Executive Director of Gun Owners of America Says Armed Teachers Would Have Stopped Newtown Shooting
Source: Gawker
Well, you knew this one was coming. Do you think that the root of today's massacre in Newtown, Conn. is that there are too many guns available too easily in a country that worships gun ownership and glorifies gun violence? Well, there's a buuuuuuuuuunch of people who think that the root of today's massacre is that not enough guns are available easily enough to a country that doesn't value "bearing arms" as much as it should. One of them is Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, who tossed out this old bullshit today:
"Gun control supporters have the blood of little children on their hands. Federal and state laws combined to insure that no teacher, no administrator, no adult had a gun at the Newtown school where the children were murdered. This tragedy underscores the urgency of getting rid of gun bans in school zones. The only thing accomplished by gun free zones is to insure that mass murderers can slay more before they are finally confronted by someone with a gun."
Of course, you would think that pro-gun activists would choose not to stand behind this argument after a massacre in which guns owned by a teacher were used to murder 20 children, yet here we are. And so many people agree with Pratt's theory that it will be respectfully debated in the coming weeks in the mainstream media and in Washington, anyway.
On a related note, Pratt's side has the momentum behind it. Michigan passed a law yesterday allowing concealed carry in schools and child-care centers. One day we will all be vigilantes or be told that our deaths were our own fault.
Read more: http://gawker.com/5968680/executive-director-of-gun-owners-of-america-says-armed-teachers-would-have-stopped-newtown-shooting
Amazing. This nut is essentially calling all the folks calling for gun control murders of little children: "Gun control supporters have the blood of little children on their hands."
MarianJack
(10,237 posts)...when Archie Bunker advocated stopping plane hijacks by "passin' out the pistols" and arming the passengers on airplanes.
Of course, clueless right wingers is hardly a new thing.
PEACE!
YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)...with guns is crazy.
SharonAnn
(13,776 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)That shooting was stopped by an armed teacher.
No, I'm not saying "we should arm teachers".
sheshe2
(83,793 posts)TomCADem
(17,390 posts)The right wing has also been pedaling the idea that Obamacare is a means of gun control.
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/guns/gun-owners-america-claims-obamacare-will-take-away-your-guns
Larry Pratt, head of the Religious Right group 'Gun Owners of America,' recently appeared on VCY Americas Crosstalk radio show where he claimed that Obamacare would be used by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to take away guns from law-abiding Americans, reports RightWingWatch.org.
Pratt said: " Obamacare) says that all of our medical records are available to be pawed through by bureaucrats somewhere in Washington, looking for a reason to disenfranchise gun owners, to say: Oh you have a medical diagnosis that means you might be a danger to yourself or others so were going to come and knock on the door for the BATF to take away your guns."
There is a law that screens out people, such as the mentally ill, through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to prevent them from purchasing guns. However, this law was signed by President Bush.
sheshe2
(83,793 posts)Religious Right definition
A coalition of right-wing Protestant fundamentalist ( see fundamentalism) leaders who have become increasingly active in politics since the Supreme Court's 1972 decision in Roe versus Wade. Among its leaders are Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. The Religious Right sponsors a network of Christian bookstores, radio stations, and television evangelists. Opposed to abortion, pornography, and what it views as the marginalizing of religion in American public life, the Religious Right has also championed prayer in the public schools. In the 1980s it gave strong support to President Ronald Reagan.
They not only misinterpret the second amendment...they advocate guns, which advocates violence.
oldbanjo
(690 posts)Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)It says Right on there : In GOD we trust. See - Christian Cash!
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)To also be a sharp shooter in case of instances like today. Why not replace teachers with soldiers, makes so much more sense.
elehhhhna
(32,076 posts)having a gun in your hand when the cops show up equals bye-bye to you, hero
these morons don'think anything through.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)they don't know anything about psychological projection revealing what's inside their subconsciousness (re: "blood on their hands"
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)This sort of response just reeks of the same ass-backwards thinking that leads to college orientations that involve "how to not get raped" seminars.
southerncrone
(5,506 posts)believe me, there are MANY teachers who would do more harm w/guns than w/o! At the HS level, it could be dangerous because students who are upset could get a teacher's gun & do major damage. Teens are emotional time bombs. Teachers are already responsible for juggling so many jobs at once, they don't need to worry about protecting a gun, too!
Once again, gun lobby talking out of their anus.
oldbanjo
(690 posts)enough to have guns.
LiberalFighter
(50,950 posts)To think that all teachers would be qualified to own and use a gun is totally crazy. I bet if the NRA and others had their way they would want all teachers be required to own and take their guns to school with them. The real reason being to increase sales of guns so they can have more profit.
You are right that many teachers would do more harm with a gun than without. No different in any employment place. The difference being that there are too many immature, highly emotional kids that are not fully competent to make good decisions. Place them in classrooms with 20+ for one teacher and a lot bad can happen when the teacher loses track of what is happening around them. When kids are not properly supervised it increases the odds that kids will do something they shouldn't because they can get away with it.
The teachers in schools are not all in their prime. They range from early 20s to possibly late 60s. How easy is it to distract a newbie or a teacher in their twilight years? If a student had a teacher that was very guarded with their gun there would still be a multitude of teachers that give them more opportunities.
It is money that blinds the NRA and their sisters. They don't care if people are killed.
Students are emotional time bombs waiting to be set off as you stated. And people want to increase the odds that they would come into possession of a weapon? Who really needs to be locked away in an insane asylum?
defacto7
(13,485 posts)The kind you get from the far right wing stupidity machine.
doc03
(35,349 posts)Remembering some of my teachers I wouldn't want to see them armed with a deadly weapon either.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Surprised some tv network has not brought up the idea for a reality show.
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)This obsession with guns is perverse.
PatrynXX
(5,668 posts)would be well within their rights to sue him.. Sick fucks don't change. You are right see what happens when teachers have the guns. This is what happens when teachers have guns. ouch. Something unexpected happens. problem is. if someone suddenly pulls a gun on you. What the fuck good is that gun in your desk. Suppose they all need those nice hidden mini guns that we see in Silverado. X_X
Kinda figured where my brother would be on this albeit hearing him say he agrees with Mike Huckabee just sends chills down my spine. Have no idea how we are related..
alp227
(32,034 posts)so the shooter would not immediately go down if someone were to fire back. furthermore is it REALLY safe to fire back in a crowded room?
Ilsa
(61,695 posts)Yesterday's shooter was wearing body armor?
Then anyone who tried to take him out would be making themselves the number one next target.
Skittles
(153,169 posts)fucking COWARDS
Grassy Knoll
(10,118 posts)Blame the victims, What a sick fucking asshole.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)Looks like that idiot feels guilty without realizing it.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)Hell, if the kids had had gun it wouldn't have happened.....right?
Larry Pratt is a fucking idiot.
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)And Mr. Pratt needs to STFU.
Obama won. Bitch.
aquart
(69,014 posts)who think it would be fun to have a gun.
Kablooie
(18,634 posts)If teachers had guns they might have fired at him but the result would most likely be more dead teachers.
Zoeisright
(8,339 posts)Isn't it statistically more likely they would be killed by their own guns? That's a fucking shame that hasn't happened.
Zadoc
(195 posts)[img][/img]
freshwest
(53,661 posts)So all of this BS is going mainstream. Just peachy.
Gabby Hayes
(289 posts)Jones protege George Noory (host of the Coast to Coast AM radio program) got John Lott on the air right away this morning. Lott is a frequent guest because Noory always invites him after a massacre. The program will be on for another half hour if anyone wants to vent on this fool Noory. You can send him a live comment or "Fast Blast" through the program's site at www.coasttocoastam.com. If you really want to hurt his feelings, mention that one of the old guys from "The Official George Noory Sucks Thread" sent you.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)Fuck them and the bloodbath they rode in on. The good
people of the USA are done with this shit, so STFU Mr. pRATt.
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)childhood if I could have packed a 38 inside my lunch bucket and next to my Bologna sandwich and banana
Response to Douglas Carpenter (Reply #25)
Post removed
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)Zookeeper
(6,536 posts)The people getting rich promoting the U.S. gun fetish aren't wasting any time in going on the attack; it diverts attention from their truly indefensible actions.
They are wrong, wrong, wrong. Stinking sociopaths.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
oldbanjo
(690 posts)both parents have to work. I am against the video games.
bora13
(860 posts)If this nation can't see eye to eye on some rational gun control laws, then maybe we can take a defensive posture by retrofitting all schools with bullet proof glass and security doors. It would create a lot of new jobs to boot.
secondvariety
(1,245 posts)words that came out of my gun obsessed co-worker. I told him to shut his fucking mouth.
cascadiance
(19,537 posts)... who the kid took her weapons from after killing her. And even if she had one of them at school and was there and he were to come in to kill her there then, would she have shot him and stopped the violence then? Not likely unless she was a nutball too (which might be the case if she owned three guns as a teacher).
The F'ing NRA and gun nuts need to stop this utter BS and stop being psycho themselves in making these recommendations and promoting the very psychotic killing personalities they are creating these messes with promoting that kind of logic!
olegramps
(8,200 posts)kwassa
(23,340 posts)michigandem58
(1,044 posts)/sarcasm
cascadiance
(19,537 posts)... his "right" to bear arms owning the assault rifle that killed his "friend" (who "stole" it) and two other people here in Portland! It's been a horrible week.
fascisthunter
(29,381 posts)Riley18
(1,127 posts)As a teacher of 10 year old kids, I have enough to do. Also, since I have a right wing governor, the bastard would expect me to pay for the "school" gun.
Ilsa
(61,695 posts)I don't want the responsibility of carry a deadly weapon on my person. I don't want to live with the thought that I had to take a life. I don't want to spend time every month practicing shooting because I'm a lousy shot. I don't want to try and figure out which person with the gun is the bad guy if two people are shooting at each other. I might shoot the good guy.
I DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN FEAR!
Doug.Goodall
(1,241 posts)Good old nerve gas would have killed the shooter, and the total death toll would only have been 25 or 26.
John2
(2,730 posts)nut is an idiot with his propaganda, just like Huckabee. As the investigation expands and more information comes in, I think we will find out how much this rightwing propaganda has made it dangerous for American society, where people live in communities afraid of other Americans. Americans believe they have to arm ourselves because of this rightwing propaganda and fear of the Government.
Now this mother of two sons, purchased two hand guns and now we know a rifle too with hundreds of rounds of ammunition to protect her family in a small hometown in Connecticut.
We also have initial reports, the murderer also was wearing a bullet proof vest of all things. Now I wonder why she needed all that equipment just to protect herself? I think the investigation should spread into checking her associates and background, why she felt a need to arm herself and why she had such a fear of society? That includes her politcal leanings and associations. She might have bought into the same right wing propaganda, the gun lobby espouses. I would also like to know what kinda mother she was to raise a son, that had no feelings for the preservation of life and resorted to killing five and ten year olds?
Chalco
(1,308 posts)So much for that argument!
valerief
(53,235 posts)hatrack
(59,587 posts)And oh-so predictable.
Turbineguy
(37,346 posts)we should all put loaded guns outside our front doors. That way, anybody walking up to our houses can shoot us!
LiveNudePolitics
(285 posts)gun owners think we are living in some kind of Bam! Pow! video game universe, where if they just have the right weapon at hand they can be the big hero in any situation. How can the answer to gun violence be more guns?
And why is the NRA such a force in politics, with standing as a group that stands up for rights? All they protect is their market. Lobbying to continue to manufacture and sell more guns is their clear goal.
Paladin
(28,265 posts)About what I'd expect from a brain-dead, gun-addled prick like Pratt.
Just FYI: Gun Owners Of America is the group that attracts those who think the NRA is too moderate regarding firearms policy. Really.
llmart
(15,540 posts)The NRA gets all the press but those of us who know about the Gun Owners of America group know that it is a thousand times worse than the NRA if you can imagine that.
B-ONE Lancer
(15 posts)I have just sent this to the GOA and it is time to go into the streets these organizations need to be held accountable right a long with the media who will try to disuss this to death to try and figure out what was going through this person and future persons head, and this will be kicked down the road---enough is enough.
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, who tossed out this old bullshit today:
"Gun control supporters have the blood of little children on their hands. Federal and state laws combined to insure that no teacher, no administrator, no adult had a gun at the Newtown school where the children were murdered. This tragedy underscores the urgency of getting rid of gun bans in school zones. The only thing accomplished by gun free zones is to insure that mass murderers can slay more before they are finally confronted by someone with a gun."
Your organization will no doubt get a lot of e-mails on what your boss's logic is and I support all of those groups and people that are going to "DISCUSS " the twisted logic coming out of a groups mouth means that this organization and the NRA should not be held accountable for the deaths of children at a school.
The simplistic idea that a five year old should go into a class room and see there teacher packing a side arm to protect not only themself and the the little tykes says something about WRONG, its says live in a state of fear and inequality, because there is more of this coming down the road of life.
Because you are lobbyists group and you know what is good/best for AMERICA by god.
This organization of hypocrites and this logic goes beyond the pale and clearly shows the outright lack of epathy to what a gun does, how people get there hands on a gun, and what they do with a gun, its shows that this organization and the NRA and other groups feels that when you walk into a store, school, church ect...that everyone has a gun should have it strapped on there side just like the good old days of days gone by, so if someone says something wrong or looks at them wrong, well let them go into the street and settle it out in the street, just like in the twisted shots in a movie or a play station game.
No, your director and all of its supporters have blood on his and her hands because in this country last year there was over 9,000 deaths caused by a gun, while in Japan there was 4.
The facts speak to this reality.
This society is violent and because of this lets have a gun society and where-by there will be "NO" accountability except to have discussions on what caused this to try and figure out the mental state of the individual act ect....which is another way of kicking the can down the road without a civil solution, like having back ground checks, closing straw sales, assault rifle ban, and a gun having the means of a gun to hold over 9 shells, and the sale of high velocity shells that can pierce a armored truck---thats the ticket, lets sell military grade firearms and armament.
Just like the right wing Supreme Court hypocrite Scalia, you know the same guy who's relative father was a gangster said it alright to sell shoulder launch missiles.
Did he (SCALIA) ever come to one of your speak overs like he did for Alec and the NRA?
In my 62 years everytime when I see or hear about something like this I harken back some 50 years ago when at my school we had the same thing and my princple was shot and killed and two students and another teacher where wounded, because there are no checks and balances of accountability.
I can still remember after my President was murdered and about a year after his death how a young man went up into a tower in Texas and murdered and wounded over 14 people.
And for your organization mantra to lay it at the feet of gun control supporters feet is bull shit.
Why don't you go and visit each parent of one of these dead children and ask them what they really think of your organization and the NRA and instead of you thinking for them and what you think is best for them, the logic is failing and people are dead, over 9,000 last year.
And while you are there talking to these parents have a gun control person there so that it can be "FAIR AND BALANCE", then we can have the debate of what needs to be done.
To sum it up if you want to play with guns take your logic and join the military
bamacrat
(3,867 posts)is are the teachers going to be carrying a gun while they teach and interact with the kids? That would be dangerous and probably scare the kids. What if one of the kids grabbed it or it fell out of its holster? No, the teacher would probably have it in their desk. According to reports the shooter walked in and shot the teacher first. The teachers gun would then be useless, except to the shooter, it would give them another weapon to continue their killing spree. Maybe having armed personnel in a school isn't a bad idea but it should be a member of law enforcement not a teacher or other school faculty members.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Faygo Kid
(21,478 posts)I don't need a gun to punch this guy in the nose, which I would do in a heartbeat if he said that to my face.
navarth
(5,927 posts)there are GAPING assholes. This guy fits in the latter category.
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)olddad56
(5,732 posts)DollarBillHines
(1,922 posts)$100 says this asslick has never been in a shoot-or-die situation.
Motherfucker would probably shit his pants if the deal went down.
nineteen50
(1,187 posts)why don't they also complain about throwing guns at every problem?
Jakes Progress
(11,122 posts)toby jo
(1,269 posts)You buy a gun, you get a $100 tax bill to pay for the guards society needs everywhere. Some of that money can go to help defray the daily funeral expenses of your victims. Some of it can go to help pay for college and living expenses when the wage earner takes a bite.
And what do you have to give when the light of someone's life goes out? When you put a bullet into their 5 yr. old kindergartener?
As for more weapons means more safety, what about nukes? If we just let every country arm itself with a nuke, we'll all be safe. Somehow that hasn't caught on in the world stage.
jzodda
(2,124 posts)They now no longer speak about "rights" but they advocate arming everybody like the wild west. Its a disaster in the making. I can only imagine a nation where everybody is walking or driving around armed. We are already a culture that celebrates violence so once we are all armed and dangerous I would imagine the streets would run red with blood.
booley
(3,855 posts)this guys knows full well people like him will be accused of "having blood on his hands" for his groups efforts to make guns easy to get and as unregulated as possible.
So accuse his opponents of it and get them to waste time being defensive.
IF this devolves into just a "am not, are too" screed, then the gun lobby wins because nothing will get done.. again.
Blasphemer
(3,261 posts)Yeah, I know the gun lobby feels the need to get on top of the issue because they are very much screwed right now but this argument is asinine. Even if there were guns in every school classroom, they'd be locked up. If an armed gunman starts randomly killing people with an automatic weapon, it doesn't leave much time for unsecuring a weapon in self-defense.
exboyfil
(17,863 posts)person in a concealed holster. I looked up footage of a Bushmaster and lets say the first responder was the principal leaving the meeting after hearing a popping sound. The killer probably got off a full magazine before the principal would even have arrived. Would the principal have drawn her weapon before seeing the gun? What if it was some kid you let off a string of fireworks? What would have happened to the principal's job if that was the case and she drew without a threat? How well trained would the principal even have to be to intervene (recognizing the first responder police officer was shot in the Sikh temple - forewarned, armed, and carrying his gun).
How likely is she going to be to take down an armed assailant in a bullet proof vest with a Bushmaster capable of firing 20 rounds in less than a minute (probably 30 seconds)?
I would like to see a news agency run some simulations to see what is really capable for an unaware first responder with limited training.
Blasphemer
(3,261 posts)Teachers carrying concealed weapons on their persons? Not even remotely within the realm of possibility. But, I agree, even if they did, it guarantees nothing with regard to preemptively taking out an armed assailant with that kind of equipment. Even someone without a vest on who looks perfectly innocent can effectively hide a weapon and catch everyone by surprise when he or she starts firing. Unless one is tipped off beforehand or happens to glimpse the weapon and has amazing reflexes, it is just not that likely that someone is going to be able to take out an armed assassin under these circumstances.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)More guns, to kill more people, and traumatize little kids even more. Yeah, that's the ticket!
Freakin' moran, and reject of humanity is what this clown is!
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)We have to have more security in our schools. Doors locked and hired security guards .. that's what it has come to in the U.S. .. unfortunately. Not every teacher packing.
exboyfil
(17,863 posts)$100,000/yr spread over approximately 250 students. Additional cost of $400/yr (about 3-4% of total per pupil spend). That may be cheap insurance for added security and also added benefit of offering a different perspective to the learning process.
Having untrained teachers carrying does not seem a realistic solution. I am not sure a armed police officer would have made a difference in this case. it would have depended on his/her placement at the start of the shooting. Lets say he/she is doing a DARE presentation in a classroom away from the shooting. Most of the action would be over before he/she could get there. Also he/she could be the first one shot if placed at the front door.
Bigmack
(8,020 posts)A deranged or pissed off person could go to the school without a weapon, hit the armed cop on the head with a bat....
Then they'd be an armed deranged or pissed off person....
exboyfil
(17,863 posts)One thing I don't think is a good idea is to have teachers whose primary duty is to teach and be in close contact with students (think grabbing a gun from a holster) carrying a gun. An armed marshall/police officer/well trained security guard is a middle ground.
Bigmack
(8,020 posts)The HS where I taught - upper middle class suburban district - had a cop stationed there permanently.
He was enormously popular with the kids. He was a handsome guy about 30, and the girls especially loved him.
He could be a real hardass... he even put a few kids in cuffs, but generally everybody loved him.
One day, I watched a group of young men - who all liked him - walking in a group around him as he was talking. I had a cold chill, when I realized any one - or all - of those young men could take his weapon.
I was a tiny bit nervous from that time.
Maybe my fears were the result of my time in Vietnam... don't trust anybody in close physical proximity ...
AndyA
(16,993 posts)Guns in a classroom full of small, curious children? What could possibly go wrong?
It's ridiculous to think that an armed teacher could have done anything about this. First of all, for safety's sake, any gun would have to be kept under lock and key to prevent it from being accessed by a child.
In the time it would take to get the key, put it in the lock, grab the gun and aim it, the teacher would have been dead. And the shooter angrier because someone was going to pull a gun on him.
Yeah, that's the solution: more guns, more guns, more guns. Bullsh!t. People like Larry Pratt drive the crazy gun culture in this country, and he's the one who's responsible for these shootings. He may not have pulled the trigger, but played a role leading up to it.