Protecting Our Rights to Protect Our Children

www.williamrussell.net ^ | 12/15/2012 | Bill Russell

[Bill Russell]

Everyone should be appalled at the killings which occurred in Connecticut yesterday. There is nothing more evil than a person who would harm innocent children - whether out of hate for an individual or group, or for an ideology. A prayer for the victims and mourning families is the appropriate first response. The second response should be to make sure it never happens again.

There is no question that firearms were involved. We will all learn more about the types of weapons, how they were used, and when and where they were purchased. But less than 24 hours after the attack on the kindergarten class the battle lines for the fight over gun control and gun rights are being drawn. The mayors of New York, Boston, Seattle, and the Governor of New York are demanding national level action from the President to implement control over guns. Film maker Michael Moore was quoted in a tweet of “The NRA hates freedom. They don’t want you to have the freedom to send your children to school & expect them to come home alive.” President Obama’s tearful press conference yesterday signaled his emotional intent to support any and all measures to take guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens.

Gun owners and rights advocates have been countering with websites, citing the same day school attack in China in which an assailant stabbed 22 children with a knife, or where to quickly stock up on ammo and discussions about what point they are willing to go to before they give up their guns.

One of the things gun owners and gun rights advocates have to accept is that the emotional arguments over protecting children will always beat out any argument about a right to own guns. The images of parents grieving for their lifeless children will always trump any statistical argument on crime or gun ownership, as well as any argument involving “cold dead hands” bravado.

As the media ramps up for this fight, every effort will be made to show gun owners as the emotional children in the argument, selfishly guarding their dangerous toys. Gun owners and advocates need to learn to make arguments which are both intellectual and emotional. We have to be able to reach mothers and fathers who may be afraid of guns and make them understand that gun owners are people who love their families and feel the same fear of criminals and the carnage they havoc. We need to answer with words and pictures conveying logic that speaks to the hearts of those who fear guns. We need to help the sheep distinguish between the wolves and the sheepdogs. -- The sheep have a vote in whether the sheepdogs are forced to wear muzzles and/or get de-fanged.

We must recognize that we will be up against the professional film makers of Hollywood who are experts at producing images which tug at the emotional heart strings while mocking the values we hold dear. Rob Reiner has been at this for over 40 years. Remember how Archie Bunker was portrayed in the 1970’s arguing against gun control: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLjNJI54GMM.

We must use words which counter the Archie Bunker stereotype. Here are some decently worded arguments to convey that disarming law abiding citizens is not the answer in a way that is less brash for tenderhearted:

• “As a father/mother and gun owner, I will never leave my children unprotected. I will not give up my right to protect my family in our home or on the street.”

• “It is fine that you do not own a gun. Do not take away my right to protect my children.”

• “Taking away my gun will only leave my children unprotected.”

• “It took police XX minutes to respond to the school shooting. An armed teacher or administrator could have responded in seconds.” (I have not yet found a timeline verifying the first call to 911 and the arrival of the first police officer in the Connecticut shooting. Based on the reported delay/interruption in the school’s public address to initiate the lock down system, my gut says the initial call probably did not occur before the killer completed his spree and killed himself.)

• “We all want to keep our children safe. But the police cannot be everywhere. In the average mass shooter incident, when police respond to mass shootings and end the situation, the average number of victims killed is 14.3, usually including the shooter’s suicide. When the shooter encounters a concealed weapons carrier, the average is 2.3 innocent victims killed.” (See Rampage Statistics article below)

Please share any good arguments you may have in the comments section at the end of this posting.

Here are some good posters I found around the web which get some of the points across. I have included the url where I found them. (pictures are posted at www.williamrussell.net.) One poster I would love to see, but could not find, would show the choice of responses in a school setting. One picture showing a teacher cowering in the corner with her students and one with the teacher in a hide position aiming at the shooter coming through the door, as well as one showing multiple teachers securing/covering the hall way.

As of this writing, Michigan Governor has legislation on his desk to authorize the arming of teachers and volunteers to protect their schools and the teacher’s union is opposed to this bill. Let’s all hope he signs it.

Here are links to some good articles I came across in my research. (Yes, Free Republic had the best selection of articles…just follow the links they will get you to the original source materials.)

• Auditing Shooting Rampage Statistics(Private Citizen vs Police Saves)(http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2967141/posts)

• A Parent’s Guide to School Shootings (http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/8240)

• We need to Petition for Armed Responsible Adults in Schools, as Israel did to stop school shootings (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2968957/posts)

• More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws, Third Edition (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2968893/posts)

• Michigan teachers union president urges governor to veto gun bill after Connecticut school shooting (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2968912/posts)

William Russell is a former Republican Congressional Candidate in the 12th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. He is an internationally published columnist and has been a featured guest on a number of national television and radio news shows. He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the US Army and has served in Desert Storm, the Iraq War, and the Balkans. He and his wife, Kasia, were both in the Pentagon on 9/11. www.williamrussell.net.

[Perseverando]

Some resources on school threats for consideration. (There’s some old news here, but evil, terrorism and massacres never go out of style.)

Terrorists – coming to a school near you
Police ill-equipped to defend against an American Beslan
WND
Published: 04/02/2007 at 1:00 AM

Note: Killology Research Group website does not seem to still be actively updated.

Mass Slaughter In Our Schools: The Terrorists' Chilling Plan?
By Chuck Remsberg
Senior PoliceOne Contributor

School Safety Notes and Articles About School Safety by Col. Grossman
Preventing School Violence
School Shooting Contingency Plans & Considerations
”Preparing for School Attacks" published in The Police Marksman

School Safety Notes, Articles, And Links About School Safety by Other Authors
Rise in 'shool terror attacks' - New Important Article
A School Lockdown/Emergency Drill Success Story
Rapid Response/Active Shooter Lesson Plan
Safe 2 Tell

[Cicero]

Plus, we need to emphasize again and again that this was already a gun-free zone. The law already forbids guns anywhere near a school, let alone inside it.

Or take the Fort Hood shootings. Not even a crowd of soldiers can defend themselves if they are forbidden to carry weapons. They had no way to defend themselves until a brave police officer arrived on the scene. How much less can school children defend themselves, when their teachers, gym instructors, principal, and everyone else is deprived of any means of defense? How will it help to expand that deprivation even further?

[Bill Russell]

Thanks for the new links!.... One of the challenges I have found in doing research is sorting through all the chafe to find worthy nuggets of info...

[Bill Russell]

Well stated! Thanks.

[Dogbert41]

It was the same with the Dennie’s shooting in Carson City, where the unarmed Guardsmen were sitting ducks. You will not find a similar situation anytime in Israel to that or Ft. hood because all of their soldiers are always armed and equipped with ammo. We havre been PCed into committing acts of walking around with “kick me” signs tatooed on our backsides.

[Republican1795.]

The media demonizes guns without admitting that guns save lives when they are used as defense against a would be killer.

[MarkL]

Or the Luby’s in Waco, TX. Back before TX allowed concealed carry, they did allow one to carry a handgun in one’s car. At least one diner at Luby’s had her handgun in the car, but she was a “law abiding citizen,” leaving the handgun in the car, and watched as her parents were murdered before her eyes, knowing that had she broken the law and brought her handgun into the Luby’s, she could have saved her parents and many other murder victims.

Mark

[Marcella]

“You will not find a similar situation anytime in Israel to that or Ft. hood because all of their soldiers are always armed and equipped with ammo.”

I feel sure that gunman wouldn’t have lasted 1 minute in an Israeli school. Most Israelis are taught to shoot and there is no way their children will be unprotected in their schools.

[MarkL]

Another perfect example was the LIRR mass shooting by Colin Ferguson, who shot more than 20 people, murdering 6, and rocketing Carolyn McCarthy to political office, based on the murder of her husband and the crippling of her son. And you can bet that she's going to be all over this tragedy.

Mark

[Ohioan]

Here is my summary Chapter, from my Debate Handbook, on the Right & Duty To Keep & Bear Arms.

The Left will, as you indicate, demagogue the issues in every way possible. We must use arguments based upon reason & experience to counter their efforts.

Thank you for taking a reasoned approach to the fight.

William Flax

[MtnMan101]

[Paperdoll]

The entire country mourns the loss of those twenty little ones. Hearts break for their parents who awakened this morning to find it was not an unspeakable horrid dream,l but an excruciating reality, too cruel to face. May the good Lord annoint them all with numbness to get through this day, the next day and the next.............. until the day they can find forgiveness, and a measure of peace. Amen.

[MtnMan101]

Nice,
Amen

[maine-iac7]

The real weapon was mental illness.

Aided, abetted and nuturted by the lib-tards and their bed-mates, Big Pharma and the media.

the GUN_CONTROL PATROL - from the Pres. on down - hit the airwaves while those little bodies in Connecticut were still in the school!(”Never let a crisis go to waste” on steroids)

using the horrific deaths of these little ones for their own agenda. Inhuman.

How about MENTAL HEALTH control? These tragedies started after the mental health hospitals closed and put the mentally sick loose on the public - and treatment of choice is Prozac, etc, - these shooters have almost 100% been on Prozac and related drugs, which have a PROVEN side effect of suicide and violence.!

Yet none of these sleazy politicians - or the media - mention we need more control and treatment over the mentally ill - and who triggered turning the mentally ill loose on the public? Pres. Jimmy Carter. - which is another reason it’s never mentioned. If these mental cases can’t get a gun, they use other means - like pipe bombs... It’s not the guns. I remember when the mental hospitals were closed - and mentally sick couldn’t be committed without THEIR permission! That’s like saying the drunk driver can’t be arrested without their permission.

post this link everywhere and anywhere you can - and challenge every media outlet , including conservative, to report this as a ‘mental illness’ crine, first and foremost -

There are not many people today who know or remember why the mentally ill not only don’t get the treatment THEY need, but who explode with such violence on the Innocent.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32339

[sergeantdave]

“One of the things gun owners and gun rights advocates have to accept is that the emotional arguments over protecting children will always beat out any argument about a right to own guns.”

I accept nothing you wrote. In fact, it’s bullshit. You assume too much in thinking that the criminal fascist syndicate occupying Washington has the upper hand. It doesn’t. Your thinking is clouded by watching too much TV. Pull the plug, Bill.

[Gene Eric]

Russell ping.