Condolences and prayers.
Governors order flags at half-staff.
We call them insane and mentally ill, even if we don’t fully understand
what mental illness entails. It doesn’t
explain it.
They are simply evil.
Some Dickless Asshole (This Blog never mentions the name of
spree shooters. They can find their
“Fame” elsewhere.) decides he wants to be a professional school shooter and kills
helpless children and one adult at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in
Parkland Florida.
There’s a lot of outcry from the general public. The FBI
should have done something. What
that something is isn’t stated. We don’t
arrest people for making outrageous claims on YouTube. If we did, half of
Hollywood and most of our sports teams and all of the sportswriters would be in
jail. Talk radio would be a barren field
of static.
NICS should have
flagged Dickless, critics say. HIPAA
laws make the use of medical records without the consent of the patient
illegal. Using social media as a medical
diagnostic tool might be a step worse than reading tea leaves.
An NPR media person indicated that Florida is considering a
law which would allow a person to be taken into protective custody if it is
thought the person might be a danger to themselves. That’s more than a little scary. Imagine the police showing up with a pre-crime
warrant for your evaluation because of e-mail or something you posted on a blog
or Facebook.
Evaluation? Remember
the person interviewing you is paid to determine if you’ll hurt yourself or
someone else. They aren’t doing their
job if they don’t find you dangerous. Everyone,
under the right circumstances, can be more than a little dangerous to
themselves and others. No, I think
they’ll unjustly find a lot of people with the potential to harm themselves.
Society is demanding change, even if it doesn’t accomplish
anything. The NRA stands opposed to it.
Still, this is fight the NRA might lose.
Society has changed.
We are no longer the rural community, where boys and girls learned about
firearms from fathers, mothers, uncles, and grandparents. I’m not convinced that today’s average 18 year
old has the same maturity as most 18 years did in the early 1900s. Maybe having to contribute to the family
purse with a job since you were 14 or having spent the last 12 years at farm
chores in addition to attending school gave them a different maturity.
In any case let’s change the age required to purchase a gun
to 25. That’s any gun, airsoft, BB or
.22LR. Most youngsters don’t fully understand
all the repercussions of their decisions until they are in the mid to late
20s.
And no, I don’t see this as a slippery slope argument. Our society limits access to many things
based on age. That’s why you don’t see
12 year olds behind the wheel of a car.
You’re not blocked from owning a gun, just delayed till your 25 birthday. This doesn’t prevent them from participating
in the shooting sports. It just means
their parents have to provide the weapons and be present to take responsibility
for the firearms.
There a practical side to this as well. That gives anti-social Dickless Assholes more
years to screw up bad enough to bring them to the attention of the legal
system, which would now have the power to deal with them.
And I think our schools can do better. Can teachers be trained to recognize that a
personality is degrading? We know some
of the hallmarks: grades suddenly declining, dropping old friends and becoming
more of a loner, increased absenteeism and behavior problems. We can provide our teachers the training to
recognize potential problems.
Can we help them build bridges to the students so they trust
teachers and administrators? Can
guidance counselors discuss problems and solutions with parents without fear of
blowback? Can we demand they follow
through to see if the parents are engaged with the child to find a solution?
Sure we can. Yes,
it’s going to cost money and we taxpayers are on the hook. That’s not a complaint.
Lastly, let’s recognize it takes a good guy with a gun to
stop Dickless Asshole with a gun. Look,
we already live in an armed camp.
Criminals don’t care what law they break and carry when they want. Most communities participate in CCW so you’re
already living in an armed camp.
Our last best option is allowing teachers with CCW, who wish
to, to carry in school and at all school events. Additional training isn’t a bad idea.
Is it that simple?
No, but it’s a start.
Comments
Post a Comment