Problem: killer on the loose inside a school building with a semi-automatic.
Solution: bullet proof windows
Sorry. I'm not seeing the connection.
Turn schools into fortresses so that whack jobs can roam the streets with modified military weapons? Gonna go with 'no' on that proposal.
Restrict rapid fire high capacity weapons to those who pass additional licensing/background checks? Yeah, still rolling with that.
Problem: killer on the loose inside a school building with a semi-automatic.
Solution: Anything that distracts from discussion of whether the availability of certain weapons contributes to the problem.
See. Fits perfectly
Distract from discussing availability of weapons? Quite the opposite my friend!
The entire conversation in the media-sphere revolves around firearms. I predict that the bill of sale offered by the media-sphere will do very little to curtail mass shootings in an acceptable way.
If the average number of people whom die from mass shootings was 20, and laws are passed, which reduced that number to 10; would that be acceptable to you?
If 250 people per year are killed in mass shootings, and laws are passed, which reduced that number to 200; would that be acceptable to you?
What effect do you predict your suggestions to reduce mass shootings will result in? What evidence do you have that your predictions are accurate? (If you mention xyz country as justification for any proposed solutions they will be taken with a grain of salt. There are way too many variables when comparing other countries to the US. Socialization, law enforcement, healthcare, etc to make any reliable comparisons. If we exactly mirrored every aspect of the other countries than I admit our results would be almost exact, but that is not what anybody is advocating).
These are serious questions.
I believe that rhetoric such as saying weapons of war, assault weapons, etc, is an indication of narrow-mindedness. It's an unhealthy fixation on one aspect of many. It doesn't even address the root-cause of these tragedies. Calling people 'wack jobs' isn't helpful. These are individuals that are suffering from an illness. An illness that is treatable. We're trying to reduce stigmas. Taking action before these individuals get to place of deciding to kill others should be a goal too. Calling them 'wack jobs' isn't going to solve anything.
Discussing preventative and mitigating solutions seem appropriate. It's called wedge approach. I am not personally opposed to moving semi-auto guns to title II firearms. If that were to occur I believe that the tax on firearms should be reduced from $200. That is a preventative measure. Discussing possible mitigating solutions (barriers, bulletproof glass, points of access, etc) when these incidents occur can provide benefit as well.
Does that change the roughly $500,000 to $1,000,000 per-school cost to retrofit existing schools?
It is also not clear if he was just not able to break the window out, or if the bullets actually failed to penetrate it. (ETA: There is shatter-resistant glass which is anything but bulletproof, but which does not break into tiny pieces and fall out of the frame when shot. It is not clear what sort that school had.)
I acknowledge that societies operate on finite resources. How schools choose to allocate their monetary resources should be left to the localities and states. The local government and elected representatives are in a better position to make these decisions. I believe that the continued nationalization of mass shootings is contributing to some of the inaction. Of which the natural progress is outrage, anger and hopelessness.
