'Call me crazy,' for wanting armed police in schools, NRA chief says

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
12/23/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Federal funds should train school guards to protect schools in the United States, LaPierre claims

National Rifle Association Chief Wayne LaPierre, speaking on TV's Meet the Press for the first time since the Newton, Connecticut shootings, argued that armed guards should be at the nation's schools.

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre argued that the U.S. is now spending $2 billion to train police officers in Iraq and asked why federal funds could not be spent to train school guards to protect schools in the United States.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "If it's crazy to call for putting police in and securing our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy," LaPierre told NBC's David Gregory. "I think the American people think it's crazy not to do it. It's the one thing that would keep people safe and the NRA is going try to do that."

LaPierre argued that the U.S. is now spending $2 billion to train police officers in Iraq and asked why federal funds could not be spent to train school guards to protect schools in the United States.

When LaPierre was asked about restricting the size of ammunition magazine or clips, he said, "I don't believe that's going to make one difference. There are so many different ways to evade that, even if you had that. You had that for 10 years when (Sen.) Dianne Feinstein passed that ban in '94. It was on the books. Columbine occurred right in the middle of it - it didn't make any difference."

The author of the 1994 ban, Feinstein restricted types of semiautomatic firearms which expired in 2004. She has announced that she will introduce new legislation early next year. Semiautomatic firearms, including semiautomatic weapons sometimes called "assault weapons," fire one round per pull of the trigger.

"I know there's a media machine in this country that wants to blame guns every time something happens," LaPierre said. He said that an armed guard might have been able to stop Adam Lanza, the killer in Connecticut.

"If I'm a mom or a dad and I'm dropping my child off at school I'd feel a whole lot safer" if there were trained armed security guards or police protecting the school from people such as Lanza, LaPierre said. He did admit that "nothing is perfect" as a deterrent against crime.

"We have a mental health system in this country that has completely and totally collapsed. We have no national database of these lunatics," LaPierre said. He noted that the de-institutionalization of the mentally ill had put too many dangerous people on the streets of America.

"We have a completely cracked mentally ill system that's got these monsters walking the streets," LaPierre said.

LaPierre further argued that many states do not put their records of the mentally ill into the national instant check system that is designed to screen out convicted criminals and the mentally ill from buying guns.

"If you want to control violent criminals, take them off the street," LaPierre added.

He firmly opposed curbs on private gun sales and contended that the advocates of stringent restrictions on such sales want to put "every gun sale under the thumb of the federal government."

Guards who are trained to carry weapons are the only answer to further Newton massacres, Pierre maintains. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

� 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: NRA, Wayne LaPierre, Meet the Press, Newton, school, guards

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1 - 10 of 27 Comments

judy claar
4 months ago
Vance, Regarding your post of one day ago: I vehemently concur! I have seen it's destruction first hand. I am abhorred by them (violent games and movies) and what the end result can be in some cases. I think that there should be a petition/s against this! I would certainly do my part of the walking. How else do we peaceful people combat this issue? This is most serious. First we are killing off the planet. Now we are killing off our youth by warping their minds! They Do Not even have to go to War! They Do Not even have to be Aborted!

We have so many violent issues in our country it behooves me. Yes, I am thankful for All the good that is around me. It is not that. It falls to those of us that are responsible adults. !t seems to me, that we should exercise our rights to change evil to good. It seems to me that if certain parents cannot do the proper parenting that they should, regarding this matter, then it is obvious that we, put this to the ballot, to be stopped, toned down, and /or, if all we can get is a modification in age requirement, then so be it. At least we tried.

I would first ask you here on the board your thoughts. I do not think that this matter sways from the topic. It might or might not, be actually be part of the real cause. WE are not given enough information to know. Prayerful Blessings...
vance
4 months ago
KarlVDH, I'm talking about reigning your Hollywood and video game guys' production of graphic violent movies and games. This is the crud that is warping the minds of our youth. Those individuals who are on the fringe are those who draw their motivation from violent entertainment to "Get Back" at someone or society for their real or imagined being victimized. The Obama voters are in denial. They think video games that allow the player to cut heads and limbs off don't matter. This rot desensitizes our youth as they are entertained by glorified violence. If you want to ban something, ban this.
vance
4 months ago
We all need to wake up and smell the coffee. We are now living in times of terrorism both foreign and domestic. There are Muslim terrorists waiting to take their turn at killing innocent people who are shopping or sitting in a classroom. There are young "sicko's" who have been conditioned by Hollywood violent movies and Video Game graphic violence to be desensitized to the value of life and to glorify violence. These sicko's act out their fantasies on society. As our society becomes more Godless the more people there are out of reach of Church influence. Godless people do Godless acts.
KarlVDH
4 months ago
No, Vance. Neither the MPs NOR the DOD Police had any of their weapons on lockdown by this or any White House.
It just didn't happen like that. The truth is the security response time just wasn't fast enough... and it could never have BEEN. Hood is a HUGE base.
And, what you're saying boggles the mind... Hollywood and games?
you'd ban the fake guns in order to keep the real ones?
How come you never think anyone's responsible for their own behavior unless it suits your politics?
Mark
4 months ago
While I am sorry for those that died and all those effected, I am not surprised. This will happen again, and again, and again in America and all over the world. The NRA is never going to back down - they are not capable of backing down. And even if guards were placed in schools the attacks will continue in shopping malls, sporting events, churches, etc.

Remember this classic verse from scripture:

Matthew 26:52
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

We simply need to trust in God and be thankful for each day we are alive and safe.
vance
4 months ago
KarlVDH, yes you are right, the truth is the truth. The Policewoman who shot the Muslim terrorist at Fort Hood "WAS NOT AN MP". The question "Where were the armed guards?" quickly came up after the shooting. Upon investigation, Fort Hood locked down their weapons via White House directive. This latest school shooting should be a wake-up call for all of us to post more armed security around our school campuses. It should also be a wake-up call to reign in Hollywood and Video Game Industry graphic violence.
Emma
4 months ago
Yes there is. Access the DOJ or FBI Websites. There just is no news coverage. Why? Because there's not enough carnage to satisfy the voyeuristic appetite of the public! Ever heard of community policing? Where the officers interact with the public? It's the same at many of the schools in CA. The students and officers are cooperating in keeping the schools safe. The only ones who are uncomfortable with them being on school grounds are the ones who are aggressive and disruptive or who are not supposed to be there to begin with.
Jeffrey Caperton
4 months ago
Emma,

In answer to your question about "ivory towers are so willing to force their ideology on the rest of the populace", I would prefer their ideology at the moment because they are less visceral at the moment and I have rarely heard rational solutions offered by the "rest of the populace" in these situations. I am as visceral as the next person, but my standard response to violence does not always include more violence. Your only response thus far has been more guns and, hence, more violence.

If the freedom to carry arms is the solution to everything, we are not really free. I would quote Jesus' response to those who take up the sword, but I fear it would be useless here.
KArlVDH
4 months ago
And yet, the truth is the truth. There's no real historic or anecdotal evidence to suggest armed security would prevent anything from happening.
Emma
4 months ago
You're trapped in a building with a crazed gunman. Which thought do you suppose would go through your mind: A. This person lacks problem solving skills. B. We need stricter gun control laws. C. I wish I had a gun.? BTW...the DOD police referred to are a civilian police force. Sweet! Civilians needed to protect soldiers on base. Also had higher ups heeded the warnings and listened to the concerns regarding the Fort Hood Shooter re. his ties to radical Islamists, Fort Hood would have never happened. This was an act of terrorism. Once again, our government failed in its responsibilities. Are we to trust that they will protect the common citizen when they didn't act to protect military personnel? This was very different than the Sandy Hook Case. In the Sandy Hook shootings, innocents were targeted.

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