Bright ideas for curbing gun violence in our schools

Recently two bright ideas have bubbled up in response to the almost weekly gunshot deaths that we hear from college campuses around the country. While the right solution will involve legislating the use of firearms and slowly purging it from private possession (I know you are rolling your eyes by now), these newly minted solutions seem to compete with each other for originality, flair, cowardice and a singular prevalence of tunnel vision.

From the actual article here.

The classroom building at Northern Illinois University where a gunman killed five students and himself in February will be demolished and replaced, state officials said Wednesday. “Symbolically, the gesture is that we are moving on and we are healing,” said Melanie Magara, a spokeswoman for the university, which is in DeKalb. “And we are doing so in such a way that hopefully adds to the student experience.” Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich said he would ask state lawmakers to approve $40 million to pay for the demolition and rebuilding project.

Instead of asking lawmakers to enact legislation to curb the possession of weapons, they have asked for millions of dollars to pay for tearing down the site and building anew in the hopes that this will bring in 'peace and healing'. I guess when the next shooting happens, they just tear down that building and build another one in its place - hey, we need peace and healing, right... Judging by the rate of fatal shootings per month in our campuses, I suspect that colleges around the country will be going through some kind of a building construction boom.

The second solution goes even further. From article here:

Horrified by recent campus shootings, State Senator Karen S. Johnson of Arizona has come up with a proposal in keeping with the Taurus .22-caliber pistol tucked in her purse: Get more guns on campus. The lawmaker has sponsored a bill, which the Senate Judiciary Committee approved last week that would allow people with a concealed weapons permit — limited to those 21 and older here— to carry their firearms at public colleges and universities.

I guess this statement gets the prize:

She initially wanted her bill to cover all public schools, kindergarten and up, but other lawmakers convinced her it stood a better chance of passing if it were limited to higher education.

If the bill had got through as she had originally planned, kindergarten kids would have seen their backpacks weighed down by their assigned magnums and colts they would have been legally allowed to carry to their nurseries and daycare locations.

If other states follow suit, very soon we will be heading down the slippery slope of making bulletproof vests and battle gear mandatory for school and college attendance all around the country. Not to mention of Wild West type gunfights that we shall see erupting in the dorm, during recess and the cafeteria.