Category: Education

A teacher at Hampton Middle School in Georgia has been alleged to have given students an assignment to write letters to congress calling for more gun control (see details here, here and here). You can’t make this stuff up…

A couple of very serious concerns here. For instance, this teacher is propagating their own view, for their own benefit, without consideration of other viewpoints. Students had no option to write a letter supporting gun ownership and the second amendment; their only option was to write a letter for more gun control. This was not an assignment to benefit students – it was an assignment to further the political beliefs of the teacher, at the future expense of the students.

I am also concerned that these are 12 year old seventh graders being manipulated by their teacher – kids who barely understand the operation of a checkbook, let alone our government. How about we teach them the 2nd amendment first, so that they understand the significance of the right they are being asked to waive? The 2nd amendment wasn’t a rider to an omnibus spending bill; it was a carefully crafted description of a right that the framers of our country wanted to preserve – a right also called out in the vast majority of state constitutions.  The reasoning behind these calls for a right to bear arms must be understood before a meaningful offer to waive these rights can be made.

In addition, this teacher is effectively setting the example that all must conform to the beliefs and opinions expected of them – which must correspond to those of the people in power or authority – and I find this very troubling. What are they (the teachers) afraid of – that some might disagree? Isn’t this the goal of schooling – to give young people the critical thinking tools they need to act on their own? Or is school simply an indoctrination, as some have suggested, meant only to produce the next generation of drones? This “indoctrination” claim becomes more unsettling when we realize that teachers who lean democrat outnumber those who lean republican by a 2:1 margin – hardly representative of the U.S. population. Can someone please explain to me why diversity of religion/race/ethnicity is important, but diversity of opinion is not?

Stop using our children in your political games. Teach them instead to be the critical thinkers we (and they!) will need in the coming years.

Terrorists hijack four planes using box cutters and crash them into various targets around the U.S. No one tries to outlaw box cutters or require their registration and licensing, and no one blames the boxcutter. Instead, The Department of Homeland Security is created to watch over our airports and airline travelers. No one is surprised when terror attacks using airplanes are largely eliminated.

A crazy person uses a firearm to attack a school, knowing full well that it is a soft target where children will be unable to defend themselves. There is an immediate demand that law-abiding citizens be stripped of their constitutional rights, and that all firearms be banned. No one bothers to take any action to protect the schools so as to remove their “soft target” status. Everyone is surprised when another attack occurs.

It is unfortunate that criminals have found a target that they can exploit. As a result, much like the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, our lives will be forever changed going forward. Because these people now know that school attacks are possible, they will continue until they are made impossible or extremely difficult. That will not happen by removing a single mechanism for attack; we must instead make all attacks impossible or difficult.

That being said, I have a few suggestions that I am sure will appease no one. Still, they are prudent actions at this time.

1) Protect the schools. Bouncers protect bar patrons against one another; Armed security guards protect banks against robbery; The Department of Homeland Security protects fliers and airlines from hijackers and terrorists. Is it so far-fetched to ask that someone protect the schools? School attacks will continue not due to the availability of firearms, but instead because nothing has changed. Schools will remain soft targets so long as they are without protection.

2) Restrict the purchase of semi-automatic firearms to those 21 year of age or older, as is now the law for handguns. People 18 years of age may be allowed to purchase single-shot, bolt-action, or pump-action long arms of a minimum length suitable for learning to hunt or shoot, but not semi-automatic firearms of any type. People 18 years or older may be allowed to use semi-automatic rifles belonging to others, but only under the direct supervision of the owner (who must be 21 or older), and they must not have access to such arms independently. An exception can be made for members of the military who are properly trained and disciplined in their use.

I make this recommendation with reservation as many people are responsible and mature adults at 18 years of age, but many are not. The fact that they are still in high school at age 18, however, raises serious concerns. In my opinion, school-aged children should not have free access to semi-automatic firearms.

3) Stop reporting the killer’s name in the media. This will eliminate some of the benefits (notoriety) that the killer receives for their action.

These are not perfect solutions, but they are a reasonable set of changes that  preserve our 2nd amendment rights in line with existing law and common practice.