February 28, 2018
Dear Mr. President,
As we all know, nuance is not your strength (you're more of
a short, simple, declarative sentence kind of guy) so I'm going to explain a
somewhat nuanced argument to you as simply as I can. You and the NRA keep talking about defending
schools with more fire power, more secure perimeters, and more displays
of
strength and might but what the people are actually asking for is
prevention. Prevention is NOT THE SAME
as defense. The Parkland, Florida
students who have mobilized so effectively and so eloquently are talking about
preventing school gun violence by removing the f*cking guns, especially
automatics and semi-automatics.
Defending vs. preventing may seem like a subtle difference to you but to
the rest of the world (those of us who are able to think about big ideas) it is
huge. Arming teachers and bringing more
weapons into schools is the complete opposite
of what most teachers, students, and families are asking for.
Violence begets violence.
History has shown us this over and over again and I believe that introducing
more fire power into an already stressful and chaotic environment could have
catastrophic consequences. First off,
accidents will happen. As any parent or
adult who spends a lot of time with children knows, they are unpredictable,
curious and sometimes just impulsive little people who do not always follow
directions. This makes a loaded weapon
in the classroom setting an accident waiting to happen. Second off, an armed and scared teacher could
accidentally shoot the wrong person.
They may have the best intentions in the world and even weapons training,
but under the stress of an active shooter situation mistakes could be made that
can never be un-made. Thirdly, and most importantly,
the police won't know who's who when they show up with their guns. So now we've
just got a bunch of stressed, scared and armed people trying to do the right
thing by shooting someone...especially someone brandishing a gun (which could
be a teacher, student or staff member).
Mr. President, I am in favor of preventing school shootings.
Neither I nor my family would feel safer with armed teachers, armed
guards, or arms of any kind in our schools.
Schools should be places of learning and creativity, but the defensive
measures that you are describing would turn my school into a prison.
It's time to limit – rather than increase - ownership of automatic
weapons. I believe that is the best way
to make our communities safe again.
Sincerely,
Amy Beaton
P.S. If you spent a
few days in any public school anywhere in America you would very
quickly realize what a dangerously stupid idea arming teachers and school staff
is.
No comments:
Post a Comment