Following another school shooting, this time in Atlanta on Jan. 31, Patch asked readers if they believed President Obama's gun control proposals will help prevent school shootings.
We also asked readers what they feel needs to be done to stop school shootings, such as bringing in armed guards.
Here are some of the responses we received. Some comments have been edited for length, grammar and clarity:
"What will stop the school shootings? 1. Pass a law forcing all gun owners to buy a heavy duty gun box and keep all guns locked up 24-7. Keep a hand gun out for home security, but if you go out lock up the all the guns. 2. Armed guards in all schools. 3. Metal detectors. 4. Bullet proof all school first floor windows and doors. Keep all school doors locked up. 5. Cameras all around the schools. That is going to cost some money but it will keep kids safe 99%," posted Jose.
"I don't believe mandating armed guards is the answer. There are 2 better solutions: 1. Allow any teacher or staff member that wants to have conceal carry to do so once trained. You could even only allow biometric triggers for those staff members. 2. Place weapons in safes in strategic locations around the school. Train the staff on their usage," posted Lennie Jarratt.
"Not enough money for supplies or up-to-date materials, but when it comes to guns and the gun culture, no cost is too much," posted Sully.
"Schools are responding with metal detectors and armed guards as a solution. This will only make matters worse. Shooting a gun on a range is one thing but shooting in a combat situation is something completely different. By arming our school personnel with guns we will be facing worse episodes of violence and shooting, and even if you remove all the guns people who want to create an act of violence will always find a way," posted Robert Howard.
Got an opinion? Share it in the comments.
One Injured in Atlanta School Shooting: How to Stop the Violence?
Let us know if/when you come up with some specific details on how to accomplish that... "Reasonable" is obviously subjective and leaves too much room for capricious and arbitrary. Try using "effective" instead. Taking truly effective measures involves focusing on people and their behaviors, not guns...
It is up to each citizen to prepare their child for life in a Republic and to protect him or her from evil. This is the meaning behind the First Amendment. It is too bad that the failures of a few parents require armed guards in schools, but so be it.
Over 8 million people have dropped out of the workforce in the last 4 years. Health care costs have gone through the roof. The economy just shrank last quarter. Your guys are failing and it's nothing to laugh about.
Let the readers decide who's out of touch with reality and who should be laughed at.
I've seen it before too, so I know how it ends. Sandra will not answer the question because she can not do so without damning her own ideology. Her only choice is to blame Bush or Edgar or Nixon or some other ghost from the past, and if she does that, well, then the real fun starts doesn't it?
And let's leave Sandra alone. She can say whatever she wants. It's her first amendment right, at least until the government says it isn't!
Ithink it breaks the heart of every respondent to this article. It unfortunately ahows the present state of American society. Look at what passes for the communications media, the R rated violent movies which mothers and fathers blithely permit their children to watch at ages when images compound in their brains and violence is stopped only after fifty minutes of TV police stupidity And the violence appears not to hurt the victim. So in a way, we have done it to ourselves. We wanted the best for our children. Indiscriminately. So we gave them everything instead..
Peace through strength! It would appear that Sandra Sims has done exactly like the others stated she would. Duck and cover!
http://evanston.patch.com/blog_posts/guns-and-the-second-amendment-i-finally-get-it-and-its-not-pretty
While you read the post below keep in mind that I have protested peacefully and lawfully against my government for overspending and breaking their own laws that should keep me safe from their fiscal abuses. Because of that government LEADERS, not bloggers, leaders, called me a danger to society, a murderer, a Nazi, a terrorist, they said they were going to put me on a watch list along with returning war veterans. I have had the mindless minions of these political hacks shout death threats to my face without ever listening to a word I say. I have been blamed for the slaughter of children. I have been insulted and slandered in the most vile ways ... simply for asking my government to obey its own laws. I have been systematically, persistently, and purposefully dehumanized by my own government and their media water carriers. I have studied genocide. One common element in all genocides is the persistent demonization and dehumanizing of one segment of the population. As this occurs, the people learn to hate the demonized group. That hatred grows until a trigger event occurs, usually a disaster of some sort, and then all those people decide to "solve their problem" and rid society of the demonized group. All the elements of a genocide are present in our society today.
"Mr Rats, you said "I don't care if we have to suspend the constitution and confiscate all guns at this point." . and . "Better red than dead". So you are willing to throw out the Constitution and even accept Communism in an attempt to avoid disasters like this from occurring again. I admit that the price of freedom does seem rather high right now, but let's take a look at the price of oppression. Cambodian Communists killed 1/4 of their own people in fours years between 1975 and 1979, 2 million people. That would be 1,369 killed per day for a four year period. But it get worse. Soviet Union Communists killed 62 million of their own people over a 70 year period. That comes to 2,426 people killed per day... continuously for 70 straight years. Let that soak in before you move on. Communist China's Great Leap Forward ended up killing approximately 30 million people between 1957 and 1961, a staggering 20,500 people died per day for 4 years. Imagine 1,000 Sandy Hook slaughters every day, for 1,500 straight days. Not a pleasant thought. Most of these people were starved to death. Few guns were needed. THAT is the price of oppression. The greatest killing machine ever devised by man is not the gun. It is the all powerful government which sacrifices the individual for the common good in an attempt to create a socialist Utopian State. In such a State you and your family would likely be dead within 4 years. I'll take my chances with the Constitution."
http://www.cchrint.org/school-shooters/ Welcome!