{"id":752,"date":"2012-12-17T21:27:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-17T21:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/17\/irrational-acts-prompt-irrational-solutions"},"modified":"2012-12-17T21:27:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-17T21:27:00","slug":"irrational-acts-prompt-irrational-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=752","title":{"rendered":"Irrational acts prompt irrational \u2018solutions\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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One of the more troubling aspects of any tragedy must be the reaction of some leaders looking desperately for ways to prevent future tragic acts.<\/p>\n

Twenty-six people \u2013 including 20 precious children \u2013 are dead at the hands of a madman who opened fire inside an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. A small fraction of the response has been politically motivated. We\u2019ve seen some blame tossed around. Also some finger-pointing.<\/p>\n

But the most idiotic response \u2013 in my view \u2013 has been the call by some elected \u201cleaders\u201d to arm school teachers and other educators with firearms. Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, said he \u201cwished to God\u201d the Sandy Hook school principal \u2013 who died in the rampage \u2013 had been armed with an M-4 assault rifle so that she could have taken the shooter out before he did more damage.<\/p>\n

The idea, according to Gohmert, is to turn our schools into armed camps. Arm the teachers, principals, assistant principals, maybe even the secretaries with firearms. Why not let the custodians pack heat too? Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson \u2013 the author of Texas\u2019 concealed handgun carry law \u2013 said much the same thing. Indeed, Patterson is proud of his \u201cGun Guy\u201d nickname. I was an early critic of the concealed carry law, but I\u2019ve softened my view of it, given the absence of any random shootouts on street corners I envisioned when then-state Sen. Patterson proposed it in the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n

But what kind of environment do these so-called \u201cleaders\u201d seek to create on our public school campuses by allowing teachers to carry weapons? They apparently intend to put everyone \u2013 students, teachers, parents \u2013 on edge wondering who\u2019s packing a firearm. <\/p>\n

It is absolutely the wrong environment.<\/p>\n

We need calm, rational discussion of viable choices to a complex set of issues. Arming our teachers with assault weapons \u2013 which Rep. Gohmert and other blowhards are pitching \u2013 is a prescription for even more bloodshed, not less.<\/p>\n\n

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One of the more troubling aspects of any tragedy must be the reaction of some leaders looking desperately for ways to prevent future tragic acts. Twenty-six people \u2013 including 20 precious children \u2013 are dead at the hands of a madman who opened fire inside an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. A small fraction of … Continue reading Irrational acts prompt irrational \u2018solutions\u2019<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}