Thursday, January 17, 2013
Is the President an Elitist Hypocrite?
Does this sound like a fair criticism to you? To me it sounds like sour grapes.
For one thing, the president's kids don't attend schools where the teachers and janitors are armed. They have the standard Secret Service detail protecting them, and for good reason. For another thing, many schools have armed guards but they usually are not able to prevent the tragedies.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
So the 11 guards at the school that the President's children attend (NOT the Secret Service personnel) don't count? I have heard reports that they are armed as well. It is those guards that the NRA ad was refering to.
ReplyDeleteYou're talking like no schools have guards and the president has promised to keep it that way. Didn't you hear in all the discussions lately that one-third of schools already do, including the famous VA Tech and Columbine in the days of their mass shootings?
DeleteMikeb, why do you keep trying to be deceptive? The "guards" at Columbine weren't employees of the school, and they were outside. Virginia Tech is a large campus.
DeleteWhat does the size of the campus have to do with anything. If anything it proves our point that armed guards aren't usually able to help.
DeleteQuit being dense. The large space of a college campus with a tiny number of security personnel shows the danger of relying on law enforcement only. Armed teachers would provide much more safety.
DeleteAnd, since those events, there has been a widespread change in tactical response training. Have you factored that into your thoughts about this?
ReplyDeleteI won't engage in name calling the President names. I will say that given the security he and his family enjoy (which I do not begrudge him), his stance comes across as less than sincere.
ReplyDeleteObama's children deserve to be protected, but those of the rest of America, outside of the well-connected, do not? Speaking of the well-connected, David Gregory's children go to the same school as Obama's. Gregory is well-connected enough not to get arrested and charged with violating D.C.'s gun laws.
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing smacks of elitist hypocrisy. Rules for thee, but not for me is fundamentally un-American.
Yes, to answer the question. Obama is an elitist hypocrite. Anyone who says he isn't is also a hypocrite and a liar.
ReplyDeleteorlin sellers
MikeB wrote, "For one thing, the president's kids don't attend schools where the teachers and janitors are armed."
ReplyDeleteNewsflash: very few schools have armed teachers and janitors. First of all, almost all states criminalize any teacher, staff, or parent who carries firearms into schools -- even people with concealed handgun carry licenses. (The most notable exception is Utah and recently Mississippi if you take additional training.)
Second of all, even if state law did not get in the way, most school districts prohibit their teachers and staff from carrying firearms into school.
Thus there are no armed teachers, staff, or parents in almost all schools in the U.S. (That's what makes them attractive locations for mass murder!)
Now for the contradiction. The elitists in our country say that everyone's children can have armed protection in the form of expensive dedicated law enforcement officers and armed guards. Of course only the elitists can afford such armed protection. Thus there is a de-facto ban on armed protection for "common" children.
I should also point out that elitists and citizen disarmament advocates claim that the risk of attack is so tiny that no one needs armed protection ... and yet their children need armed protection.
You're wrong about the common children. Many schools do have armed guards.
DeleteFine, let's have the president's children and the children of David Gregory protected at the same level as children in an inner-city school.
DeleteReality check #1: The children of the President of the United States require stronger protection because of obvious reasons (risk of kidnapping or assassination due to their father being a world leader), which obviously is different from the children of the average citizen.
ReplyDeleteReality check #2: The Secret Service detail for his children are not the same as some local yokel "volunteer" who has a conceal carry license and maybe a little bit of training, as suggested being used by LaPierre and Hutchinson in their little media spectacle, or "deployed" around schools by that sheriff in Arizona. IF there are armed guards at that school outside of the Secret Service, I imagine that they, too, are better trained too (most likely contracted security).
Reality Check #3: Yes, some schools already have armed guards, but those schools got those guards because of a demonstrated need due to incidents that occurred, not out of paranoid fear. The vast majority of schools have never demonstrated a need, nor likely ever will demonstrate a need, for armed interference.
Reality Check #4: It's pretty low, even for the NRA, to drag the President's kids into the political fray. It's a sign of desperation.
Reality Check #5: Having an armed guard at a school has never stopped a school shooting in the few instances where they've had a chance (such as Columbine).
Reality Check #6: Having an armed guard at a school only treats the symptom (stopping the "bad guy with a gun" - usually a kid who got it from his parents' closet -- only *after* they've gotten the gun), instead of treating the causes of the problem (easy access to guns, poor parenting, mental health problems).
#1 So Gun Free Zones are not safer. Check
Delete#2 The Oregonian loves guns in the hands of government which classifies him as a gun loon. Check.
#3. The Obama children's school, Sidwell Friends School has never had an 'incident' which would require armed personnel, so we can ditch the armed Secret Service agents. Check.
#4. The facts are not to be shared. Check.
#5. The Secret Service is of no value to protect the Obama children at school. Check
#6. Having the Secret Service at the school the Obama children attend is only treating the symptoms. Check.
I've got it, schools should and shouldn't be Gun Free Zones and people should and shouldn't be armed.
orlin sellers
1. Where in the Constitution is the president defined as a king? We are all equal under the law, and we all have the same rights.
Delete2. Which concealed carry class have you taken? If none, what evidence do you have about the standards and what students learn?
3. Since you admit that school shootings are rare, why are you wanting anything to be done?
4. Obama dragged in children too. Was he "low" in doing that?
5. Quit lying. Those armed persons at Columbine were outside and not school employees. An armed teacher inside would have had a much better chance at stopping the event.
6. How exactly do you propose to solve those problems--including one thing that isn't a problem, namely easy access to guns--in an effective manner that doesn't infringe on the rights of good citizens?
#5 A recent example of the invalidity of your statement...An armed female school resource officer stopped an armed intruder at her school and held him at bay until additional police arrived. Result...one criminal shot and no kids harmed.
ReplyDelete#6 I'm an advocate of teaching kids the proper respect for firearms and firearm safety in schools. Of course, it would have to be an elective course because namby pamby liberal parents would have a conniption if their precious children were exposed to any information about guns. We had gun safety classes when I went to school...in California, no less.