← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Hilaire Belloc
Thread ID: 10651 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2003-10-22
2003-10-22 03:35 | User Profile
Gun-control at its most pathetic level! :thumbd:
** [url]http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35178[/url]
Students can't bring gun to firearms class Intercepted by administrators enforcing new 'zero-tolerance' policy
A 12-year-old student who brought his unloaded gun to a firearms-safety course at his public school was met with a surprise when administrators and instructors intercepted him in enforcement of the district's new "zero-tolerance policy."
Nick Ziegeweid had been told to bring his shotgun when he signed up for the class earlier this fall at Winona Middle School in Winona, Minn., the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. But when he arrived on the first day of the Saturday morning course, Oct. 11, the officials reminded him the year-old policy bars students from carrying guns on school grounds, with no exceptions.
The issue has sparked a heated debate in the Mississippi River town, located in one of many rural communities where the firearms course has been conducted through sponsorship of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Last month, the Winona school board rejected a proposal to make an exception for the course.
"It's like teaching a math class without a calculator," Scott Sabotta, the course instructor, told the Minneapolis paper. "The whole point of the class is to save injury or life. In some ways, our hands have been tied with the decision that they made."
Defending the policy, Steve Kranz, chairman of the school board, said, according to the Star Tribune, "We can't pretend that guns don't exist. The question is: Do schools have a role in educating people about firearms?"
The setting for the weekend class is comfortable to the students, some board members say, but supporters of the policy insist school shootings, such as the 1999 Columbine High School attack, provide reason to ban all firearms from school grounds.
"There needs to be some safety zones," Sue Brown, a school board member, told the paper. "And I think a school district and a school building should be held in higher regard than it is. It's a difficult climate; it's a different day and age. Whatever you can do to restrict, restrict."
Just days before the first class, Superintendent Eric Bartleson notified board members of the conflict with the new policy. He said the course could go on using unloaded firearms brought by the instructors, but the students could not bring their own guns.
However, backers of the course argue "hands-on" training is the best way to teach gun safety and ensure the firearms owned by the students are safe, the Star Tribune reported.
"Every gun is a little different, and they should be familiar with it," said Sabotta. "The last thing I want to see is them going out without having a clue on what they are handling."
Board member Peterson argued, according to the Minneapolis daily, "There is not a kid in this country that doesn't know how to shoot a gun."
"They've seen it on TV and in movies thousands and thousands of times," he said. "We're not teaching shooting. We're teaching safe handling of firearms."
Some board members have suggested moving the course off school grounds, but Peterson says that would require a fee the cash-strapped district cannot afford.
"What is the district's responsibility?" he asked, the Star Tribune reported. "To provide meaningful education to the community. And this, I think, is a very useful and valuable part of providing education in the community." **
Kranz, sounds Jewish doesn't it?
2003-10-22 13:00 | User Profile
"There needs to be some safety zones," Sue Brown, a school board member, told the paper. "And I think a school district and a school building should be held in higher regard than it is. It's a difficult climate; it's a different day and age. Whatever you can do to restrict, restrict."
Typical [B]female[/B] response.
2003-10-25 02:04 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Yukon]The school should stick to teaching the 3R's and let the wackos in the NRA teach them how to kill people.[/QUOTE]
I take umbrage at that last remark. The people who populate the NRA are, for the most part, decent folks who are tired of getting pidgeonholed and stereotyped (like calling them 'wackos'). If anything, they are made up of white, blue collar working class Archie Bunkers trying to stop what they see (and rightly so) as an unending attack against their 2nd Amendment rights. Whether the NRA was founded to do that, evolved into it's present role, or actually does that has nothing to do with who makes up the NRA. [B]I'M[/B] in the NRA. They might be NeoCon's, but I'd live next door to any one of them at any time rather than some puling, whiney Suzy-soccermom type who has her head so far up her ass she knows what she is going to eat next week. At least you can change a NeoCon's mind with enough effort. Can't do that with some vapid 30 year old button pusher with 3 latch-key kids.
I am 36, but I can remember back in the 70's, walking to school with a .22 over my shoulder and nobody thought much of anything about it. I stored it in the [I]coatroom[/I], if you can believe that. Used to pot squirrels on the way home.. also turtles in a neighbor's pond (they kept killing his ducks). I made a dime a head on the turtles. But I digress.
I would love to see more program's like this in our schools. First thing I did when my son was old enough to ask "What's in there daddy?" was to open the gun safe, make triple sure that ALL of them were not only unloaded, but disabled as well (I pull bolts and firing pins and separate them into different areas of the house, not only ensuring that my son will be unable to operate one [I]IF[/I] he can defeat the locks and safe, but to royally piss off anyone who might want to steal any of them. Not much good if they don't go bang), and let him go through them to his heart's content. He never pesters me to see them or to handle them. I satisfied his curiosity, instilled a healthy respect for them and hopefully, he will follow in my footsteps. There are not enough fathers out there that do things like that. If the schools really, really want to act as big brother/babysitter/nanny/parents, then they should take it upon themselves to promote good firearms handling skills. Professionals are predictable, but the world is full of amateurs. I'd rather be standing next to someone who actually has a bit of formal education, thank you, than some feckless kid who has no clue if the pistol he found in the gutter is loaded or not, on safe or not, and decides to sweep me with the muzzle a couple of times before sticking it in his backpack.
I'm not even going to address the issue of school shootings. I know why they happen, and it's [I]NOT[/I] because of firearms. I consider it a dead letter.
Ausonius