boydo

Well written and I agree with you on all points.

With regards to Westboro, their main purpose is basically just to get attention, which requires them to do some pretty crazy things, which mostly revolves around picketing funerals of the recently deceased in a well known tragedy. Of course, they also like to get under the skin of people in the hopes that one will assault them, which brings about a lawsuit and money for their "church." I would have to give credit to the parents at the funeral of their loved ones, because if I had a kid and I had to bury them and listen to the slander people like Westboro spout, I'd probably end up in prison for second-degree murder. If someone "accidentally" ran over someone from Westboro, I wouldn't even give the slightest damn.

The gun debate is such a sensitive issue down in the United States and no politician wants to tackle it, mainly because it would be political suicide. I don't see how having the teacher armed would be a realistic solution. I mean, we already place enough responsibility on teachers. We require them to educate our children, be sensitive to their needs, act as the parents during school hours, and so on. Now you add the responsibility of defending children with a firearm, well, that seems like quite a burden of stress. It's not part of their training and nor should it be; they are trained on how to minimize casualties (i.e. having students hide in a corner, under desks), but not to use lethal force if necessary. A friend of mine suggested the teachers keep a weapon on school property, but could you just image the hellstorm that would happen if a kid somehow managed to get access to that and kill someone? You'd never hear the end of it.

As for gun control itself, that's going to be a painful issue for the United States to deal with, given their obsession with the gun culture. I will say this, however: I don't see why your average person needs to own an assault rifle. Maybe that's just the Canadian in me, but I don't see its purpose. People do have the right to bear arms, but I'm pretty sure children also have the right to feel like they're safe and secure in their own school.

Lastly, I agree with remembering the victims; the media tends to be grossly irresponsible when it comes to reporting shootings. All it talks about is the perpetrator, his life story, his motives, et cetera. Honestly, I don't give a damn about that f*ckstain; he should be considered in damnatio memoriae. If we remember anyone, it should be the true victims of the tragedy - the innocent. The problem with giving the perps all the attention is that it might give the wrong idea to someone who might be depressed and extremely unbalanced mentally. They might, at first, decide to just kill themselves, but if they really want attention, what better way then to shoot up a school? You'll gain instant fame and for days after the shooting, the media won't shut up about you and everything about you 24/7. So you went from some nobody who would have just offed him/herself in the basement to a household name. I guess that's the consequence of having freedom of the press; if we started to censor that information, people would probably accuse us of going the route of 1984.

That's enough from me. Again, well said.

Great read, Boydo.