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Several years ago, our state legislature was discussing a law that would have set statewide standards for getting a concealed-weapons permit, along with concealed weapons in general and where they might be legally banned.
Now, it seems to me that the main purpose in toting a firearm is to discourage robberies and assaults, and that deterrence is best achieved by carrying the weapon boldly and openly to serve as a deterrent.
That is, the predator lurking in a parking lot is more likely to approach the woman with a concealed weapon that he can't see, rather than the woman with an AK-47 next to her purse.
But logic goes only so far in these matters, and at some
point in the legislative discussion, my state
representative (now my state senator), Ken Chlouber, said
that if cities could ban the carrying of concealed weapons
in parks, then the parks would turn into killing
fields.
Bad guys could just fire away, serene in their
knowledge that no law-abiding citizens in the park would
shoot back, since they couldn't have any concealed
weapons.
I haven't read of any park massacres since then, but we've sure seen plenty of schoolhouse tragedy: in Arkansas last week, and in Mississippi and Kentucky before that.
Chlouber's argument seems valid, then, when applied not
to parks but to schools -- homicidal youths can turn a
school into a killing field,
since they can be
almost certain that no one will be able to fire back.
This seems to happen in rural schools, perhaps because urban schools often run everybody through metal detectors and keep armed security on the premises. Rural schools are often strapped for cash, and they apparently scrimp on necessities like metal detectors and guards.
Anyway, I'm trying to figure out where this will lead. The most likely scenario is that, as soon as he returns from Africa, President Clinton will announce the Safe Schools Initiative after he proclaims that he shares the pain of his fellow Arkansawyers.
The feds will make money available for schoolyard metal detectors, bullet-proof vests and weapons-response-training for selected teachers. It will be voluntary, except that any school district that does not participate will lose its federal money for reading programs and school lunches.
The National Rifle Association will oppose this as
unwarranted federal intervention in a local matter, and
further, the right to bear arms is guaranteed in the
constitution. Just as high-school student newspapers are
protected by the First Amendment, so the Second Amendment
guarantees the right of students to defend
themselves.
Under an NRA plan, students would be required to take
courses in gun maintenance and safety, just as they are
now required to take English courses so that they can
properly exercise many of their other constitutional
rights.
This, of course, comes under attack from American
liberals -- both of them. Given the widespread success
of the DARE program, we believe it would be better if
children were taught to 'just say no' to guns,
they
said.
Some critics pointed out that DARE doesn't reduce drug
use, and others said that such a program was unpatriotic,
given that America leads the world in arms exports, and
here again, those mush-headed squishy socialist liberals
are trying to put our country down with their implication
that there is something wrong with the products of a vital,
tax-paying industry.
All proposals met with some opposition from the education lobby, as school superintendents paraded before Congress and explained that they just didn't have the time or money to institute any new program -- metal detectors, gun safety or Just Say No.
You folks are always complaining that our math scores
are the lowest in the developed world,
one educator
explained, and now you want us to devote scarce
resources to firearms literacy. Where ware we supposed to
find the money?
Then a brilliant principal in Evans, Ga., came to the rescue. He had already received national acclaim for suspending a boy who wore a Pepsi shirt on Coca-Cola Day when the school might have won $10,000 from the soft-drink company.
He sold the naming rights to the school stadium, now Ruger Field, for $100,000, while the school itself, after a $1 million donation, became Winchester High. The boys' teams, though far from the ocean, became the Marlins, while the girls' athletic director cut a separate deal to put the Glocks on the field.
We're still entertaining offers on the cafeteria and
library,
he said, but I'm excited by this prospect
of a public-private partnership and the benefits it offers
for education in America.
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