General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTime for some new ideas for stopping school shootings. What's yours?
Here's mine. And not exclusive of all the other ideas floating around.
Metal detectors at every school paid for with a Federal excise tax on gun sales. Federal law prohibiting guns in any school.
I'll check my numbers, but I believe we have more dead students from school shootings than in airports and on planes since 9/11/01 yet billions are spent making sure every passenger removes his shoes before entering a boarding area of every single airport in the USA.
How can it be that guns are getting into schools yet every federal museum and building requires passing thru a detector? And most courthouses, police stations and probably every town hall/city hall and even libraries.
maxsolomon
(32,992 posts)2 weekends per year, getting Regulated Well. Bearing Arms up and down the yard until their feet bleed. Then slide shows of gun crime scenes late into the evening.
It's essential to the Security of a Free State.
Only half joking.
no_hypocrisy
(45,774 posts)The kid last Thursday was 19, young enough to blend in with the high school demographics.
Next, nobody should enter a school without showing ID and inspection of backpacks.
Next, kids who have had social worker issues even at a young age, should be in a system somewhere, even if they haven't broken the law -- yet. I substitute taught a kindergarten last month. We at an assembly and were sitting on the highest benches of the bleachers. I watched in horror as one little boy pushed another forward with both hands, behind the other's shoulders, all of a sudden. The shover was laughing. Laughing! Fortunately the other kid kept his balance. I nearly lost it. I took that kid to the Principal who then sent him to the Social Worker. I was advised later that the school and the regular teacher had been having issues with that kid since September with no improvement. My feeling is to keep an eye on that one. You just don't know.
Raise more money than the NRA
find ways to bleed their funds dry
onecaliberal
(32,489 posts)Does anyone think a mass shooter is going to stop for a metal detector? Theyre
Going to mow down all the people manning them and then keep going.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)It's going to take a number of actions, including restricting guns that embolden killers.
onecaliberal
(32,489 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)hunter
(38,264 posts)... Pot is legal, gay marriage is recognized, smoking in the workplace is banned, and drunk driving is criminal.
Didn't used to be that way.
When the tide turns against guns it will be a tsunami.
When spouses and lovers, parents and children, and entire communities start saying "no" to guns that'll be it.
I'll bet there's plenty of uncomfortable conversations taking place right now all across the U.S.A.
You know we love you honey, but it's us or the guns.
The law will follow.
The gun fetishists will be out in the cold like those poor guys you see smoking on their front porches in the freezing wind because they're not allowed to smoke in the house. It wouldn't be a bad thing if they gave up their guns entirely, or at the very least kept them locked up at the range or armory to visit only on weekends and holidays.
onecaliberal
(32,489 posts)hlthe2b
(101,730 posts)but, I have to wonder how a school of 3000 kids can practically have ENOUGH detectors to get kids through rapidly each day and how many "officers" (whether school officials, private security or law enforcement) would have to be manning them?
onecaliberal
(32,489 posts)They would need to arrive 2 hours before start of school at 7:30. Would also need to provide security at several entrances. Public schools are already broke.
jayschool2013
(2,309 posts)chowder66
(9,011 posts)bdamomma
(63,658 posts)brought a smile to my face, that's cute.
lark
(23,003 posts)10 day waiting period
- all gun sales go thru background checks, including mental health
-anyone with any kind of restraining order is banned for 5 years from buying any gun
-anyone on a terrorist list is banned from owning a gun
-person has to take gun class & get a permit before being able to take one home
-no more than 1 gun purchase every year
-no assault weapons
-no bump stocks
-all schools required to be secured and check for weapons before anyone can enter
-guns are required to have locks and they are mandatory for storage
- 21 year age limit
-government buy back of all existing assault weapons. After 2 years, it's illegal to own one of these.
-CDC starts tracking gun deaths and publishes this information annally
-NRA disbanded and outlawed for conspiracy with a foreign country to sway our elections.
Yeah, I know some of these would not happen, but we'd certainly be a lot safer if these were implemented.
bluestarone
(16,722 posts)armed guards at every door entrance!
phylny
(8,353 posts)NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)Grab the guns. Melt them down.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Apparently the freedom to kill overrides the freedom to live.
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)There is a bar just outside of Ybor that serves an amazing Cuban sandwich and plays Motown music. Great atmosphere. They close earlier than they did at one point and I wouldnt consider going there after dark, for one reason; the gun activity in the surrounding neighborhoods. Its a place I would love to go on a Friday night.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Seriously, the security of the country must bow to the insecurities of a few gun fantasists.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)After Sandy Hook, I sarcastically attributed the phrase "our freedom to own firearms is more important than your child's life" to the position the idiot-GOP was taking, along with our own more vocal and dogmatic (how shall I say this politely?) "weapon aficionados".
It received a buttload (or 3.1 Eurotons) of criticisms, telling me how callous I sounded, how vile it was to even say that, that no one would ever want that or believe it.
Friday last, I read that very sentiment, seriously said by a FL state congressman.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)marylandblue
(12,344 posts)jayschool2013
(2,309 posts)Ohiogal
(31,669 posts)unless she travels to a clinic so far away that she has to take several days off of work, must wait 72 hours, must undergo an ultrasound, is forced to look at pictures of fetuses, must listen to someone try and talk her out of it, must face harrassment, etc.
Do the same thing for gun purchases. One gun store per state. Make them wait 72 hours. Make them look at grisly pictures of gun murder victims. Make them sit and listen to someone try and talk them out of the purchase. Harrass them going into and out of the gun store. Make them walk through a gauntlet of angry gun control advocates who hold signs and spit on them and call them ugly names.
Well, I'm half joking here.
Pathwalker
(6,597 posts)members. Use headlines of the mass shootings, with "blood" dripping down, with sayings that target the Republicans: "And you call yourselves the right to life party?" or "The Real Republican Family values."
Perhaps some of those political cartoons, as well. There would be many ways to do this.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)crazycatlady
(4,492 posts)Stop using schools as polling places unless there are no children there for EVERY election when the polls are open (locals, primaries, runoffs, special elections, general election).
Put the minimum age for buying a gun at 21 (Florida, Sandy Hook, Columbine. Tuscon, Virginia Tech, Charleston, and Aurora were 25 or under). Under 25 should only be allowed but with severe restrictions (similar to the rental car rates that drivers under 25 pay).
Close the gun show loophole. Expand background checks for all ammo purchases. A federal report should be filed for customers buying over 100 rounds of ammo (something similar is done by banks for large cash transactions).
Make gun owners carry an insurance policy on the weapon.
Excise tax on guns/ammo. Put money raised from the tax in a fund for gun safety education, medical and funeral expenses for victims.
ALl guns should be registered and anyone who uses a gun should be licenses. We already do this with cars and drivers.
callous taoboy
(4,582 posts)That would be a start. But like I said in another thread, the counselors at the school where I teach are too busy administering tests of all sorts to really get to know the students who may be headed down a dangerous path.
HeartachesNhangovers
(814 posts)employees on US soil from possessing NFA weapons (fully-automatic firearms, short-barreled rifles, suppressors, etc). Also, no "destructive devices" (explosives, etc). No exceptions, with violations punishable as felonies, and do it on a federal basis, of course.
After all, the government has no legitimate interest in killing as many Americans as possible as quickly as possible. To the extent that police agencies "need" military weapons, it is because they have adopted tactics based on overwhelming firepower, rather than containment, negotiation and patience.
Then, once government agencies have been stripped of these weapons, demonstrating that these weapons are not necessary, I believe that a lot of the copy-cat demand from the public will dry up.
If that works out, ban the government from having magazines with greater than 10-round capacity, semi-automatic pistols and rifles, etc BEFORE trying to do it to the public.
After all, government agents don't carry weapons to protect you, they carry them to protect themselves, and that's how they almost always USE those weapons - to eliminate perceived threats against themselves.
As long as government agents are allowed to carry any weapon under the sun and as long as they are clearly using them for their own self-defense, it's a losing argument that the public shouldn't be entitled to the same level of protection.
Disarming the government is the only realistic path to general US disarmament.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)It doesn't.
HeartachesNhangovers
(814 posts)admit I don't understand your question. Are you saying that the government needs military weapons to use against white-collar criminals? That doesn't make sense to me, so again, I don't know what you are saying.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)Are we gonna send our cops in their naked? You cannot unilaterally disarm the police. You have to disarm everyone.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)mfcorey1
(10,997 posts)specific use.Non insured must give up weapons.
Saboburns
(2,807 posts)Gun owners need a License, regulate it like Drivers Licenses.
Each state to have a DFS(Division of Firearm Safety) just as big and as bossy as the states DMV (Division of Motor Vehicles).
To own a firearm you must have a license. To get the license you must jump through a few hoops. Background checks, complete a safety course, pass a written test, pass a proficiency test, and whatever else you all think needs to be added.
Yes all guns will need to be registered. Just like we do autos.
Additionally I would like to see a Licensee fee for every firearm owned. Say $100 a year per firearm. It could be a sliding fee: Less expensive for single shot less dangerous weapons, more expensive for more dangerous weapons. So the more weapons you own the more youll have to pay in license no fees. The money can go toward having trained POLICE full time on all campuses. Pay for CCTV. Whatever helps keep our schools safe. Your input welcome here.
I believe regulating firearms should be at least equal to how we regulate automobiles and driving.
Now Im sure there will be bunches who will chime in and tell me how terrible this idea is. My reply is that our children are being slaughtered, drastic change is needed now. The status quo is not just shameful, its complicit in the slaughter.
moondust
(19,917 posts)ran this clip today about a school in Shelbyville, Indiana, that has installed lots of cameras, locks on all the doors that all lock at once when somebody flips a switch, and fog machines that when activated suddenly make it hard to see and breathe. The system cost them $400,000.
(It wouldn't play in my version of Firefox but it does work in Chrome.)
Inside the safest school in America
OhioBlue
(5,126 posts)but some immediate things that come to mind from your description - what happens to the student on his way back from the bathroom or the class coming back from the bookmobile when someone flips that switch and locks them out of their/any room? And, does the fog system make it harder to see and breathe in the entire school?
moondust
(19,917 posts)Anybody not inside a room when the switch is flipped is locked out. Maybe somebody inside a room could unlock the door and let them in but that could risk everybody else in the room if the shooter is nearby and grabs the door.
Another potential problem in that regard is the fire alarm. The Parkland shooter pulled the fire alarm to try to draw everybody out of their rooms.
They only showed the NBC reporter being overcome by a cloud of fog coming down from the ceiling, being engulfed in the haze and starting to cough. I would *guess* that all the hallways would be simultaneously engulfed to prevent visibility, but I have no idea if the rooms are also fogged.
SDJay
(1,089 posts)where the children of NRA whores in Congress and NRA board members go to school open carry zones. You can have your goddamn armed guards, but everyone else gets a gun too.
Put your money where your mouth is, assholes. If more guns = good, you shouldn't have a problem with that.
I'm pretty sure you'd see some changes ASAP, and likely before anyone actually brought a gun to school.
OhioBlue
(5,126 posts)MadDAsHell
(2,067 posts)Not a single gun ever used in a school shooting was there legally anyway.
ladjf
(17,320 posts)get rid of them please. No other country has the many guns we have. Americans killing Americans. Sad.
Lawrence O'Donnell talking about this horrible mass murders just now.
Sienna86
(2,147 posts)Laws that give capability to local law enforcement to seize weapons if someone has threatened harm.
Help school officials/threat assessment teams to work with these disinfranchised students.
ladjf
(17,320 posts)d_r
(6,907 posts)if your kid commits a mass shooting you go to trial for accessory to murder. If you kid accidentally shoots someone, you go to trial for accessory to murder. Maybe people still taking access to their weapons more seriously.
Parents are held responsible in my state if alcohol is consumed in your home and a DWI or worse occurs. Even if the patent was not aware.
The same needs to be done for mass shootings - maybe then these parents would act more responsibly with bringing gun culture into their home. I am both a parent and a high school teacher. I cannot tell you the damage gun culture is doing to our kids.
handmade34
(22,755 posts)and....
Link to tweet
we should not settle for feeble attempts by gun people to pass some minor regulation and call it ok... we must have comprehensive laws and changes...
________________________
we need universal National gun laws! reinterpret the 2nd Amendment or maybe repeal???
______________________
active work to change cultural acceptance of guns... there is a very distinct pattern of young men showing off guns and spouting angst online... we need to make this not cool at all...
___________________________
socially we need to be mindful of the depression, angst, anger and loneliness of many students and others... we have the knowledge to assess and we need to act on that knowledge... we need to pay attention to others and SHOW CARE and concern (see EVAN below)
________________________
...more thorough Background Checks
(22 percent of guns are obtained without one)
________________
...Protection Orders
(Keep men subject to domestic violence protection orders and troubled teens/young people from having guns)
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...Ban Under-21s
(A ban on people under 21 purchasing firearms- for those states that don't already)
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... require Safe Storage
(These include trigger locks and guns and ammunition stored separately, especially when children are in the house)
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...Straw Purchases
(Tighter enforcement of laws on straw purchases of weapons, and some limits on how many guns can be purchased in a month)
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....Ammunition Checks
(background check for anybody buying ammunition)
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...End Immunity...End immunity for firearm companies
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....Ban Bump Stocks
_____________________________
....Research Smart Guns
(Smart guns fire only after a fingerprint or PIN is entered, or if used near a particular bracelet)
___________________________________
handmade34
(22,755 posts)Detectors at school... this is what is happening... the NRA and gun groups are marketing all this under the guise of "FREEDOM"... but in reality, lax gun laws are making us much less free and we need to make everyone understand this
KitSileya
(4,035 posts)Refuse to visit the home of any civilian you know who owns a gun. Including your own relatives. State clearly that you refuse to bring your children to see their grandparents/uncle/other relative if said grandparents/uncle/other relative have guns in the house. Refuse to have lunch, go to dinner, or invite to your party any civilian you know that carry firearms in public. State the reason clearly, that you do not feel safe with them.
erinlough
(2,176 posts)I taught for 37 years and this is how I think we can reduce the frequency of explosive violence in our schools.
https://www.facebook.com/UTLAnow/videos/1956126557742129/
I dont know how to move video from Facebook to this sight, sorry. Hope you watch it.
arthritisR_US
(7,269 posts)Baconator
(1,459 posts)... if given half a chance.
OhioBlue
(5,126 posts)The Dem party has become the middle on lots of issues and the R party has gone hard right wing. TAke Obamacare - Obama didn't start with single payer, he started with a plan modeled after one from the Heritage Foundation, a right wing think tank, who now bashes Obamacare along with Rs who used to think of it as a sensible middle ground. Cap and Trade that Obama proposed, the Senate passed and Rs and tea party vilified was from CATO Institute. I watched a CATO scholar debate For it on CSpan during the Bush years. It was proposed as a sensible, free-market solution - but they have abandoned it and now Rs try to claim we need more carbon and global warming is a hoax....
So we come to the gun discussion... There used to be some Rs that could be reasoned with. The Brady Bill - for example. Now, the only R position to gun violence is "MORE GUNS"... So we start off in the sensible middle, they say no... no...no... We back down even more.. "what about background checks supported by 95% of the public?" They say suuuurrreee.... then block it to maintain 100% NRA rating.
So, even tho I don't expect there to ever be a complete ban on guns and it isn't my personal position... I don't really mind the few voices discussing it. Their intentions are still better than the NRA gun/blood money whores that haven't even voted on background checks yet, 5 fucking years after first graders where slaughtered.
Still In Wisconsin
(4,450 posts)to be the case) then we should, at a minimum, make it harder to bring one into a school.
Liberty Belle
(9,528 posts)or rather her friend. She says most schools here no longer have these counselors on any regular basis, so troubled kids are not being identified. If that's happening nationally, due to education budget cuts, it may be a key reason why these shootings have gone up so much -- there may be more than lifting the assault weapons ban at play here.
She also suggested training some peer counselors to help identify students are are seriously off in order to get interventions before they harm people.
OhioBlue
(5,126 posts)If the school counselor ever checks with her to talk about her day, her emotions, etc. She said she has never talked to the school counselor except a quick discussion about her class schedule for the next year. Placing school psychologists that don't get double dutied into nothing other than covering an administrators work load that was cut for budget reasons would definitely be something that would benefit students. This is bigger than mass shooter issue - goes to teen suicide, drug use, etc.
A lot of troubled kids get shuffled around to alternative schools and ostracized. Some that stay in the public schools might click with a coach or teacher that helps them through it... but it would be a true asset to have a dedicated school psychologist to not only counsel students, but to implement and follow through on policies such as anti-bullying and drug education. They would also be an asset for teachers and staff that need guidance/advice with certain students.
alarimer
(16,245 posts)You are overlooking the most obvious: banning guns. It's time we exercised the "well regulated" part of the second amendment.
rgbecker
(4,806 posts)Register them all, make owners obtain insurance like cars. Meanwhile, while we wait for hell to freeze over we could easily, and in fact have kept some areas gun free and, I would argue, safe or at least safer than without the door checks. I've seen 40,000 people screened as entering a stadium, checks at courthouses, and many other places. Our schools should be safe from the crazies and gun nuts and this will send a message to the kids which will result in a change of the gun culture.
cbdo2007
(9,213 posts)They have this at my kids' school. I ring the bell when I go there, they look at me in the camera and then open the door. Hey, it's something. It would definitely slow someone down if they thought they weren't going to get in.
rgbecker
(4,806 posts)don't want to think they look like city schools where they are just trying to keep black people from arming themselves. The more I think of why there aren't detectors at all the schools when they know there are almost daily school shootings across the country the more I question the lack of these kind of deterrents. I smell something and it ain't good.
cbdo2007
(9,213 posts)have this same type of security at the high schools in our district.
rgbecker
(4,806 posts)But detectors would keep kids and strangers from showing up with weapons. Its a proven method in use at every airport and many other places. No body wants students to have to go through detectors everyday....but until this gun culture established decades ago is broken, it's the least that could be done. Hell, I don't think we need to have the kids take off their shoes though.
Skittles
(152,965 posts)TeamPooka
(24,156 posts)you'll have to do everywhere.