jerryhung

Trump on Twitter today:




What many people don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, is that Wayne, Chris and the folks who work so hard at the @NRA are Great People and Great American Patriots. They love our Country and will do the right thing. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

6:31 AM - 22 Feb 2018

Aviator

Bonuses for what?

I am thinking arming teachers is going to make them the first target!

dave_j

If you needed any evidence that the business of governing the US is broken you need only consider the actions of the NRA and the overt manner with which they have purchased the american lawmaking system. They make no attempt to hide the fact that they buy politicians nor do they hide their threats by grading their political support.

These young students must make it plain that they'll remember who does what in the next few months and shout loudly from the rooftops that they'll never forget. They may not be voting yet but they'll be able to provide a powerful block vote in a year or two if they get organised and who best to manipulate social media than an angry 17 year old with a cause.

Oakvillian

This is, I think, what the politicians are beginning to realize. There's a significant group of high school kids and recent graduates who are well motivated, extremely well connected with each other and able to coordinate action at short notice (nobody does social media better than teenagers), and who will be voting for the first time either in the upcoming midterms or in the 2020 general election. The ability of a mobilized, motivated and justifiably pissed off demographic like that to hold politicians and their financial backers to account is beginning to sink in.

As ever, it's a case of following the money. Several major corporations have jumped ship from the NRA in the past week (those offering discounts on car rental, hotels, insurance, etc to NRA members), and I suspect more will follow. That sort of momentum becomes hard to stop. There is at least a glimmer of hope that the stranglehold the NRA has had for so long over US politics may be weakening in the aftermath of this latest thing.

The difference between this and Sandy Hook is that it is the survivors themselves - articulate, passionate teenagers who are so emotionally raw after watching their friends die - who are talking to the media, rather than any proxy (though it seems unkind to refer to the parents of dead and injured six-year-olds as proxies) or adult stand-ins.

MillieF

Yes these high schoolers are inspiring. Something really might change through their actions, if they can keep up the momentum.

A number of large companies have severed links with the NRA due to the adverse publicity, Amazon, a couple of car hire companies who offered discounts...it seems like a positive start.

dave_j

It might work but don't hod your breath. I remember marching with CND to Trafalgar Square, that didn't get us anywhere but... like the Anti Corn Law League, if you have one specific topic to concentrate your efforts on and don't get sidetracked onto other issues that can weaken the effort, it can succeed.

And all those hours spent reading up history for O Level have finally born fruit, I'll find a use for the War of Jenkin's Ear one day.

JGK

Calling for teachers to be armed.

Arming teachers will guarantee one thing and one thing only.

When the next school shooting happens, as it inevitably will, the media & politicians will have a ready made scapegoat in the armed teacher who either:

- Failed to shoot the killer;
- Accidentally shot the wrong kid during a shooting;
- Failed to shoot the killer fast enough;
- Shot someone on school premises who it turns out wasn't armed or was armed with a non-functioning gun.

Refusing to even discuss the gun issue highlights the outsize influence of the NRA whose membership includes only 2% (at best) of the US population. they are hardly the voice of the American People, they just shout long and loud that they are.

dbd33

I don't think any of that will happen. I think the renegade shooter will just shoot the teacher in the room first. If the armed teacher is in another room then the shooter has a couple of minutes to kill people before an the teacher arrives. Even if the teacher is expertly successful in identifying and killing the shooter then the students are still dead.

I think the Republicans value the profits of the gun companies ahead of the lives of their children.

BEVS

I think the shooter isn't going to give a toss if there is armed shooter teacher or not. In the room or not. Unless of course the nutjob in question is the teacher.
Quite often it seems to me , those intent on mass murder do this before shooting themselves anyway.

BristolUK

I was going to say that in the thread in TIO. Or at least expecting to get shot if not shooting themselves.
But the figures that I could find surprisingly suggested a minority.

So I just left my comment as the shooter arming themselves with a variety of guns and, in some cases, grenades and maybe knives because they're intent on a killing rampage...but then they're suddenly going to make a rational decision because a teacher might have a gun.

mahdawg

I'd say the best bet is airport style security i.e. metal detectors, guard at each entrance. Expensive I know, but given the amount of money countries tend to flush down the loo, it'd be a drop in the ocean.

It's not ideal, and not pretty, but it's the only thing I could see political parties agreeing on.

caretaker

Once you build the fortified position and man it outside to protect the crowd of students waiting to pass through security costs begin to add up.

sharkus

Horrible as it may sound, I really do wish that some republican official type does end up having one of their kids killed in a school shooting. Maybe, just maybe that might hit home a little more than some other kids they have no feeling at all for.

Cynic in me says it'll do sweet FA, that the person will find something or someone other to blame for what happened, and won't focus on the gun issue, regardless of the fact one of their own flesh and blood is dead.

sharkus

I remember going to an elementary school in Cincincatti in 2003 and was shocked there were metal detectors in place. It's a frigging elementary school.

mahdawg

True, but given we know that gun control and gun culture in America will never change then you have to look at alternatives.

It is ridiculous, I don't disagree. But I'd much rather have every kid screened at a doorway than wait on mythical reforms that sadly won't happen.