THE GUN CRAZE: HOW SCHOOLS COULD BE GUN READY MICHIGAN

THE GUN CRAZE: HOW SCHOOLS COULD BE GUN READY IN MICHIGAN

courtesy businessweek.com

Since the Newtown massacre there seem to be more reports of gun shootings than ever.  Whether that is a perception prompted by increased media coverage, or a true uptick of criminal activity and generalized madness, the fact remains that in the US there is, sadly, news of gun crazed shootouts and mayhem almost every day.

There seems to be, in addition, a predictable knee jerk reaction, much to the glee of gun manifacturers and retailers, where both bad and good guys feel the terror of an increasingly unbalanced world, teetering on the brink of unbridled chaos, run for their guns instead of away from them.

So the net result of almost any horrific massacre, or even smaller events involving the shooting of a firearm, is that everyone goes and buys more guns.

This trend is alarming, because it shows that the reaction of the people is not one of horror and repulsion at the very object that causes such widespread death, but an opposite one of embracing the deadly object with the rationalization that since everyone already has one, that only being able to possess one ensures that any threat can be met with equal firepower.  It's the 'don't bring a knife to a gunfight' syndrome.  The far West is not so far after all.

On the bandwagon of fear mongering have jumped both gun lobbyists and right wing hardliners.

The last of the dubious initiatives bandied about, and extolled as being needed prevention of further massacres of our little children, is the 'Michigan school Act".  The proponents is a Republican Representative who is flying in the face of the governor of his State who just imposed a ban on guns in schools, daycare facilities and churches.    

Undeterred by the wisdom of others, the republican representative is eagerly pushing for approval of the legislation, which would allow teachers and school officials to carry a concealed weapon on school grounds. 

Of course some of the legislators who are in favor of the Act are already using the oft-cited principle of self determination when it comes to the schools making their 'own' decisions about the matter to counter criticism of the initiative.  

Another even more sneaky way of avoiding regulations and the call to sensibility post-Newtown, is the attempt of other legislators to introduce a further bill called the "Michigan firearms freedom act", which would declare all arms and ammo produced in-state to be exempt from federal regulations.

One is forced to remember the words of Ike Eisenhower, who said in not so many words that a country where schools become weaponized is in effect a sad country to live in.

Adapted from an article in Mother Jones

Source: Mother Jones 2.12.13