Republicans Must Provide Meaningful Solutions to School Violence
As we reflect on the latest senseless shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, I can’t help wonder if it’s asking too much to give the parents an opportunity to mourn the loss of these innocent babies without the relentless pressure of politics intruding into the grieving space?
Whenever we’re all involuntarily pulled into the black hole of some deranged psychopath, the response from the left is always the same. They can’t even wait until the victims have been identified before starting with the gun control rhetoric. It’s like they’re not experiencing overwhelming sorrow like the rest of us, but instead, their first instinct is to exploit a political opportunity.
It’s actually pretty disgusting.
As the story broke, leftists took to Twitter in droves in hopes of using the tragedy as a springboard for an “assault weapons” ban.
And my favorite ignorant tweet of the day…
Please, Peter, stick to the guitar. The handgun ban in the U.K. went into effect in 1997 when the homicide rate stood at 11.6 per million people. After the ban, homicides rose dramatically until they peaked at 18 per million in 2003. To address the murder epidemic, the U.K. added 20,000 more constables, and the rate eventually dropped back to 12 homicides per million in 2011. In short, the handgun ban did nothing to impact the overall homicide rate.
However, what the ban did do is ensure the English people have no way to fight back as the UK drifts farther toward unabashed authoritarianism.
Why the Left Refuses to Support Common Sense Solutions
For everyday Americans, the most maddening aspect of the left’s intransigence is their unwillingness to adopt reasonable measures to address such a critical issue. Instead, they stay laser focused on banning guns. Not because that’s the best solution for deterring school violence, but because it achieves the broader goal of keeping weapons out of the hands of those who would defend the Constitution.
I could outline the reasons why a weapons ban won’t prevent mass murder in schools, but these tweets sum up the frustration of those looking for practical, commonsense solutions.
Jack Lombardi poses a compelling question. In one of the security camera videos, the shooter fires into glass doors, which is apparently how she gained entry. I wonder who thought it was a good idea to employ glass as the only physical barrier preventing a nefarious character with ill intent from entering the school?
Why isn’t school security under the purview of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)? Besides preventing cyber-attacks, CISA is responsible for protecting 16 critical infrastructure sectors, including communications, dams and nuclear reactors. Are we to believe our children are not as important as any one of those 16 sectors?
Why aren’t schools required to adhere to universal security protocols in building construction and ongoing operations? We have building codes for everything, many that are unnecessary. It’s shocking to see a school with barrier doors made of glass in 2023.
As Lombardi asks rhetorically, how can we authorize $100 billion to fight a proxy war in Ukraine but we don’t have enough money to fortify our schools?
Ted Cruz’s tweet exposes the inauthentic and disingenuous nature of the left’s faux indignation over gun violence. Certainly, they must know that second amendment rights are a line in the sand for patriotic Americans. It’s non-negotiable. No matter what law Congress passes or edict senile Biden proclaims, no one is going to turn in their gun.
So, why did Democrats, who claim they’re so outraged by school violence, vote against the Cruz bill that would have doubled the number of police officers in the schools?
Unless, like election integrity, crime, poverty and education, they would rather exploit the issue than find a solution…
Republicans Must Develop a Comprehensive Plan
Every time America experiences the shock and loss from a school shooting, Democrats seize the moment and squeeze every ounce of political mileage out of the tragedy, while the Republican response is always nebulous and tepid. There is a time to mourn, but there is also a time for action. A Republican plan based on realistic and reasonable ideas would be embraced by the majority of people, and the public outcry for action would overwhelm the Democrats’ self-serving opposition.
The plan doesn’t need to be overly complex:
- Classify all schools as critical infrastructure and place the responsibility for security with CISA.
- Develop national building codes that ensure all schools share the same standardize security features. Schools would have two years to comply with the new codes, and they would receive grants from the federal government to pay for the upgrades.
- Install metal detectors at all common entry points to a school.
- Allow 2-4 properly trained and certified teachers and/or administrators to carry concealed weapons.
Clearly, there is a glaring hole in the mental health system that is allowing these deranged people to acquire weapons. While those deficiencies should be addressed, and researchers might want to start with the use of antidepressants, solutions to those problems are complex, especially when Woke does everything it can to ensure these people remain undetected.
However, there is absolutely no reason our schools cannot be upgraded in a way that would substantially reduce the risk of another catastrophic loss of innocent life.
These horrific tragedies are becoming much too common in America.
It’s time to act.
