THE N.R.A. blew it again under the tutelage of Wayne Lapierre, who offered a ridiculous proposal on Friday for a fortress America, the education edition.
Gov. Chris Christie walked away from this idea, because he’s not stupid and wants to protect everyone’s rights, including people who don’t want to be compelled into gun ownership. He also knows the N.R.A’s position, on which he chose not to comment on specifically, is loser in a presidential general election.
“Listen I don’t necessarily think having an armed guard outside every classroom is conducive to a positive learning environment,” the Republican governor said when asked at a press conference in Newark. “But let me just say in general I don’t think that the solution to safety in schools is putting [in] armed guard – because for it to be really effective in my view, from a law enforcement perspective, you’d have to have an armed guard outside every classroom.”
[...] “So, I don’t know the totality of the proposal, so I’m not commenting on the NRA proposal in particular because I don’t know it yet, but I am not someone who believes that having multiple armed guards in every school is something that will enhance the learning environment, and that’s our first responsibility inside of school, is the learning environment… You don’t want to make this an armed camp for kids. I don’t think that’s a positive example for children. We should be able to figure out some other ways to enhance safety it seems to me. I think that’s the easy way out.”
Good for Governor Christie. The voice of sanity.
I think the kids should have semi automatic weapons too. Actually, they should be equipped with the optional grenade launcher. Now there’s your answer to bullying.
Pretty funny…… the fiscal conSERvatives want armed guards in every single school but want to cut money to education.
Actually, it appears that the “fiscal conservatives” want teachers to be the armed guards in every school. Just add one more thing to the already long list of things they need to do to be qualified, and it magically doesn’t cost the government any more money. Win-win!
The NRA here is a perfect example of a solution in search of a problem. Guns are the solution, so how can they be the solution here?
If you take the size of our prison state as an example of our priorities, that they thought this would sound to Americans like a winning proposal doesn’t sound quite so crazy. When we’re afraid of something, arming ourselves and throwing people in prison seems like our natural defense mechanism. Think of it as the fetal position of early Twenty-First Century America.
Cujo359, More guns and more prison has been the thumb-sucking, knee-jerk, temper-tantrum of the right since at least the Nixon Administration.
Yes, it has. In the meantime, though, it seems to have become the default position for the country generally.