally discharged his pistol in a hallway while classes were in session.
Lt. James Janso of the Lloyd police department tells media outlets Officer Sean McCutcheon will be suspended while an investigation continues.
Hey, at least he didn’t shoot the maintenance man. That’s the teachers’ job.
So, the way I figure it, we need an armed officer to protect us from the other armed officer. Oh hell, let’s have three at each school to make it interesting.
How many of these Barney Fife moments are we going to have to experience before Andy Griffith returns from the dead and takes away the bullets?
1South Dakota is going to allow teachers to carry in the classroom. It’s like Arizona with snow.
2Good grief maybe I’ll homeschool my grandkids! Geez!
3There is a way to look at this issue objectively. Say that school systems were required to purchase riders (supplemental coverage) to their public liability insurance policies. How much would extra coverage cost against the hazard of a small arms assault against children and staff? How much would a rider cost for stationing firearms in schools where children are present, whether those guards be police officers, teachers or others?
Based on public statistics about armed assaults and accidental weapons discharges resulting in injury or death, insurance actuaries should be able to make risk calculations. So many of these policy decisions are being made today with an abundance of emotion and an absence of fact.
As a parent, my preference would be not to have any of my children within regular and prolonged proximity to any firearms that have the potential to be discharged accidentally.
4@UmptyDump Given our record in Texas, the state would cut back on books and buy the policy. Priorities you know.
5Interesting logic, Sam. Keep guns in the schools. If you’re gonna get killed accidentally, it doesn’t matter much if you’re dumb.
6Where’s my bullet? Where’s my bullet?
Barney Fife, 1964
7Dumb, UmptyDump? Dumb isn’t a flaw, it is a feature. We can’t sell assault rifles and republicans to an intelligent electorate.
8How did a police officer “accidentally” discharge his weapon in a hallway? This is someone who is trained not to have accidents like that. Exactly what happened–what stupid mistake did he make?
And where did the round fired go, and what did it penetrate? Of course I’m glad no one was killed or injured, but the exact circumstances (which had better show up in the investigative report) will reveal exactly how much risk students, teachers, and staff were in.
9Soon the NRA will be calling for the arming of kids in school. That should be a fun playground experience.
10I’m with Molly Ivins– let them all use knives instead. With a knife, you have to run after someone to stab them, so it promotes physical fitness in both parties. And knives tend not to ricochet or go off accidentally.
11Apparently we will need to arm the kids so they can protect themselves against the armed guards and teacher.
12When my brother was fighting in Viet Nam, he saw many young children armed by the Viet Cong, who knew our boys wouldn’t shoot. At first the Americans refused to shoot, but too many of our soldiers were being killed and inevitably, they had to shoot.
13When he came back home, all it took was the sight of kids playing with toy guns to send him into flashbacks and nightmares. It took many years of therapy for him to recover from these horrible experiences. When people joke about arming our kids, he goes ballistic. He’s made me see it his way.
I wonder which group will act soooooooooo surprised when the unthinkable happens in a school?
14marye;;e, spot on.
15EMoon, that’s the first place I went with it, too. “Accidentally”? Was it in his holster at the time? If not, why not?
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