Enough is enough!
The familiar refrain of sending “thoughts and prayers” by congress people who then do nothing about gun control after another massacre of innocents is sickening. It is time to love children more than guns.
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Senate Chaplain Barry Black prayed for legislative action on gun violence Tuesday morning, a day after three children and three adults were shot and killed at a Christian school in Nashville.
Through his prayer, Black urged legislators to “move beyond thoughts and prayers.”
During his prayer, Black said, “Remind our lawmakers of the words of the British statesman Edmund Burke: All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-senate-chaplain-prays-for-lawmaker-action-after-nashville-shooting)
“When a country with less than five percent of the world’s population has nearly half of the world’s privately owned guns and makes up nearly a third of the world’s mass shootings, it’s time to stop saying guns make…
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alkaplan 
I don’t pray. I’m agnostic. And I say the solution to the shootings is more guns, not less. If we required teachers to have training in the use and safety of firearms, and that they carry one at all times while on campus, we wouldn’t have these shootings. And maybe a few teachers out there would be out of a job, refusing to take the training out of principal, but to that I say good riddance, in this day and age with this kind of stuff going on, I don’t know how or why teachers should be allowed to steward over classrooms full of children if they PETSONALLY are not capable of protecting those children. My two cents anyways. How did they stop that shooter in nashville? Or, really, any other shooter? Other people with guns showed up and used them. If people who were already there had had guns in the first place, it might, just might, cut down on the body count. ✌🐸
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typo👆 *personally*
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Thanks for writing. I appreciate your comments and opinion.
The sole purpose of a teacher is to educate. In this country, teachers are way under paid for the amount of work they do and the education they are required to have in order to teach. If you think their job ends with the school day, you are dead wrong. I know. I used to teach and put in many after hours work to grade and plan lesson. The focus is on the student and their individual learning needs. I like most teachers, also needed to use my own money to supplement materials that the school system could not afford.
What you are proposing is that teachers spend even more time and money to learn to fire a weapon. Yet another responsibility put on the shoulders of overworked and often stressed educators.
A few problems to consider:
1: Cost #1: Where is the money going to come from to pay for teaching teachers how to safely use a gun.
2: Time: When will this vital training take place? You would need a boatload of teacher in-service days for this extra education. It will require not only learning to fire and handle a weapon, but when it should and shouldn’t be drawn and/or fired.
2: Cost #2: Where is the money going to come from to provide these guns. There are schools that can barely afford books and computers. Teachers are already using too much of their meager income on basic school supplies and teaching materials.
3: Where are these weapons going to be stored? Who will have access to the weapons locker and what precautions will be needed to prevent theft? (And again, where is the money coming from for this?)
4: How are you going to keep disgruntled kids from grabbing the gun from the teacher and shooting people? I’ve seen enough fights to know this is a high probability, especially in high risk schools.
5. For many children, school is their one safe zone away from violence they face in their neighborhoods and/or home. An already traumatized child is not going to be comfortable with a teacher packing a gun on their hip. This will effect their education. As it is, having armed officers/guards in schools has come into question for this very reason. School councilors are not enough to combat this and often have many schools they service.
Conclusion:
Owning, carrying, and firing a weapon is an enormous responsibility. It takes specialized training and practice to do so safely. This is too much to ask of our teachers. You want to hire better security? I’m all for that. Let our teachers teach. Let them be the caring and supportive people our children need.
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So kids are getting guns down, but I’m supposed to feel bad for the teachers who might be inconvenienced for having to learn a little more to be qualified? That’s what you seem to be going for here. Really think about that. And by the way, I make less than any teacher, and I get very tired of them crying poor mouth. They get paid plenty.
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Anyways, appreciate the reply, wish I could leave a more upbeat comment but I just don’t see it the way you do.
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Jack,
As a Briton, there is one thing that does not cross my mind when my daughter goes to school. I do not worry about the possibility of shootings. The anxiety that must by now accompany every visit to a shopping centre, or indeed any public setting, is not present for me. I do not fear for my safety when I pop to my local supermarket, and I do not fear for my daughter’s life at school.
Do you know how many guns are in circulation in UK society (and for that matter, French, Australian, German and Japanese society, to name but a few countries)? Virtually zero. The UK is far from perfect, but in terms of *safety*, I would stack us up against the USA any day of the week. Our gun laws are robust, and consistent across the nation (as it is with most other countries). There is no need to arm teachers here, because gun culture is not something embedded in our society or culture. I realise that banning guns is not going to happen in the USA, because guns are too deeply engrained in US culture, but the solution to problems with gun violence is surely not to add *more* guns to the mix?
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Hi Ben,
I’m with you. There are way too many guns here in the US.
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You live on an island. And people can still get guns whenever they want them. You’re surrounded by countries filled with them. Your sense of security is misplaced. Glad you feel safe, even though you probably shouldn’t, hope that comfortable confidence in a lack of guns providing any real safety from rape or assault… never comes back to bite you in the ass. ✌😕
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Island or not, the UK is safer. That’s not a feeling, that’s a statistical fact, backed up by *years* of data Jack. Nor is the UK unique in that. France is safer than the USA, and there are robust, consistent gun control measures in France too. France is not an island.
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There’s less gun violence, because there’s less guns. That doesn’t make it safer, it just means the violence has less to do with guns. Still plenty of violence though, and don’t take my word for it, check your stats. The same information that you’re referring to says as much. How do knife attacks in the UK compared to knife attacks in America? Let’s see you pull up the data for that. ✌🐸
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Overall Jack, the UK’s total murder rate is lower than the USA’s *gun only* murder rate. Our rates of rape, burglary, robbery… they are certainly no worse, and are usually better than the US rates for those crimes.
Whilst knife crime is indeed a serious problem, it is nothing at all close to the problem of gun violence in the USA. The two problems are not in equivalence with each other.
You may also want to consider how other countries stack up. How violent is Japan in relation to the USA? Well, Japan is one of the safest countries on earth, and they have virtually no guns, nor a culture that idolises them.
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You can believe what you want to believe, doesn’t bother me. You’re not convincing anybody but yourself though, I mean if someone takes that at face value they might agree with you, but if they go research it they might not. *shrugs* I’ve shared my two cents, I’m content to leave it at that. ✌🐸
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I believe the facts, Jack. It’s a fact that the UK’s murder rate is significantly lower than the US rate. Likewise for when you compare the US murder rate to France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan. The US murder rate with guns alone is higher than the combined total murder rates of a number of combinations of those other countries. You might want to ask yourself why that is.
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😂 smh…
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*Shrug* the choice is yours as to whether to follow facts…
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I know, I have. 😜👌
Wonder if you ever will…
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If you believe guns make you safer, then that tells me facts aren’t something you truly consider.
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Our country was founded on the premise, I wouldn’t expect a Brit to understand, there’s a reason we revolted against your monarchy. 😜
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So in other words, you cannot and will not address the facts.
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Already did.
You disagree.
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What facts have you provided?
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You didn’t say anything about providing them, you did that or so you claim, and then you wanted me to address them. I did. You disagree. That’s that. *shrugs*
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You haven’t addressed anything. I await you doing so.
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Don’t hold your breath
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Thank you
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