Newtown and the NRA agree?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Newtown-Votes-for-Armed-School-Officers-189320221.html?dr

The Newtown Board of Education wants more armed police officers in the towns four elementary schools after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary last month.

Last night, they decided to ask the town to approve the request to include one additional full-time Newtown police at each of the elementary schools in next year's budget.[/b]

Wait, when the NRA (who I'm not a big fan of) said this people looked at them like they were a three-headed monster?

WTF?

[DrScholl]

I thought the NRA wanted armed civilians patrolling schools? They were offering to train them. At any rate, the NRA's plan was a lot more far reaching than one additional police officer.

[angus]

Reactionary.

The 75 thousand or so that they'll spend on a full-time rent-a-cop could buy lots of computers, or art supplies, or musical instruments.  At a time when teacher's are being cut and class sizes are being expanded to accommodate shrinking budgets, this seems like a poor appropriate of funds.

Call me a weenie, but I think it's overboard.  It also creates an extremely hostile learning environment.  The culture is pretty freaky already, without raising a generation of children who think it is normal to pass through metal detectors and in front of armed guards just to learn.

I guess I'm losing my erection.  I've generally been a defender of second-amendment rights, as you'll know from my posts, but if maintaining the right to arm means that we have to live in a police state, then I'd be willing to rethink it.

Dad, why is there a policeman in my kindergarten class?  Oh, you know how it is, son, for the same reason that there's an Early Pregnancy Test vending machine in all the girls' restrooms.  One in eight of your classmates will be arrested before his 30th birthday, and one is six will get pregnant before she is married.  This is all very normal stuff.  Just be careful the way you sling your water bottle around on the playground.  You may get a bullet in your head if you pull it out of your pocket too quickly.

That's a creepy world, Gramps.  Not a world I'd want to create.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I thought the NRA wanted armed civilians patrolling schools? They were offering to train them. At any rate, the NRA's plan was a lot more far reaching than one additional police officer.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2012/12/21/nras-wayne-lapierre-put-armed-police-officers-in-every-school/

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Reactionary.

That's a creepy world, Gramps.  Not a world I'd want to create.

Me either, angus.  You're a bit more in touch with issue with angus jr. being in primary ed.  My child is grown and gone from it.

I linked to LaPierre's remarks regarding armed officers......just pointing out maybe they're not sooooooo far apart.

[Likely Voter]

The question is, where does the money come from? If the choice is to have one more teacher or an armed guard in every elementary school I would want the teacher. Something said at the CT hearings this week was the suggestion that if there is to be new spending for armed guards to defend against gunmen, then there should be a new tax on weapons and ammunition to pay for it. Not a bad idea.

[Zioneer]

I don't think this is a valuable use of Newtown's money; the crazy people who go on shooting rampages don't tend to target the same school/area that's already been hit by someone else. I mean, has there been another school shooting at Columbine, for example? Or (non-school) at Tuscon?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The question is, where does the money come from? If the choice is to have one more teacher or an armed guard in every elementary school I would want the teacher. Something said at the CT hearings this week was the suggestion that if there is to be new spending for armed guards to defend against gunmen, then there should be a new tax on weapons and ammunition to pay for it. Not a bad idea.

The article states the Newtown Board is talking to the state and feds about funding, and of course, it's logical to conclude they'll pony up the money themselves if the talks go nowhere.

[angus]

I take your point.  I've read the article and I see that the idea of armed guards, whether you agree with it, is not different than what the NRA suggested.  Two things:  source and timing.  If the NRA says it, then lots of folks are just going to recoil because the NRA said it.  (Works the same way with political parties.  Clinton and Bush could say the same thing, and one half of the room would applaud if Clinton said it and the other if Bush said it.)  As for timing, those folks were looking for someone to blame initially after the shooting spree.  The one who was ultimately responsible was dead, so they had to go after someone else.  His mother might be a target, as well as the medical/psychological care system, the criminal justice system and of course the NRA.  

[memphis]

Newtown is also under an enormous spotlight which makes them more of a target. It shifts the cost-benefit ratio quite a bit. Not so unlike the President's daughters, which, as the NRA pointed out, also enjoy armed protection. It does not make it a good idea for all schools

[angus]

Lockdown drill today.  Can you imagine?

It was about 8:45, and I was rushing the boy to put his shoes on because his school starts at 9 and it's about a ten-minute walk.  He has never grown to appreciate urgency.  Anyway, as he was (slowly) putting on his shoes, he mentioned that today "...there's a storm drill.  um, no, I mean a lockdown drill."  "A lockdown drill?" I asked.  "Yes, a lockdown drill." 

"What's that?" 

"Well, it's to get ready in case a criminal comes in to the school." 

"What do you do?"

"Well, we go into our cubbyhole to hide.  Or behind a file cabinet.  Or stand up on the toilet seat and be very quiet if we're in the stall when it happens."

"Ah, well don't confuse them.  Fire drills:  go outside.  Hurricane drills:  get under the desk.  And now there's a lockdown drill."

WTF?

This is the new normal, I suppose.
 

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Newtown is also under an enormous spotlight which makes them more of a target. It shifts the cost-benefit ratio quite a bit. Not so unlike the President's daughters, which, as the NRA pointed out, also enjoy armed protection. It does not make it a good idea for all schools

More relevant: Newtown just suffered the unthinkable. While armed guards would make the average middle school feel more like a prison, the students of Newtown are a bit more sensitive to violence than the population at large.

Armed guards are unnecessary from a safety standpoint and exorbitantly expensive, besides. But for the students of Newtown, they provide an added modicum of comfort that is so desperately needed.