The immediate response from the White House was to call the NRA’s attack ad ‘cowardly’ and ‘repugnant’, which is probably to be expected. Yet while the ad represented nothing more than politics as usual in Washington, DC, you have to give the NRA credit for presenting the problem in such a thought-provoking manner. Regardless of your position on the NRA or gun control, you have to work through the mental exercise of just how the President can be against armed security in schools when his own family benefits from, and depends upon, the same type of security.
Admittedly, the President’s position is unique - he is the most public figure in the world and the position has proven to be a favorite target of the mentally disturbed. But the U.S. government has chosen to employ armed security to "protect" the President and other top officials. Clearly, the government believes that armed security is the best possible protection. How can we then suggest that armed security is not the best protection for our children?
Of course, in a perfect world there would be no guns. There would be no need to have this discussion and political discourse. But guns exist and they pervade the American culture. We are far beyond the point of legislating them out of our lives. And we’ll never truly be able to control who obtains guns and how they might intend to use them. We’ll never be able to identify the disturbed individuals in time to stop them from hurting or killing others. But we can control where we choose to employ armed and well-trained security personnel. And armed school security makes far more sense than any other solution that the government could, or has, suggested.
Admittedly, the President’s position is unique - he is the most public figure in the world and the position has proven to be a favorite target of the mentally disturbed. But the U.S. government has chosen to employ armed security to "protect" the President and other top officials. Clearly, the government believes that armed security is the best possible protection. How can we then suggest that armed security is not the best protection for our children?
Of course, in a perfect world there would be no guns. There would be no need to have this discussion and political discourse. But guns exist and they pervade the American culture. We are far beyond the point of legislating them out of our lives. And we’ll never truly be able to control who obtains guns and how they might intend to use them. We’ll never be able to identify the disturbed individuals in time to stop them from hurting or killing others. But we can control where we choose to employ armed and well-trained security personnel. And armed school security makes far more sense than any other solution that the government could, or has, suggested.