Los Angeles-area supporters of stronger gun laws are denouncing a proposal by the National Rifle Association to encourage the placement of armed guards in schools as a means of deterring attacks like those in Newtown, CT.
"I think the idea of putting an armed guard in every school is just ludicrous," said Billie Weiss, executive director of the Violence Prevention Coalition of Los Angeles (VPCLA). "Is that what we really want our schools to turn into? I have no argument with [having] security guards—people who give permission for people to come into the school—but we're trying to teach kids self-control and how to be responsible."
At a Friday morning news conference in Washington, DC, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre proposed a program called The National School Shield, which advocates placing armed guards in all schools.
"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," LaPierre said.
"We care about our president, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents," he said. "Members of Congress work in offices surrounded by Capitol Police officers. Yet, when it comes to our most beloved, innocent and vulnerable members of the American family, our children, we as a society leave them every day utterly defenseless, and the monsters and the predators of the world know it and exploit it."
"If we truly cherish our kids, more than our money, more than our celebrities, more than our sports stadiums, we must give them the greatest level of protection possible," LaPierre said. "And that security is only available with properly trained, armed good guys."
LaPierre, who was interrupted twice by protesters who held signs in front of TV cameras, made a direct call for local action.
"I call on every parent. I call on every teacher. I call on every school administrator, every law enforcement officer in this country, to join with us and help create a national schools shield safety program to protect our children with the only positive line of defense that’s tested and proven to work," he said.
The NRA's response comes amid heightened calls for stronger gun laws. Before the news conference, President Obama released a video (above) citing a petition by hundreds of Americans calling for swift action.
LaPierre, in an often combative tone, said that in the wake of the Newtown, CT, shootings, in which 20 children and six teachers were killed by a 20-year-old gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School, gun owners have been "demonized."
Instead, he said, blame should be placed on the violence in video games, music videos and "blood-soaked" films. He called video game makers “a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.”
Suzanne Verge, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the focus needs to be kept on stricter gun laws, not video games.
"Other countries—England, Japan—they all have video games," Verge said. "They do not have the gun deaths that we do have."
Margot Bennett, executive director of Women Against Gun Violence, based in West Los Angeles, took issue with the NRA's program to promote armed guards in schools.
"We don't believe that guns are the answer to guns," Bennett said, "and we don't believe our children should be around guns. In reality, even police make mistakes. … If police who were trained for emergencies have accidents, why would we want people who have just shot at targets to be protecting our children or carrying weapons in our schools?"
Tom Waldman, director of communications and media relations for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said Superintendent John Deasy was not commenting on LaPierre's remarks.
Patch editors John Ness and Ajay Singh contributed to this report.
That says a lot about our current day society right there.
( h t t p : / / w w w . b u y 2 m e . n e t / ) you can find many cheap and high stuff Believe you will love it. WE ACCEPT CREDIT CARD /WESTERN UNION PAYMENT YOU MUST NOT MISS IT!!!
You ask how to fix divorce? Well sometimes the right thing to do is to stay together anyways for the sake of the kids, especially young males. Or, joint custody. Young males need their dad. People should put their kids first, especially young males. Some of the old ways were the best ways. Putting kids first is best.
lol You laid an egg! Inanimate objects don't kill... evil people do confused and disturbed unfortunates do... Mental illness isn't a crime, and doesn't predispose a person to violence Gun Control advocates represent a clear & present danger to American Liberty And are willing to exchange freedom for security & therefore are deserving of niether! U and Ur Life Partner need to pick up a Bible Perfect Love casteth away fear!
And like other industry fronts, the NRA is quick to conceal its pro–gun industry policy positions as ideological commitments.
And like other industry fronts, the NRA is quick to conceal its pro–gun industry policy positions as ideological commitments. Members of Congress have ranked the NRA as the most powerful lobbying organization in the country several years in a row. Only someone in deep denial could think that the NRA does not try to improve /influence things for some of it's largest doners............the manufacturers. In 2011, the organization refused an offer to discuss gun control with U.S. President Barack Obama. In response to the invitation, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre said "Why should I or the N.R.A. go sit down with a group of people that have spent a lifetime trying to destroy the Second Amendment in the United States?" In his statement, LaPierre named Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (both Democrats) as examples of the "people" he referred to. Their leadership won't even talk about it...........
The way to do that, again, is through reasonable gun regulation -- not a complete ban, but reasonable regulation, including all or some of the following: banning assault weapons, broadly defined, and magazines that hold more bullets than are needed for basic home defense. We should also limit the most deadly types of bullets. We can also better fund ATF, so that they can better enforce existing gun laws. We can use "big data" to create a comprehensive federal gun registry (now prohibited!), so that we can instantly trace guns and bullets if a crime is committed, and stop transactions before guns are sold to the wrong people. All of these steps are reasonable, yet all are opposed by the NRA. (That's why I object to the NRA so much, MOG.) We need to make our representatives hear that we don't want them to listen to the NRA and their campaign cash. These steps won't stop every gun crime, of course. Nothing can. But they will help reduce the risk of gun violence, which is the best we can do.
Happy New Year!
Second, taxes are going up because the Republicans in the House will not agree to the President's proposal: (1) bring tax rates for those making $400,000 or more back to their pre-Bush tax cut levels; (2) continue current tax rates to everyone making less than that amount; and (3) stop monkeying around with the debt ceiling and endangering the United States' credit. Because Republicans are blocking the President's reasonable proposal, all Bush tax cuts, for everyone, expire Jan 1. So why you blame the President for this is beyond me. What is plain is that the Republican party's intransigence is entirely responsible for the so-called "fiscal cliff" problem. If they would allow tax hikes on very rich people, and would stop holding the nation hostage with the debt ceiling, there would be no problem here. It's entirely a problem of a far right element taking over the a once-great political party. It would be great if we could cut taxes for those making under $400,000. It would be great if we could extend the 2% (up to $2,100) payroll tax holiday another year, as it serves as excellent stimulus for the economy by helping working people have more money and therefore buy more.
Also, this is why it is a blessing to be a political independent; not having to wear the tinted glasses of any political party and seeing the self-dealing, avarice and lust for power and advantage in both national parties. BOTH of which endlessly pass laws that constantly erode individual American freedom in the name of (here's a word I really detest) "progress." And I was so looking forward to that new .223 Bushmaster! The one in cammo, LOL!
As a Jew, I am well aware of the Holocaust. But that has nothing to do with reasonable gun control. As I said there is nothing radical about reasonable gun regulations. Your argument, that a Holocaust is likely if we do not allow unfettered access, neither makes sense on its own terms nor is it a proper use of history. There is no likelihood of a Holocaust in this country if we regulate guns as I suggested above.
The NRA makes it influence known primarily through campaign donations. In 2012 they spent a little over 2 million dollars. $1,845,000 of that came from The NRA itself, $360,000 came from it's subsidiary, NRA Institute for Legislative Action. The total amount spent lobbying for gun rights was only $5,535,651 for 2012. In a National Election that cost ran into the billions! Not everyone who supports The NRA is a dues paying member. Not all of us are even gun owners. We support the Right To Bear Arms just the same.