Democrats constantly love to preach about how Republicans take blood money from the NRA to not protect children at schools from school shootings over the Republicans’ decisions to not vote for gun control legislation and increasing background checks.
And, to be honest, they are correct to an extent on this. Republicans could easily support more background checks and there are a lot of policies that could help fix this issue such as Red Flag laws and other forms of restrictions that would take legal guns out of the hands of people suspected to be mentally unstable and willing to commit a crime such as mass shootings. This would make it harder for these crazy people to commit these types of crimes.
But, Democrats are also wrong when they pretend that more security at schools does not help, including armed security. The Democrats have almost been celebrating the idea that armed police and security protocols did not work at the school in Uvalde, while failing to mention how the armed police did not do their jobs, and the security protocols were not followed, and how the killer was eventually stopped by armed law enforcement! If anything, just like after the political assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the attempt on President Ronald Reagan, we need to improve this form security and not lessen it, because it was not the security that did not work, rather it was people supposed to implement it. The logic by some Democrats would be to get rid of the Secret Service for an assassination because it does not work, instead of improving it so it does, especially how just like with armed guards, it usually works every time!
If Red Flag laws had been in effect, and if the armed police had done their job, or had better weapons, training, and funding, and had the security protocols been put in place, or just one of these, the killer would have not been able to kill countless children and two teachers, as the killer would not have been able to have a gun legally, the killer would have been stopped before entering the school, and the killer would have not been able to enter the school.
The truth is, we need to make it harder for bad people to possess guns, meaning we need more intelligence on our citizens and more confidential informing to police, schools, human and mental health resource officers, and more communication among the system as a whole. If the FBI is coming to check you out, you should not be able to own a weapon or at the very least, just like stadiums have facial recognition so that they can prepare for a potential act of violence by suspected terrorists or other potential criminals, they can stop them before they come into our schools, malls, and churches.
But, Democrats have to be willing to allow disproportions to exist if we are to do this. There might be a disproportion in the people affected by this on minority or religious backgrounds, and if the Democrats are serious, they will put the kids in front of identity politics.
Arizona released a very good plan back in 2018 that would seek to “allow law enforcement, family members, school administrators, teachers, resident advisors[,] and behavioral and mental health professionals to petition the court for a STOP order, which prohibit[s] an individual who is a danger to themselves or others from purchasing a weapon.” The process would ensure the second amendment rights of Arizonans by “ensuring due process prior to an order going into effect.” Arizona’s STOP would also “include measures to ensure a person under a STOP order does not have access to a firearm.”
With this plan, Arizona hoped to achieve:
- “Increased mental and behavioral health resources at schools”
- “Restricting access to firearms for individuals who pose a severe
threat to themselves or others, while respecting the second
amendment rights of law-abiding Arizonans” - “Increased school resource officer and law enforcement presence at schools”
- “Enhanced background checks”
In order to achieve these goals, Arizona’s plan would include:
- “Invest[ing] in mental and behavioral health resources at schools”
- “Severe Threat Order of Protection (STOP) to restrict firearm access for individuals who are a danger to themselves or others”
- “Enhance[d] background checks by improving the completeness and accuracy of the criminal history database”
- “Establish[ing] the Center for School Safety, creating a confidential centralized reporting tip line to report and investigate concerns of school safety”
- “Increase[d] school resource officer funding and training and increases the presence of law enforcement on school grounds”
- “Eliminat[ing] background check gaps”
- “Respect[ing] the second amendment rights of law-abiding Arizonans”
But, likewise, we need more security and armed guards at schools and other soft target places where many people attend because no matter how many background checks and gun restrictions there are, none of them will protect against the criminal who never shows up on the radar or buys or modifies their weapons illegally, if there is no armed guards! You cannot protect against the unknown unless you have weapons and elite training too.
Democrats have often advocated for less police in schools and elsewhere which has risen crime across the country, making the nation more dangerous. Unfortunately, Democrats often care more about representation than safety, and are too concerned that more policing will disproportionately hurt minority communities, when in reality, decreasing policing makes these areas more dangerous. In fact, increasing policing, especially at schools really helps, as do security measures.
Security needs to be multilayered and militarized as well. There are plenty of helpful policies, but the most useful ones include secure entry and exit facilities and only minimal amount of these, some even suggesting only one, with students and parents, as well as teachers and other workers needing IDs to get in, in addition to there being locked and buzzed-in doors, security cameras, and often times, gates all around. Now, the gates all around is not necessarily needed, and nor are all these others, but the fact is that there needs to be some sort of physical barrier to access the classrooms, if you do not want it around the school fully. Then, there needs to be armed security, including secret police focused on violent crime. And possibly, medal detectors and other forms of detecting any weapons on you, such as police patrols that would constantly patrol the campus, mall, church, and other places of soft target gatherings to make sure there are no unsafe bags, packages, belongings, etcetera.
Opponents fear this makes our schools into prisons, but I doubt this will be the case, and even more doubt that people would prefer their current vulnerable position to an increased secured position.
And, this can be done in shopping malls, movie theaters, and other places as well, including in Churches. Private security and Public security can provide this depending on the context.
When we look at Gun Free Zones, we still see shootings. Thus, we need a realistic way to combat mass shootings, and not improving our armed security at schools, and our whole security apparatus at that will hurt us even more.
Democrats need to give up the dream of there being no law enforcement to protect civilians from criminals in the fantasy that making something illegal makes it go away, but Republicans need to also give up the dream that libertarianism in terms of gun ownership does not lead to more dangerous people having more dangerous guns. We need more armed security and more restrictions on who can have guns if we are to win this war on our safety. But make no mistake about it, it is not 50 [Republican] Senators in Washington, D.C. delaying action on protecting our kids, rather, it is all 100 because both political parties fail in addressing safety, and ironically, it is the Democrats who fail more because their plan leaves the children still vulnerable to those who possess firearms illegally, whereas the Republicans’ plan protects children and others regardless of how the firearms were obtained. And, a mixture of both plans would be best!
KTH 