Sure, “harden” the schools and arm the teachers. That’ll solve the problem. Except that it won’t solve the problem of a mass shooting at a country music concert. And the problem of a mass shooting in a church. And the problem of a mass shooting in a night club. And the problem of a mass shooting in a cinema. And the problem of a mass shooting in a hospital. And the problem of a mass shooting at a UPS distribution facility, and a Postal facility. Harden the target and arm its defenders? That didn’t even work at an Army base – remember Fort Hood? Thirteen dead and 31 injured in 2009, and four more dead and 14 wounded, AGAIN, in 2014. At an Army base.
This is a solution that has been empirically proven not to work.
Do we harden our entire lives and our souls, and live like prisoners, or do we finally address the problem of too many powerful weapons in the hands of angry, alienated, and disturbed citizens? Let’s start with a few sensible steps, such as a ban on fully automatic and semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines, weapons of war designed to kill large numbers of humans as rapidly as possible; universal background checks; improved access to mental health resources, and the ability to remove guns from individuals judged to be violent or unstable.
Let’s at least see if that doesn’t change things for the better. Give it ten years. If we don’t like the results, we can return to our culture of death but I, for one, feel that it’s worth the “risk” to remove as many of these weapons from our daily lives as possible.
Russ Lawrence
Hamilton