It seems consensus is that arming teachers is a ridiculous idea. Is it meant to be some kind of distraction so we'll stop trying to ban assault rifles and make other substantive changes?
You went to a cute school, heh.
I had my desk, with me in it, forcibly dragged into the hall and left there all day, in I think second grade, because I hadn't cleaned the papers out of it properly. The kid directly in front of me in fifth or sixth so enraged a teacher she got right in his face, raised her hand and whipped it to an inch of his head and said she'd 'put his head through the wall,' if he did whatever again (I think he was talking). For not paying attention I saw rulers snapped on people, within an inch of people, heavy things thrown, desks kicked... all just occupational hazard of being a kid. We thought nothing much of it except like 'oooh, you got in troooouuuble' kind of thing. No one shot up the joint, either, heh.
"The delay never put us in a situation where any kids' lives were in danger, any teachers lives were in danger," Pustizzi said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
Too close to retirement. Or just not enough cat lives to spare.And it turns out, as was predictable, the good guy with the gun didn't want to go in the building. Not enough practice drills I guess.
Peterson resigned after he was suspended without pay by Israel pending an internal investigation into his actions during the shooting that left 17 people dead, Israel said. Peterson was eligible for retirement.
My dad was a marine in the south pacific during ww2. He went from being a small town soda jerk to operating an amphibious tractor to land on some scary, bloody beaches. He did what he was supposed to do but never boasted. Neither did he believe guns were trophies. We always had guns but they were off limits unless Dad took them out. (Well, Mom took one out and loaded it once, because someone was trying to steal our boat in the middle of the night, but that is another story.) There were guns in every house in the neighborhood. Most of our neighbors were hunters and most were ww2 vets. Guns were things in those days, not trophies. The people who owned them did not have anything to prove about their bravery.
This man who is being called a coward should be left alone. The most important thing about guns that my brother, sister and I learned from our dad and grandfather(another ww2 vet) is that guns don't make a person brave. No one really knows how he will react with a gun in his hand and this means every time he picks one up. So much time is spent on drills in the military because the decision to shoot should be a reflex triggered by an order. If there is no order to fire the decision to react can become overwhelming. Don't be too quick to call anyone else a coward. You can never be sure how you will react in any dangerous situation. Native Americans said that those who froze in battle had decided that today was not a good day to fight.
It happens. People freeze. Dad taught us that people who bluster about their own balls and wave guns like trophies are those who are untested. They are trying to convince themselves that they will not freeze. Don't trust anyone but yourself in a crisis situation and forgive those who freeze. Bluster, shaming and gun waving belong to the insecure. --s6
Why not require every teenager to undergo mandatory military training? When everybody is a trained killer, there are no killers.
-cb
If you start going to such an extent as arming the teachers then there's no easy way to come back from that. You'll have probably created the most weaponized democratic society on this planet, all in the name of protecting an outdated relic of an amendment and appease people's complete asinine fear of a tyrannical government or in a lot of cases, a fear of a Muslim and/or Queen of England invasion.
My dad was a marine in the south pacific during ww2. He went from being a small town soda jerk to operating an amphibious tractor to land on some scary, bloody beaches. He did what he was supposed to do but never boasted. Neither did he believe guns were trophies. We always had guns but they were off limits unless Dad took them out. (Well, Mom took one out and loaded it once, because someone was trying to steal our boat in the middle of the night, but that is another story.) There were guns in every house in the neighborhood. Most of our neighbors were hunters and most were ww2 vets. Guns were things in those days, not trophies. The people who owned them did not have anything to prove about their bravery.
This man who is being called a coward should be left alone. The most important thing about guns that my brother, sister and I learned from our dad and grandfather(another ww2 vet) is that guns don't make a person brave. No one really knows how he will react with a gun in his hand and this means every time he picks one up. So much time is spent on drills in the military because the decision to shoot should be a reflex triggered by an order. If there is no order to fire the decision to react can become overwhelming. Don't be too quick to call anyone else a coward. You can never be sure how you will react in any dangerous situation. Native Americans said that those who froze in battle had decided that today was not a good day to fight.
It happens. People freeze. Dad taught us that people who bluster about their own balls and wave guns like trophies are those who are untested. They are trying to convince themselves that they will not freeze. Don't trust anyone but yourself in a crisis situation and forgive those who freeze. Bluster, shaming and gun waving belong to the insecure. --s6
This morning, I have made a few calls asking companies to sever ties with the NRA (also hitting social media). On one, I knew I wasn't calling the right number, but figured the rep might be able to provide it or transfer me. I stated why I was calling. I didn't expect feedback, because it's political and the line is recorded, but the young man said, vehemently, "Good!" and when I thanked him said, "No, thank YOU!"
All of this. It's easy to say you'll run toward the danger, but the gut-liquidating terror you feel actually looking down the barrel of a gun is, like so many experiences in life, impossible to truly convey to someone who hasn't experienced it themselves.
Frankly I'm impressed that he went in at all. This wasn't one of those spur-of-the-moment things like plucking a kid out of the path of a car, where you react before you have a chance to think about your own safety. He came to work that day expecting a peaceful day of same-old same-old: chatting with the kids between classes, busting someone for smoking in the bathroom, maybe, at worst, breaking up a fistfight.
Then his normal, peaceful day became a bloodbath, and HE was the person best equipped to stop it. He heard the shooting and had time to think about it, to recognize that if he went in there, there was a good chance he'd die. Self-preservation is a strooooong instinct to overcome, and he overcame it. His fear for his own safety was overridden by his desire to protect the children. I can't begrudge the man a few minutes to adjust his thinking and psych himself up for a situation he never really expected to encounter. Yes, kids died during those few minutes, and he'll have to live with that for the rest of his life, wondering if he could have stopped it if only he'd gone in sooner (and there's certainly no guarantee of that), but the poor guy's only human.
If you start going to such an extent as arming the teachers then there's no easy way to come back from that. You'll have probably created the most weaponized democratic society on this planet, all in the name of protecting an outdated relic of an amendment and appease people's complete asinine fear of a tyrannical government or in a lot of cases, a fear of a Muslim and/or Queen of England invasion.
I don't know whether to or at that (not, I hasten to add, at you). Are there really and honestly Americans who think that either of those is a risk?
They have, yet I am seeing more and more focus on the issues and actions they seek to divert attention from. I think you have to address the "arm all teachers" diversionary nonsense lest it actually get traction, but then pull it right back to issues and actions. I am actually encouraged by what I am seeing. Less sharing of the million (sigh) articles about arming teachers and more calls to action and actual results. It's hard work to keep that going, though.They've done a hell of a job deflecting the conversation away from gun control, haven't they?
They've done a hell of a job deflecting the conversation away from gun control, haven't they?
The school-to-prison pipeline: an epidemic that is plaguing schools across the nation. Far too often, students are suspended, expelled or even arrested for minor offenses that leave visits to the principal’s office a thing of the past. Statistics reflect that these policies disproportionately target students of color and those with a history of abuse, neglect, poverty or learning disabilities.