Saturday 22 December 2012

Will Teachers wear "White Hats" in US Schools?


From these Islands the National Rifle Association, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the US, call for armed security guards to be posted in every school in the country and insisted that the only solution to gun violence in the wake of the Newtown massacre was more guns. Looks like a publicity disaster.

A week almost to the hour after a gunman blasted his way into Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut, killing 20 first-grade children as well as six staff members, the NRA's executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre finally broke his silence and delivered a defiant message to the nation.

His statement: "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."  looks mad.

.But we must remember that the NRA is a powerful body and receives support from a high number of US citizens .

One of the arguments the supporters of is that after the War of Independence with no real Army the Second Amendment which read

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

preserved their Independence, and became a symbol of that Independence and Freedom

For many US Citizens owning a Gun is simply  the same as owning a Car and yet they need to pass a test to drive a car and yet in many cases simply go to store and pick up a weapon like the Automated rifle used at the Newtown massacre.

But even if we take the right to bear  arms into account the idea "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." and that the only way to prevent another Newtown  is to place armed guards in schools.

It used to be that in Black and White Westerns you could tell who was the good and bad guy because the good guys wore white hats and the bad ones black.

But you better have a better analysis of what constitute a good guy before you allow them to carry guns in schools .

The problem with Wayne LaPierre argument is that some mass murderers think they are are good guys acting out Gods will.

Even extensive psychological test would not weed out someone who may be considered responsible in a School and allowed to carry a gun and yet they could well be  facing a breakdown

But the problem from these shores is that whilst we abhor is argument it still finds support in the hearts of US  Citizens,

What it does show that there's are huge cultural gap between us and and the US and we must recognise this and perhaps it shows that the former is not something we should look to for a lead and instead look at our friends in Europe .













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