New gun laws

[J_Byrd]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Junior high schools do.

Right now as it stands someone will buzz to be let in and they just do it, no questions asked. They are not near the doors, nor is the person asked why they want to be let in. They are just buzzed in.

As a parent it drives me nuts. I can't understand why the school administrators don't see this as a red flag.

So the doors are locked? We have a massively open campus. Even our classroom doors are to be open and unlocked.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Off Road

I believe something should be done to protect citizens from gun violence, I am not sure what the answer is though.

The problem is that stricter gun laws are NOT effective and once the anti-gun groups get a foot-hold they will not let go and it won't be long before ALL guns are illegal. That is why there is such a fight on both sides when new gun laws are introduced, it's the give-an-inch and take-a-mile mentality that we have to guard against.

Maybe if there was more of a give and take relationship, then something may get accomplished. Free up the ownership [and carry] of "acceptable" firearms and we would gladly give up purchasing "unacceptable" firearms. I would trade all my high capacity magazines for [returning] my right to carry a five or six shot weapon on my person.

I do not believe any normal citizen has a need for high capacity magazines, and certainly the reduction in the amount of rounds a weapon can carry will reduce the number of victims in these horrific situations. But I'll be damned if I will willing vote for that reduction when I know that it will just be a stepping stone to further restrictions and eventually lead to the outlawing of ALL firearms.

I'm with you. My personal opinion is that we need to stop solving problems with knee-jerk reactions, do more thinking, and use more common sense. There needs to be higher standards.

When anyone can walk into my kid's school without an administrator or employee screening them, we are asking for trouble. There is no common sense, and that is the core issue - at least in my neck of the woods.

Around my neck of the woods we don't need tighter restrictions here per se, we need people to get their heads out of their asses. Next time I visit for a conference I am going to let them know exactly how I feel.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by J_Byrd

So the doors are locked? We have a massively open campus. Even our classroom doors are to be open and unlocked.

Yes, with a buzz button. There is no camera associated with the buzz button, so when employees here it they open the door instead of screening folks.

I've been buzzed into the schools dozens of times and no one ever asked why I was there.

[nighttrain]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Yes, with a buzz button. There is no camera associated with the buzz button, so when employees here it they open the door instead of screening folks.

I've been buzzed into the schools dozens of times and no one ever asked why I was there.

This is unsat. no one should be able to walk unescorted around a school.

[J_Byrd]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Yes, with a buzz button. There is no camera associated with the buzz button, so when employees here it they open the door instead of screening folks.

I've been buzzed into the schools dozens of times and no one ever asked why I was there.

Better than here. If you go into the front of the school the office is right there. Everything is unlocked. There are no less than 10 doors that anyone could enter. We have cameras everywhere, but thats not going to stop anyone.

[BendtheBar]

Tearsa: After the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School one Tennessee father and former marine is standing guard at his children's school and parents say he's a welcome addition to the school. Jordan Pritchard, a former Staff Sergeant in the US Marine Corps, pulled down his old Marine Corps uniform from the attic Sunday night and decided to make a difference in his community. When he was in the military his job was to keep our country safe and for the next week he planned bring that safety home by standing guard outside the front door of Gower Elementary School.
He says it's his responsibility. ~WTVF <--I bet those kids feel so safe.

^ This is how it's done.

[Beverly McD]

I don't want a handful of government officials (most of them wouldn't know a shotgun from a BB gun, is my guess) making more decisions for me "for my own good".

Regardless of intentions, once the government becomes heavily involved in most anything the common citizen suffers the negative consequences.

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

^ This is how it's done.

Over in the UK, we have to have paperwork clearance to a set level before we're permitted to be anywhere near schools in a "work" capacity, even if it were voluntary...I don't know if you have something similar over there and I commend what he's doing but if there is necessary paperwork required, guaranteed someone will complain about him being there, even if they have no kids at the school.

[BendtheBar]

We have an extremely low murder rate here in Wisconsin. I think it's one of the lowest in the country.

While our major city, Milwaukee, has a murder rate of 3x that of the national average, outside of that zone we have a miniscule murder rate.

1/2 to 2/3rds of our murders come from 10% of our population.

From 2011
Milwaukee has 597,867 people and 94 murders.
Wisconsin has 5,711,767 people and 136 murders.
Non-Milwaukee has 5,113,900 people and 42 murders.

Thought I would post this because I believe it to be the case for most states in the US. Correct me if I am wrong.

Outside of Milwaukee there is a very high percentage of gun ownership. We are a hunting state. It's very much a part of our culture.

Not trying to read into this data, but it sure is interesting.

[Tannhauser]

I understand that gun laws are a big deal in the US, so I hope not to step on anyone's toes here.

It's one of those issues that many people outside the US find it incredibly difficult to understand. Other developed countries look at your situation with a resounding 'WTF'?

I certainly don't speak for everyone beyond your shores, but I'm one of hundreds of millions of people who just don't get the whole gun thing at all:

- we don't understand why you see owning a gun as being an essential part of freedom. There are many, many countries where democracy is just as highly prized as in the US, but where gun ownership is severely restricted. Their citizens do not feel that their civil liberties are taken away.

- we don't understand why you look for every possible solution to these slayings (e.g. treating the mentally ill differently, as if that is really going to make any difference) except the obvious one. It just looks to outsiders like denial - anything to keep the guns.

- above all, we don't understand why some Americans think that the solution to having school killing sprees is to have guns readily available in the school, or armed police/guards. People in my own school, both staff and students, just thought that idea was crazy. I mean, literally crazy. (you can see the reaction here (NSFW) and herein the politically neutral satire paper 'The Daily Mash' (some might find it offensive).

I guess it's something that you need to be born over there to understand. It's really hard for an outsider to see why it's a left vs right thing, an 'agenda', or a political issue at all.