A question for this group--

[digonswine]

96. You have been reasonable in discussion, which I appreciate, of course--

I am bombarded with ideas from teachers and some students. They seem, almost entirely, to focus on solutions that avoid the guns themselves.

Yes-I think we treat mental illness in this country in a superficial manner. We treat all illness here as an individual problem. We treat illness as a personal weakness. We treat mental illness doubly so. We treat addiction like a mental weakness instead of what it is. We treat child abuse as a matter of parent choice--at least in the county I am in. Officials throw up their hands-not always their fault, since we don't fund the people that are entrusted to deal with these issues. Where I am, one would need to kill their kid in order to have them helped by the system--a total failure. No accountability, no responsibility for anyone. We send boxers into the ring with their hands tied and feet in shackles. It's fucking pathetic. We take little seriously. Kids get systematically abused, exposed to the worst of our species, and just blithely blame them for their own shortcomings. I have personally written kids off as being "fucked" and having no chance based upon their environment. And I am usually right. It makes me want to puke-knowing what is going on and not having any power to change it.

We don't take real problems seriously. Conservative fucks whine about taxes while the kids in their district get nothing in the way of help-this is conservativism.

Jeez-that was bleak.

Again- I would put the onus on gun enthusiasts for this one.

"The overall material changes and permutations to law trying to eradicate the AR-15 and similar patterned rifles along with semi-auto versions of rifles such as AK-47/74 and others eminently demonstrate that no narrow functional definition of such a weapon is possible. Working to ban in some way the possession or acquisition of what is one of if not the best selling type of rifle in the country today is more divisive than useful."

This seems a bit weak, truly.

It is the classic excuse that there is no way to do it. It also reeks of shit when popularity is appealed to. I say-I will give up my guns, or register them, or whatever I need to do to decrease the amount of gun deaths in this place. That is an adult being a responsible person.

When fuckheads discuss putting veterans in our schools to protect them, when we have to have metal-detectors in every public place, when they talk about too many entrances, when they talk of armed cops having to die, when they speak of teachers being armed, or students needing to be armed, constant training for armed intruders, constant anxiety for students worrying about it, being consistently made aware of it, interfering with education, worrying about safety, teachers having plans and practicing them instead of teaching, preaching constant situational awareness(noting exits and escape routes, and living in fucking fear in what is supposed to be the safest space for all students)--MAYBE we have our priorities poorly aligned. Maybe we have gone off the rails.

Again-where are the adults, here? Your privacy issues seem a bit silly for those of us that do a job.

If I seem a bit annoyed-I am. Your(maybe not YOU you) shit has cost me and my students days and weeks and untold stress.

I have personally decided that it is not worth it. Selfish gun-owners, that care only for their own perceived rights-to the exclusion of the needs of others, can fuck themselves. They need to work on the problem or face the future where they have no voice. Again-this is THEIR problem.

If you can't tell-I have had enough of it and am probably done discussing it(maybe). But I am a glutton for punishment. I think discussion is the way forward and will probably respond in time.

Please remember--there are people dealing with this every day and most of them are kids.