Isn’t news until it’s bad news
Re: The Journal News publishing gun owners’ names and addresses in an interactive map: This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Even if it is a matter of public record it is not necessary or in the best interest of citizens to publish such information. This, as with most anything, is a double-sided sword.
Number one it defeats the purpose of concealed carry permits and secondly (as mentioned in the article) it gives the crooks the information as to where to hit next to obtain free guns. Or on the other side it tells the thief which houses not to break into for fear of being shot.
The bottom line is the media doesn’t show much forethought or good editing in a lot of things they publish. As for the newspaper in general, most people don’t read them so much for the news, as it is old news by the time the paper hits the street. But a lot of people get the paper for the opinions and articles on current events, and as one man told me, he only gets the paper for the obituaries, probably to see if he is in there.
I guess it isn’t news until it is bad news. So many “news” articles are only the bad side of the story but never mention the good side
Richard Larson
Colorado Springs
Attempting logical thought
At the Sidwell-Friends School in Washington D.C., where Obama and other wealthy, notable parents send their children, there are 11 armed guards besides the Secret Service. Somehow important politicians are above the demand for gun-free school zones. No one in their right mind would attack kids at Sidwell-Friends. No one seems to want to attack politicians such as Sen. Diane Feinstein, Mayor Michael Bloomberg or Gov. John Hickenlooper as they have protection that is no doubt armed and capable. Yes, it’s expensive to hire the guards but woe to the average teacher who’d like a permit to carry.
We have a grandchild in a private school out of state. There is one door to get in and it’s manned full time. The principal immediately sent a letter home to the parents assuring them he has a concealed carry permit and is not naming other teachers who might also have one. They are armed. This is not a school where one would go on a shooting spree. Try the public school down the street. After all, those kids aren’t worth as much as they are just part of the public school system and it’s a “gun free” zone.
Two things have happened to turn our schools into targets. The small neighborhood schools are gone and every child is mainstreamed into a large sheep farm these days, thanks to the urging of the NEA. This makes for a place with many strangers to the teachers and harder to protect. Then the megaschools are declared gun-free zones, making them more vulnerable.
We also have the usual liberal journalists who never miss an opportunity to spout their anti-gun rhetoric while sensationalizing the violence by splattering everything about the sick perpetrators all over their pages giving them “instant” infamy which they crave.
Next and not to be outdone, we have “Hollywood Genius and Extreme Hypocrisy.” We have Sly Stallone, Matt Damon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, those great heroes of blood and guts movies that glorify extreme violence and have made multi-millions selling it. They decry guns and now push gun control as they leap to their next fat movie contracts to make millions with their hyper-violent entertainment. (They have bodyguards, yes siree.) After that come the violent video games that can’t be outdone.
Last but not least, we have the nonthinking public parroting everything the media puts out this week. This must be the NRA’s fault somehow and all guns must be confiscated as the letter writers leap to their pens and deep thoughts. I can’t help thinking that a sociopath could slip into an elementary school with a large concealed kitchen knife and do as much or more damage, just more quietly. Let’s hear it for the ban on kitchen knives.
Well pardon me, as I finish this exercise in attempting logical thought as I need to write a check to pay my upcoming NRA dues and hope against hope that willing and trained teachers can seek protection for themselves and their students if they wish.
Donna Hartley
Black Forest
Teachers wouldn’t have a chance
If the recent discussions on the talk shows and television news programs about gun laws and possibly arming teachers weren’t so serious they would be almost laughable.
Allowing or requiring teachers to become carriers of concealed legal firearms is tantamount to enacting the death penalty onto every armed teacher. What teacher would have a chance, armed with the very popular KelTec 2” 380 concealed carry weapon, for example, or even a full-sized handgun, against an attack using any long gun, assault weapon or not? The answer, none.
A concealed carry weapon is primarily a close quarters weapon, a last resort to an impending assault on the carrier by an armed or unarmed assailant. To even consider that such a weapon could be used successfully to prevent or even affect the eventual outcome of any of the recent mass shootings is foolhardy, if not totally absurd. It is more likely that the use a concealed carry weapon during any of these mass shootings would have resulted in collateral damage beyond the damage inflicted by the assailant.
The (only) solution is to have trained, well-armed personnel at every school, or large public gathering, for that matter. The United States should learn from the Israelis where soldiers armed with short-barreled automatic assault weapons with Trijicon ACOG scopes are everywhere, including the schools and shopping centers, as well as the streets. How about employing some of our soldiers who are returning from active duty in the near east to protect the public here in the U.S.? They’re already trained, highly motivated and could use the jobs. Like the sky marshals, a single guard could be assigned to multiple schools with no set schedule effectively protecting many more children as a result of their stealth.
Don Laughlin
Colorado Springs