NH's Ayotte defends gun control vote
"A woman whose mother was killed in last year's school shooting in Newtown, Conn., confronted Sen. Kelly Ayotte Tuesday during the senator's first public appearance in New Hampshire since voting against gun control legislation..."I'm just wondering why the burden of my mother being gunned down in the halls of her elementary school isn't as important," WMUR-TV reported Erica Lafferty asking... Ayotte said she was sorry for what Lafferty has been through. "And I think that ultimately when we look at what happened in Sandy Hook we should have a fuller discussion to make sure that doesn't happen again," she said.
Ayotte said she hoped to find some common ground but that she didn't think the enhanced background checks that she voted against would have changed the outcome in the Newtown shootings."
My Comment:
"Lafferty's mother, Dawn Hochsprung, was the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 pupils and six educators were slain in December. She died after lunging at the gunman to try to stop him from firing."
While pro-gun and anti-gun advocates do not agree on the regulation of guns in the US, they must all agree that the situation is not "normal". For a few hundred years, we did not fear people attacking and killing children and teachers in US schools. The prevalence of guns or types of guns is not the issue. Protecting our children in schools is the issue. Terrorists and the violently mentally ill have one thing in common - they are not stupid. Regardless of laws, they will find a way.
While many advocate that more guns in schools (armed law enforcement officers) is not the answer, who would dial 911 and say they hear shots in the school but please don't send armed police? Many communities are quietly posting armed officers in their schools while the debate lingers on. Teachers should not need to senselessly martyr themselves by stepping between a terrorist or violent mentally ill school shooter and our children. Assuring that honest, law abiding citizens have only 10 or 7 bullets in a gun will do nothing - nothing - to make any difference.
9-11 is not over. The Marathon Bombing is a reawakening call. These same violent extremists did not begin to attack Russia until Russia left their countries after a protracted war, when they then attacked schools and public places. Osama bin Laden plainly said what was brought to Russia would be brought to the USA. We now know how true his promise was. When we are fully out of the Middle East, why would we expect anything different?
There may come a time when we select and expect at least some of our educators to take a more active role in school security. If this comes after the next tragedy - shame on us...