The Washington Post reported that following the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, the sale of bulletproof backpacks sored.
Bullet Blocker, a company that sells these backpacks, reported a jump in sales following the shooting from 15 to 20 backpacks a week to 50 to 100 per day.
In Arizona, Amendment II, a body-armor manufacturer, reported its sales of bulletproof backpacks had jumped more than 500 percent and the Washington Post reported a survivalist company in New Hampshire is promoting armored backpack inserts.
called on citizens to arm those in positions of authority who safeguard our children.
"We care about our president, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents," NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said. "Members of Congress work in offices surrounded by Capitol Police officers. Yet, when it comes to our most beloved, innocent, and vulnerable members of the American family, our children, we as a society leave them every day utterly defenseless, and the monsters and the predators of the world know it, and exploit it."
So is this what we have come to now, bulletproof backpacks and armed security guarding our children as they learn? What are your views on these measures — the obvious answer to today's violent society? Or do you think there is another way to address these issues?
Also to me, schools at any level should incorporate design features that incorporate only one entrance/exit and the rest exit only doors and windows. If you try to break in, a HUGE alarm goes off (also goes off when someone uses them to exit, when there's a need to exit from a danger, who cares if the alarm goes off). Also either no windows on the doors, (or too small to be able to break in with). Windows that are impossible to use to gain entrance. One way to easily enter, (front door, guarded) classroom doors that can be locked down from a central location as well as from within the room, There are security measures that CAN be instituted that, while not 100%, at least make the school easier to secure I would offer this to piers anthony, the brit that demands that firearms be banned, like his british isles have it. We, Americans, after beating the crap out of the brits, TWICE and rescuing them TWICE, instituted a constitution that gave us protections, partially from the dimwits that still have english citizenship. Good ole piers' ranting and raving makes us more resolute than ever to keep the 2nd Amendment of OUR Constitution in place and active.
1. Change the subject (guards needed in schools) 2. Blame it on someone else (the media and the entertainment business) 3. Deny it (when did guns become the villain asked Wayne LaPierre rhetorically during his news conference?) Let's start from the top with number one. Most schools have security officers, Virginia Tech and Columbine did and many schools already do. Do we also include guards at most locations where people congregate; ie, movies, ball games, etc.? The expense for schools would be about 6.7 billion dollars .Who pays? The Republicans have over the last ten years cut five billion from schools in Georgia. Where will schools get the money? Perhaps a special tax on bullets and guns could be passed? Lets' take the number two argument. Japan is noted for its extremely violent video games yet the per capita deaths by guns is very small .This also applies to Germany,Canada,Great Britain, and other countries they also looks at the same movies we do and play the same video games. The number three argument is the gun industry is enjoying a boom with 5 % of the world's population the United state owns 50% of all guns. Wayne LaPierre is paid over one million dollars a years in salary. This money comes from the gun industry and the 4 million members that the NRA keeps in a constant state of agitation and fear in order to keep the money coming in.
I support the use of guns for hunting and for protecting a person/property/family but the complete solution to a psychotic young man bringing a semi-automatic weapon into a crowded place (school, mall, movie theater, etc...) and killing multiple people isn't to staff schools with police officers. Having a SRO is part of the solution but it certainly is not the whole solution and Wayne LaPierre gave no indication that he was willing to participate in any meaningful discussion that addressed methods to remove/restrict access to guns by individuals who shouldn't have them or to the types of guns and magazines they shouldn't access. If the NRA was involved in finding a solution it would help lend it credibility to 50%+ of the country. By refusing to help it leaves any solution that is offered up to automatically be branded as an attack on freedom by crazy lefties. It is a shame when people in positions of leadership can't step outside their own fiefdom and try to help solve a bigger problem.
Often, like batteries elsewhere I’m afraid “logic is often NOT included*”
The NRA is run by the gunand ammunition manufactures and Wayne Lapierre is nothing more than a high paid lobbyist (one million a year).That was what I expected.
The military-style semi automatic assault weapon used to kill most of the victims in last week's Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in Connecticut was a Bushmaster XM-15 .223 caliber rifle, manufactured by Bushmaster Firearms International LLC, which is owned by the Freedom Group of Madison, N.C. Cerberus Capital Management is a the private equity firm that owns the Freedom Group -based in New York City, Cerberus is owned by billionaire financier Stephen A. Feinberg. Freedom Group is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial firearms, ammunition and accessories, owning brands that in addition to Bushmaster include Remington, DPMS/Panther Arms, Marlin, H&R, The Parker Gun, Advanced Armament Corp., Dakota Arms, Para USA, Barnes Bullets and TAPCO. Despite the sluggish economy, the Freedom Group has been doing well, with sales up 20 percent in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, according to its third-quarter financial report. Sales made to Arkansas-based Wal-Mart accounts for a substantial portion of the company's total sales at about 13 percent. George Kollitides, the chair and interim CEO of the Freedom Group, is a major Republican donor. A former managing director for Cerberus, he contributed $10,000 to the Republican National Committee in October and $2,500 to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in May .
Why dont you just say it, you know you want to- its Bush's fault! Clown.
Don't read my facts as presented...it's a free country.@ Argumentum ad Hominem is a fallacy in argument/logic .Either argue the points presented or quit with the school yard blather. It hurts your credibility.
The one variable that is constant in all of the major industrialized countries is sensible gun regulations.This accounts for the lower number of deaths by guns.
If the tax rates go up , it will be the Republican congresses fault.
Getting back to the point of the story, I overheard someone say the other day that we have had semi-automatic weapons since the 1800s, and we have had public schools since the 1600s...but for some reason we havent had a problem with the two of them at the same time until the last 15 years or so. It would seem then that the problem isnt necessarily the school or the gun (or the political money trail). We guard banks, jewelry stores, armored cars, airports, stadiums, etc...but not schools. Why not?