It took the NRA a week to come up with this? The National Rifle Association, after a week of silence, today suggested that posting armed guards at schools was the best approach the nation could use to protect stuents. And, surprise, it pointed its finger at the same alleged causes it always blames: “video games, the news media and lax law enforcement.” As The New York Times reported, “It offered no new proposals to restrict firearms.” In fact, it offered the same old cliches it has offered for years:
“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” said Wayne LaPierre, the N.R.A.’s vice president.
This is the same bunch of bunk that was making the rounds on Facebook last week, of course. There is no doubt that our culture is awash in violent images. Our history, in fact, is awash in them (see my post last weekend). But none of this would matter if it wasn’t so easy for someone to get his hands on a gun. Think about it. Once your gun is licensed, it falls into a black hole, with no government oversight. Compare that to the automobile, which has to be re-registered annually and inspected. In any case, Gov. Chris Christie — no flaming liberal, to be sure — offered a retort to the NRA that pretty much sums up the absurdity of the NRA’s armed-guard approach to public education:
“In general I don’t think that the solution to safety in schools is putting an armed guard because for it to be really effective in my view, from a law enforcement perspective, you have to have an armed guard at every classroom,” he said during an event in Newark Friday morning. “Because if you just have an armed guard at the front door then what if this guy had gone around to the side door? There’s many doors in and out of schools.” And he said he doesn’t like the idea of having multiple armed guards inside schools. “I don’t necessarily think having an armed guard outside every classroom is conducive to a positive learning environment,” he said.
Hank Kalet 
A society which needs armed guards at every school, or armed school staff, is a society which has gone insane. There is a school in Harrold, TX, which has armed some of its staff. The actual number and/or names of the staff that are carrying guns is kept secret. It's time to give the country back to the Indians and let Canada take over what's left. Tx can go fly off on its own.
Sorry, but the world is and has always been a dangerous place. Wishing will not make it otherwise. So we create \”schools\” and \”protect\” them with \”laws\”. Argh!Why not learn from the Israelis? Allow school personel or anyone to be armed in and around a school. Allow trained grandparents and family to \”volunteer\” at the schools. Why can't we have better mental health care for these sad individuals. Yes, they have \”rights\”. But when they are a danger to themselves and others? Isn't that like \”fire\” in a crowded theater? Why can't we have a real inquiry into the impact of psychotropic drugs on these sad individuals?Why can't we have studies with actionable conclusions about violent video games and movies?It's not a prevalent as we think it is, but that doesn't mean we should NOT insist on meaningful actions. \”Banning scarey weapons\” accomplishes NOTHING.
Some schools across the country do have armed guards or a police presence. There were 2 armed guards at Columbine and one of the guards managed to shoot at one of the teens. I'm all for better mental health care, gee that costs money, tax money. There are strict regulations against fully automatic and machine guns. Do the same for semi-automatic guns. How many machine gun murders have we had in the past 30 years? 2? Gun laws can and do work. We should do many things including stricter gun regulations, make it much harder to buy guns and ammo.
>>\”It has been unlawful since 1934 (The National Firearms Act) for civilians to own machine guns without special permission from the U.S. Treasury Department. Machine guns are subject to a $200 tax every time their ownership changes from one federally registered owner to another, and each new weapon is subject to a manufacturing tax when it is made, and it must be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in its National Firearms Registry. To become a registered owner, a complete FBI background investigation is conducted, checking for any criminal history or tendencies toward violence, and an application must be submitted to the ATF including two sets of fingerprints, a recent photo, a sworn affidavit that transfer of the NFA firearm is of \”reasonable necessity,\” and that sale to and possession of the weapon by the applicant \”would be consistent with public safety.\” The application form also requires the signature of a chief law enforcement officer with jurisdiction in the applicant's residence. Since the Firearms Owners' Protection Act of May 19, 1986, ownership of newly manufactured machine guns has been prohibited to civilians. Machine guns which were manufactured prior to the Act's passage are regulated under the National Firearms Act, but those manufactured after the ban cannot ordinarily be sold to or owned by civilians.\”<<Do the same for semi-automatics and the .50 caliber rifle.
See you were being reasonable, then you went off the deep end. Why regulate 50 cal?See ANY incidents with one?They are expensive, heavy and ammo is expensive. Nevermind if you don't keep them clean they don't work. (I still disagree with any gun registration because the RKBA is to keep the Gooferment in check.)Just trying to improve your argument skills. LOL!
Yes, there was an incident with the .50 caliber sniper rifle a few years ago in TX. A couple were in their camper in the parking lot of a race track and a .50 cal bullet came smashing through the camper and into the wife's shoulder and arm. By some miracle it didn't hit her head, heart or other vital organ but she does have permanent nerve damage and had to go through many operations and many hospital stays. It later came out that someone was shooting at a firing range, the bullet hit a berm ricocheted, went airborne and traveled about a mile and then went through the trailer and the woman's arm like a knife through butter.Woman hit by stray bullet at Texas Motor Speedway 05:06 PM CST on Monday, November 3, 2008 By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News debdennis@dallasnews.com A stray bullet struck a woman in her camper Sunday morning at Texas Motor Speedway. The .50-caliber bullet pierced the roof of Jill King Moss's RV, hit her arm and lodged in a wall. The bullet's trajectory indicated that it came from a long distance away, Fort Worth police told WFAA-TV (Channel 8). Her husband, Melvin Moss, said Monday that his wife was in good condition at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital. \”She will not lose her arm. Her spirits are up. She has a lengthy recovery,\” he said. \”A few inches one way or the other and she wouldn't be here with us.\” The Arlington couple had parked their RV at the speedway for this weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup Dickies 500 and had planned to go autograph hunting when the bullet came flying in. He characterized wheover fired it as \”a lunatic with a high-powered, .50-caliber weapon.\” \”Whoever fired this has activated me for life,\” he said. \”I'm a Second Amendment guy, but there is a limit.\”
Here's a video of a VERY LUCKY man. He was shooting a .50 cal gun at a shooting range and the bullet ricocheted but just grazed him or the sound suppressor over his ears.Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ABGIJwiGBc
More on the woman hit by the stray bullet. Damn, I can't find any update, this is all from 2008:\”Kerry \”Jill\” King was struck by a bullet inside her RV Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Police have determined the bullet was possibly a .50 caliber and probably fired \”up in the air\” by someone who was \”very far away.\” And yes that's right, the bullet went through the RV roof and through King's arm before it lodged into a wall. King is recovering at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital. How many times do we have to tell people not to shoot a bullet into the air?UPDATE: Not sure how this one is gonna shake out, but a Benbrook man taking target practice with his .50 caliber Vulcan rifle five miles from Texas Motor Speedway thinks he may be responsible for the stray bullet. If it was his bullet, Kennith Jaramillo could be charged with deadly conduct for recklessly firing a weapon.According to the Vulcan website, their .50 caliber rifle is \”capable of hits at ranges exceeding one mile.\” Might want to revise those specs.\”
More on the woman shot by the .50 caliber bullet. Damn, I can't find out what were the results of the ballisitc tests:FORT WORTH (CBS 11 News) ― A NASCAR fan hit by a stray bullet inside her RV is recovering at Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth. \”I thought I was hit by lightning, the explosion was so loud,\” Jill King said from her hospital bed. \”I still can feel it all. I still can hear that explosion.\” Jill was at the Texas Motor Speedway, with her family, when the bullet pierced the roof of RV and hit her right arm. \”I was standing in the right kitchen sink when this happened,\” King said pointing at her injury. The stray bullet shattered several bones in Jill's right arm. \”If I would have stepped two inches over the bullet would have hit my chest or head,\” she said. The 61-year-old's family thinks the bullet came from a .50 caliber rifle and they insist it wasn't an accident. \”When I saw it I was like oh my gosh,\” explains King after she was shown the bullet. Jill, who spent Monday surrounded by her family at the hospital, told CBS 11 News she's grateful for many miracles that day. \”You just take a breath and you are thankful,\” King said. \”It's a miracle; it really is… that I'm alive and that I have my arm.\” Jill's husband, Mel Moss, says he's also grateful, but now has a mission. \”I spent all day searching for answers,\” he said. Mel Moss tells CBS 11 News he'll be looking for witnesses to the incident and hopes to find the person responsible for the shooting. He estimates the gun was fired by someone two or three miles away. Gun experts say the military uses the weapon to take down aircraft, not people, and stands 5-feet tall. It weighs 40 pounds. \”The person needs to be found,\” he said. \”That person needs to be found – especially a person with a .50 caliber weapon that doesn't know how to use it.\” Moss is offering a $3,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest. He also plans on launching a Web site to find the shooter and for others to join him in an effort to ban the sale of .50 caliber weapons to consumers. As of Monday evening, Fort Worth police say they have no suspects in the case. ********************************************* Benbrook man says his bullet may have hit woman at Texas Motor Speedway 12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Dan X. McGraw Fort Worth police are investigating reports from a 49-year-old Benbrook man who says he may be responsible for the stray bullet that hit an Arlington woman Sunday morning at Texas Motor Speedway. Kennith Jaramillo contacted Fort Worth police on Monday after hearing that Jill King Moss, 62, was hit in her arm by a .50-caliber bullet that pierced the roof of her RV, authorities said. Ms. Moss was taken to Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital and is expected to recover from her injuries. Given the bullet's trajectory, Fort Worth police investigators believe the bullet came from far away. Mr. Jaramillo told police he was target shooting five miles from Texas Motor Speedway between 10 and 11 a.m., said Lt. Paul Henderson, a Fort Worth police spokesman. Mr. Jaramillo fired five or six rounds at a berm, a mound of dirt, with his .50-caliber Vulcan single-shot rifle. Fort Worth police took his weapon for ballistics tests. If tests confirm the bullet was fired from his weapon, Mr. Jaramillo could be charged with deadly conduct for recklessly firing a weapon, Lt. Henderson said. Mr. Jaramillo has not been arrested or charged in the incident. _________________
Web site that lists criminal incidents involving the .50 caliber sniper rifle.http://www.vpc.org/snipercrime.htm