The NRA had been unusually silent after the shooting in Newtown, CT. Their twitter feed had nothing to say about the shooting and their Facebook page actually disappeared for some time. Obviously in the wake of the shooting, a group like the NRA is going to take a lot of flack for their support of limiting gun regulations as much as possible. The group announced recently that this Friday they would have a press conference and would make a huge announcement about starting a "serious conversation".
What happened instead was the complete opposite. The NRA's big solution to prevent further tragedies like those in Newtown is to put armed guards in every school across the country. That means every single elementary, middle, and high school. The NRA also proposes that Congress appropriate the money for this venture. That's not a solution, that's using this tragedy to further their own agenda.
The NRA seems to believe that these people who are sick enough to go shooting up these schools will somehow not be sick enough to prepare for the armed guards they will face at these schools if they decide to go through with it. The NRA's so-called "solution" is rather a matter of escalation. The people who wish to commit these school shootings will simply find themselves bigger and stronger guns in order to kill as many people as possible. The NRA also decided to take no questions at the end of their "press conference". It's not really a press conference if they don't take any questions, but that's beside the point.
I wish someone was able to ask them who would be to blame if one of the armed guards kills a student at one of these schools. Would it be violent video games then? Would the NRA take blame for creating a situation that eventually led to such an event? I'm highly doubtful of that.
I will be the first to admit that I find myself often fairly conservative on the issue of gun control compared to my friends. However even the most ardent gun advocate can see the massive flaws in the NRA's plan. 4 million members or not as a group, this so-called "solution" by the NRA should be booed out of the conversation.
It's even more ludicrous that the NRA blamed everyone under the sun for the shooting at Newtown except of course guns and guns lobbyists. If perhaps the NRA came out and admitted that there could be some sort of compromise then perhaps they could be taken seriously. Instead, we get these inane ideas that will only make things worse. Furthermore, they go on to blame things like violent video games that help contribute to these kind of shootings. I like to think I covered in my piece yesterday why that theory is completely wrong.
The NRA could have been part of the serious conversation about making real changes in order to prevent further shootings like at Newtown. Instead, they made a sales pitch. I hope that the actual adults in the room will be able to focus on advocating for more funding for mental health programs among other solutions. This includes taking a look at our gun control laws and finding a balance between protecting the rights of gun owners while making regulations that will protect those who simply can't protect themselves.
"I hope that the actual adults in the room will be able to focus on advocating for more funding for mental health programs among other solutions." This. So little time, funding and effort is made to actually help those who need it. For many who struggle with having mental health issues there is little help provided to them. The schools put the students in special education classes that often segregate them from the general education population; or they get shipped off to schools for students with anger and violence issues where, in most cases, no effort is spend to help or educate these students. The main goal becomes keeping them confined to a room for many hours to "keep them out of trouble". No one wants to acknowledged these kids have an issue that needs help because the more issues you admit a kid has, the more obligation you have to help these students which, of course, takes money. Because of this the parents get no financial help they need to fully help their kids. Too much effort and time is devoted on what we can blame for these problems rather than how can we help those people who need help to prevent tragedies like this.
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