Wayne's World: A Logic Free Zone

Wayne LaPierre is unmoved

The same old nonsense from the NRA. Today, the NRA gave a long awaited press conference. Wayne LaPierre read from notes and did not answer questions. He ignored hecklers. His point? Armed guards in every school will protect kids from crazy armed shooters. What Codswallop. What a completely bankrupt argument.

The New York Times put it this way:

The National Rifle Association on Friday called for schools to be protected by armed guards as the best way to shield children from gun violence.

The proposal from the pro-gun lobbying group, long the most vocal and influential organization generally opposing stricter regulation of firearms, came during the N.R.A.'s first organized media event after the deadly shootings in Newtown, Conn. The group also called for steps other than gun control, including cracking down on criminals and fighting violence in the media and on video games. ...

But it was the vehement insistence that the single best line of defense was to put armed guards in schools — and the absence of any openness to various suggestions for new gun control measures — that dominated the event at a downtown hotel not far from the White House.

Mr. LaPierre said this should be done right away, with the details left to the discretion of local schools. The N.R.A. would provide a template or model program after consulting with security experts.

Hahahaha.

To be kind, which is not exactly what I'm feeling at the moment, that dog just won't hunt, Wayne. And seriously. The video game as a source of violence? That's the old Twinkie defense. You know. Everything that happened was somebody else's fault/responsibility. I thought you were for responsible gun ownership. Apparently, you've just deleted the adjective. Fine. The multitude of victims of gun violence deserve better. If they won't get it from you, fine. They'll get it elsewhere.

And suggesting that arming cops would prevent killing is a complete insult. To policemen who have been killed in the line of duty. It's really simple. Armed police are being killed by armed people at an astonishing rate in America. The guns the police are carrying aren't keeping even them alive. So remind me again why having armed police, like they had at Columbine right at the school, or at Virginia Tech, which had the police nearby, is going to safeguard our children? And let's not even think about Fort Hood, where almost everybody was armed, and it did not good to prevent mass murder.

I should add a note of unwanted irony. While Wayne was talking, some guy in Pennsylvania was walking down the road shooting people, including state troopers. Nicely done, Wayne. Nicely done.

How To Honor The Sandy Hook Victims

I am sad. And I am angry. I don't want to debate anything. I don't want to argue. I don't want to hear about the politics. The theories. The ideas. The law. I'm way beyond that.

I have been overwhelmed most of yesterday and today. The idea that 20 little kids have been shot to death in their classroom is staggering. Some of them, I just heard, were shot 7 times. I don't have anything to say. I'm wordless. I'm idealess.

Maybe on Sunday I will be able to write my usual rant and post it. I doubt it. Right now, though, that seems far away and oddly beside the point.

I wish there were something I could do that would comfort those who have lost their children. Or those who lost their parents and spouses.Or those who lost siblings. I wish there were something I could do that would make it be all right. Sadly, there isn't.

So I have decided, while I am sorting out my inner landscape, to make a donation to the Coalition To Stop Gun Violence. I made my donation in honor of the Sandy Hook Elementary Children. There really isn't much else I can do.

Please join me. Because this is the Internet, a small donation, one you won't even feel later on, can provide important resources for the upcoming battle to control gun violence. To prevent further murders of this kind.

I don't ever want to hear again that school children have been killed in their classrooms.

Making a donation seems to me to be a step toward that.