They'll Ignore The Best Solution

There's been another school shooting. Details are sketchy but from what I've heard & read a kid killed his grandparents then went on to shoot up the school. 14 or so were injured or killed. It happened Monday afternoon in a school on an Indian Reservation in Minnesota. The kid's grandfather was a cop (again from what I heard).

I'm rushed so I'll (hopefully) have more on this later but right off the top of my head I assume that carry was prohibited in the school making it a guaranteed criminal safe zone. Also the idea of "locking down" a school seems idiotic to me. That's like confining the fish to an even smaller portion of the barrel when someone's shooitng at them.

The ideal solution would be simple, cost effective (i.e.c heap as hell) & easy to implement: arm the teachers. Yeah I know there are some teachers who shouldn't be trusted with dull spoons but think about this - do you really want someone who isn't competent enough to handle a mechanical device teaching your kids anything? If they're not competent enough to carry then I doubt they'd be competent enough to instruct. Now I'm not saying we should force all teachers to carry but we should not prohibit or discourage it.

I'll try to have more later. In the meantime if anyone has any additional info please leave it in the comments (especially any details on whether Minnesota prohibits carry in schools or not). & for those of you with the inclination a prayer for the victims would definitely be in order.

Update: 03-22-05 03:05 a.m. Here's more. 10 dead (ncluding his grandparents) & 14 to 15 injured. Curiously enough all of the dead were found in the same room (excepting his grandparents). The murderer's grandfather was a cop & it seems likely that he used his grandfathers firearms in the murders. 2 handguns & a shotgun were reported to have been used.

The news article has a few stories from people who survived. Each one is sad all by itself. Together they're pitiful. Waiting, huddled under a desk in fear as you hear someone trying to get into your room; calling you rmother for some kind of comfort when you're terrified that you're going to die.

A firearm by itself wouldn't have stopped this, but if a few teachers had been armed & had the training & most importantly the will to act then the deaths could have been fewer.

I'm still not sure of Minnesota law on carrying in schools & because it was an Indian Reservation then state law may not be controlling. whatever the legal aspects it needs to be altered to allow carrying in schools by adults (if it's in fact prohibited) & most importantly it needs to be encouraged.

Posted by Publicola at March 21, 2005 05:09 PM