Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a hectic week of revising. I’ve got two manuscripts that I’m trying to polish. The first one is polished and ready to query, and the second one is rough and needs polishing. It’s a never ending task that’s for sure.
Anyway, I was going to write a post about a couple of books I’d recommend but then I saw the above graphic and decided to write about this latest response to the tragic mass shooting in Florida instead.
It would be a horrible mistake to give our teachers guns. First of all, there are very few teachers that I know of who’ve had combat training. This is a big deal when you’re tasked with shooting at another human being. Aside from that glaring problem, are we going to give our teachers assault weapons?
Photo credit: t i g on Visualhunt / CC BY-NC-SA
Because let’s be honest, we can’t expect a teacher to go after a kid carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle with a teeny tiny hand gun.
Photo on Visualhunt.com
As a parent, I’m horrified by this idea. We’re just adding more guns to an already volatile situation. What does that mean, more deaths and one of those deaths could be your kid.
I’m sorry but that’s the ugly truth.
The only answer to this situation is to keep assault weapons out of the hands of civilians. No civilian needs an assault weapon. They are guns designed for combat. They are not meant to be used for hunting or target shooting.
Let’s take a look at Japan. They’ve only had thirteen mass shootings since 1922.
Photo credit: Leo Reynolds on Visualhunt / CC BY-NC-SA
According to the Mass Shooting Tracker we (US) had TWENTY ONE mass shootings in 2017 alone. Unbelievable. (On a side note it’s incredibly sad that we even have a Mass Shooting Tracker.)
What is Japan doing that we’re not. Stricter Gun Laws and that’s it.
Here’s a list of some of the laws:
- You have to attend an all-day class
- Take a written exam and pass a shooting-range test with a mark of at least 95%.
- There are also mental health and drugs tests.
- Your criminal record is checked and police look for links to extremist groups. Then they check your relatives too – and even your work colleagues.
For a more complete list click here: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38365729
Arming our teachers is not the answer. They’ve got enough on their plates from dealing with behavioral issues in the classroom to coping with all the testing they have to do. If we want a public school system, we have to protect our teachers and our children while they’re in school.
We also need to bring our communities closer together. Isolation is a huge indicator for a mass shooter. If our communities were able to eradicate isolation, mass shootings will decline and maybe even disappear altogether.
Photo on VisualHunt.com
I know this is a hot topic and there’s always more than one solution. I’d love to read your thoughts. Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
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