From December 17, 2012 CBS St. Louis, a startling acknowledgement of where the real problem is, the right solution -- and what to do in the meantime:
St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch says it is time to talk about arming civilian school personnel following Friday’s massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, comparing it to arming airline pilots after September 11, 2001....
Concerning the possibility of gun control, Fitch said “it’s just not going to happen,” and called for an increased focus on mental health instead.
“One of the first thing governments tend to cut back on in tight times are mental health services,” he said. “We know this individual has a mental health history in Connecticut, we’ve seen that in all the school shootings, and additional resources would be helpful.I agree that this is a poor solution, but no one seems to want to do anything about mental health systems, and in the meantime...
But, last resort, somebody’s got to take action and they got to do it quickly.”
Clayton
ReplyDeleteThought you'd be interested in this article. Probably would not have made a difference in this case but the discussion is consistent with the theme of your book.
http://connecticut.cbslocal.com/2012/12/17/connecticut-mental-health-bill-defeated-months-before-deadly-school-shooting/
Somehow, I doubt this solution would scale.
ReplyDeleteFitch is correct. Unfortunately for every one of him we are likely to get at least 10 who disagree.
ReplyDeleteTwo Things:
ReplyDelete1. Of course armed security in schools works; school violence has virtually disappeared in Israel since the implementation of rifle-armed school personnel as a reality and requirement.
2. The majority of those in positions of power do not care about the killings or violence. They do care about removing the right to keep and bear firearms and will use these incidents to further that goal. Gun control is not about guns; it is about control.