Guns, the word can conjure up many different images. Most prevalant would be the images of war, and to a lesser extent (but not by much) the images of school shootings. However they can also conjure the images of a good hunt, self defense, and calm meditation time. Guns mean many things to many people.
I love guns myself, I think that the best therapy for when I'm feeling depressed is to clean my gun(s). Granted this is not really a good idea, but it helps me. The difference between me and someone who shoots at a school is that I don't keep (much) ammunition in my home when I don't intend to shoot my guns, I still have a couple of boxes of ammo for each of my guns, but nowhere near what you would find in some of my friends houses. Anyway that is my feeling on guns.
The issue has come up though, how do we protect our schools from homicidal maniacs who just want to acheive some level of notoriety that they would never have gotten without commiting such an act. Some people have proposed things like "Put trained attack dogs in all of the schools" to such bold moves as "give every adult at the school a gun." Put simply, the whole issue has many different ways that people propose to solve it. It is worthy to note that a dog won't do much damage to an attacker before the dog is disposed of and the attacker keeps going, but it does highlight the need for extra security. Take two counties in the state of Florida, USA, Leon and Seminole County. Both of these counties have systems in place where an armed Sheriff's Deputy works at the school every day the school is in session. I really think this is the answer, we DO need to have armed people at the school just in case, but not people who don't know what they are doing. In the state of Florida all you really have to do to obtain a CCP (concealed carry permit) is take a 1 hour class, and then demonstrate how to safely load, unload, and clear the gun... THATS IT! Personally I don't want adults who only have to go through that around our kids with a gun. However, a Police Officer or Sheriff's Deputy has to go through a couple of months of training and thouroughly knows how to safely use a gun. An added benefit of this plan is that the marked police car is parked outside of the school (perferably like the counties mentioned before did, in a very noticable place). Seriously people, think about it... are you more likely to do something like what happened in Sandy Hook at a school without an armed officer of the law, or one with an armed officer of the law? However, I would take this idea one step further and place 2 or more Police Officers or Sheriff's Deputies at the school, that way if something does happen and one is unable to perform their duties, the other one can still protect the school and call for help.
The issue of guns is a complicated one, but as an American citizen I am garunteed the right to keep and bear arms. We do need to find a solution to this problem, but not one that goes against a fundamental part of our country. I support the 2nd amendment and will protect it at all costs, but the isses we face in todays world make things like the 2nd amendment look like a bad idea. It really isn't a bad idea, just misinterpreted. Have a good day everyone, and stay safe!
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