Tool up the knidergartners..its good for the dumb economy.

A Glock in every kid’s luchbox is our mission statement…bringing you a safe secure childhood..this public service announcement was brought to you by the NRA, Not Really Arsed (as long as we’re turning over product) .

It certainly is insane, next they will ask to arm all children of walking age. Nuts, crazy, mad and the NRA.

If a teacher shows up armed, then surely that’s what the *armed police officers* are for?
Seriously, at least read the story once…

By the way, I love how we have a hundred comments here decrying the Americans, the NRA and talking about how guns are the only problem they have and how the answer’s so easy….

…and then the first comment on almost all the stories about Irish gangland shootings on here are variations on “good enough for them, one less to worry about”.

And not one person’s ironymeter goes off the scale…

Mark, read his comment fully! They’ve suggested arming teachers is what he’s getting at! If the guard/cop is at the front of the school and the armed teacher starts shooting off Inside my guess is plenty will be dead before the cop can do anything!

Terence:

every Marlboro school will have an armed, uniformed Marlboro Township police officer.

And the NRA didn’t say to arm teachers. That was the GOA, a far smaller, far more wacky organisation. The NRA said to provide armed security guards in the schools the way they do for banks and malls, the way we do on the continent here for airports, banks, streets and so forth (seriously, outside of Ireland and the UK, armed police are a fairly normal thing that doesn’t freak anyone out).

There’s nobody on any side of this over there that’s rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of armed guards of any kind in schools – both sides have kids in school y’know – but as a stopgap measure…

…well, put it this way. If you had to live there and you had to send your kids to school there, and there were so many school shootings going on, would you say “I believe in the ideal, we don’t need any guards in my kids’ school” or would you just say nothing and feel uncomfortable that your kids were at risk but want any stopgap measure you could get until someone figured out how to solve this thing?

Speaking as a father, I’d take the latter, even though I wouldn’t *want* either choice at all.

BTW, the last research into all of this (and we’re going back the guts of a decade here, to 2004) was done by the CDC and they found things had not advanced since the National Academy of Science had reviewed the research into gun control and the statement was still the same – they don’t know how to fix it. Not “more guns is better”, not “fewer guns is better”, but an out-and-out “everything we have tried hasn’t worked and none of the proposed solutions from either side passes muster and our research into this is woeful and we need better studies”. When those guys (who aren’t even close to the NRA’s pocket) are saying that, maybe putting armed police into schools and heavily funding research into better solutions wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.

It definitely wouldn’t qualify as a crackpot idea, not in the situation they find themselves in.

MARK DENNEHY. HITTING NAILS ON THEIR HEADS.

exactly Mark. people comment without reading. at no stage did they mention armed teachers. it’s about have police in schools and police are all armed anyway. they just read a headline and half a paragraph and can’t wait to comment. They call them naysayers. The ones with that less than desirable Irish love to whine and moan and complain. They seek it out. If a man does a school shooting its all ” oh he is rotten animal” but if the cops shot him first it would be preventatively it would be “ah police brutality”.. NaTion of barstool politicians unfortunately.

Murt and Mark,

So lets just say someone wants to shoot up a school.
Would they (a) go in all guns blazing and more than likely get shot dead by the armed officer or (b) take out the armed officer with a telescopic lens and then walk in unhindered to murder more kids.
Do you think having an armed officer on school premises will stop some nut with a gun from trying this? Having armed cops on the streets in the US doesn’t prevent street shootings.

Andrew, its a mentally disturbed person (and probably a teenage student from the history of these things) that they’re trying to defend against here, not Jason Bourne.

Mark, you don’t need to be Jason Bourne to realise that you should take out the armed officer first. Even a mentally disturbed person would know that. It’s the easy accessibility to guns that needs to be looked at, not turning kindergardens, schools and colleges into mini Camp Bastions.

Andrew,
(a) surely preventing mentally disturbed people from carrying out mass killings is best tackled by better mental healthcare, since other nations have nowhere near the problem the US has despite having very similar or higher numbers of firearms in private hands;
(b) do you think the police, who were trained in the use of firearms and who’ve spent their professional lives working in an environment where people might shoot at them, have thought of this at all?

Agreed! Also lets hope all the Police posted at these schools are of sound mind!

Like never getting out of bed in case you get hit by a bus

Land of the freeeeee!

me arse

V. MAD.

When solutions are unfortunately so far away, temporary solutions are necessary. And when our 5 yr old babies lives are at stake, every and any solution to keeping them safe and well is fine by me.. Come near my family in a remotely threatening manner and I hope it’s my 45 you get to feel in the front of your face for that half second

America is not the only place with sick and weird people . There are just as sick people over here especially does who steal dead peoples names and photos without a care in the world for the family or relatives of the person involved .
I do think organisations like the Journal should take at least some moral responsibility and ban that carry on …

You could have had a go on any other article jerry, I comment on a lot of them but to have a rant on this particular one is bad taste, but your one of declans mates and im not surprised.
there is a level i will not stoop to put down muppets like you
i use the mans name out of respect and to remember that there was once decent politicians in this country and i make no apologies
NO blueshirt gombeen i fixed the roads will ever tell me what i can and cant do

What’s your hang up !

Meant for jerry

Frank Cluskey

Gun laws to one side, its about deep rooted norms which are set in the culture, the US was built on ‘Guns and God’ read what the Tea Party have to say about the right to defend their home and country.
Reactive communities who believe in the right to own and use guns, like owning a washing machine !
so where do you start to change these people ?? what part of their society do you start with when re educating
them.
would love some good comments on the subject.

Richard your 100% right but tell that to the gunman.. Think about it man. The reality is there’s gotta be a way to stop a gunman in a school snit unfortunately DOES happen. Whats your alternative?? There are 300 million guns in America and as much as I would love if they were never invented the reality is they are out there. You can’t deal with serious realistic problems with sugar and spice and all things nice.

NOBODY EVEN SUGGESTED GIVING TEACHERS GUNS. I WISH I COULD GIVE YOU A TEACHER, SO YOU COULD LEARN TO READ..IT’S POLICE IN SCHOOLS WHO ARE ALREADY ARE ALL ARMED ANYWAY. IT’S CALLED READING, DOME COMMENT AFTER HALF A PARAGRAPH AND STOP EMBARRASSING YOURSELF GOOD LAD..

You should learn how to write and spell.

M U R T :

The main gun rights lobby, the National Rifle Association, says that the best way forward is to arm teachers — a strategy that has found favor in some western states, including Utah.

T H E A B O V E P A R A G R A P H I S F R O M T H E A B O V E A R T I C L E.

Ps Your own use of the English language should be somewhat embarrassing to yourself.

Again I agree 100% Richard but the topic at hand is “how to deal with a shooter who is actually standing in a school yard with the intention of killing”. Legislation being passed won’t stop a Looney from pulling a trigger.. There a 300 million illegal guns in America already so legislation will take 300 years to become effective. Until then, if someone enters my kids school yard, armed to the teeth then I hope they out lead in his head before he has time to fart.

because nobody has ever been shot in Ireland over the last forty years !

Maith an buachaill Sean..

Bunch o clowns here who never left the bog in their lives and they passin American gun laws on Journal.ie.. Everyone’s a politician on a barstool..

Thank you Donna. Good to see another person with a brain on here.

I agree that on the surface it can’t do any harm and, as a father, if I lived in the US I would probably be happier if my kids school had armed protection. However I think the problem people have with this is that its just an escalation of the problem rather than a long term solution. I think the solution to nutters with guns is not to put more guns into schools ( be they in the hands of cops or teachers) but to have less guns available to these nutters in the first place. Problem is that the genie is well and truly out of that bottle in the US already.

Ahh now your getting it Gavin. You must have tried on someone else’s shoes. Good lad..

Murt who is the other intelligent Person on here besides Donna?

This might be a bit if a curve ball but if someone was going to shoot up a school with an armed guard, would they not just shoot the guard first?! I think it’s fair to say there are a lot of crazy people who are far from stupid

I have no interest in guns, I don’t see their purpose and as much as I think this is an escalation of the problem – it’s the best temporary measure they’ve got.

It’s not a long term solution though, and really they need to start being a bit more honest about the contributing factors. An alarmingly high rate of these mass murder suicides are conducted by people taking drugs which list violence and suicide as side effects, alongside psychosis, mania and dissociation. This – combined with ease of access to deadly weapons, is a recipe for disaster. But it doesn’t just have to be guns, a young man in Bray only had to drive to Cornelscourt to purchase a kitchen knife with which to stab his ex girlfriends friend to death, injure her and then kill himself. We aren’t rushing to ban kitchen knives, and our courts ruled that the drugs were to blame.

Meanwhile in the states, after each shooting the news ask whether it was the new shoot em up video game, the latest violent movie or weird looking rock star that was to blame, the debate rages on about the right to bear arms vs tighter gun controls, while during the ad break they suggest you go get yourself a prescription for some of what the shooter was having..

It’s a far more complex problem than just banning the guns. I’ll never understand this weird urge to want them, but sadly it is true – Americans will never give them up.

RICHARD, I WANTED TO SAYING HOPE YOUR FACED WITH THE SITUATION SOMEDAY BUT I WOULDN’T WISH IT ON ANYONE. BUT PUT YOURSELF IN THOSE KIDS PARENTS SITUATION. CA’LL ME NAMES ALL YOU WANT BUT YOU KNOW I’M RIGHT. THERE ARE ALREADY A MILLION LAWS AGAINST THIS STUFF. UNFORTUNATELY THE GATES ALREADY OPEN AND THE HORSES ARE ALREADY OUT. I WANNA ROUND EM UP, YOU WANNA SHUT THE GATE BUT YOUR TOO LATE. IT’S NOT A PREVENTION OF GUNS THING WHEN THEIR ARE 300 MILLION ILLEGAL GUNS ALREADY, IT’S A PROTECTION OF THE MOST VULNERABLE. HATE GUNS BUT YOU CAN’T FIGHT IMMEDIATE GUN FIRE WITH CALLS TO YOUR LOCAL TD. THE LAWS ARE SHAMEFULLY WRONG AND RIDICULOUSLY LEGISLATION WILL TAKE YEARS CAUSE POLITICIANS DO THIS CRAP CALLED “POLITICS” WHICH RUINS LIVES OF THE ELECTORATE AND IRONICALLY GETS IN THE WAY OF ACTUAL POLITICS. BUT AM I WRONG TO WANT MY KIDS PROTECTED FROM MENTALLY ERATIC GUNMEN BY POLICE UNTIL THEN. ANSWER THIS HONESTLY. MAN UP, CUT THE HIPPIE CRAPS YOU READ SOMEWHERE AND THINK IT SOUNDS SMART. DO YOUR OWN THINKING, IF SOMEONE TRIED TO KILL ANY CHILD I HOPE YOU’D WANT HIM TO DIE FIRST. IF YOU LIE, THEN GOD FORGIVE YA, AND IF YOU DISAGREE WITHOUT A BETTER REALISTIC PLAN TO PROTECT INNOCENT CHILDREN FROM A GUNMAN WHO’S SECONDS AWAY FROM BLOWING THEIR LITTLE HEADS OFF JUST FOR BEING THERE, THEN THEN I HOPE HE NEVER FORGIVES YA AND YOU ROT IN HELL ALONG WITH YOUR TRIGGER HAPPY BABY KILLING BUDDY BUDDY.. LONG STORY SHORT, IF YOU WANNA KILL KIDS I HOPE YOU GET KILLED FIRST.

And while were being realistic, I left Ireland in the middle of the boom cause I’m smart. I employ 37 people here and I spending my most time either golfing, ridin, cruising in my new 350 pickup or in Florida at my other house. Oh and travelling the world with my amazing American girl..

You sure you didn’t stay cause your the Muppet.. hahaha

how much your dole these days.???

THANK YOU SEAN CASSIDY. I’VE BEEN SAYING THAT ALL DAY BUT APPARENTLY DUE TO THE GENERAL OPINION ON HERE I THINK MOST IRISH PEOPLE, FACED WITH THE PROSPECT OF HAVING THEIR SON OR DAUGHTER SHOT FOR NO REASON AT ALL SEEM TO CLAIM THEIR REACTION WOULD BE TO CALL THEIR LOCAL TD.. ME PERSONALLY, HATE HATE HATE GUNS BUT IF YOU WANNA SHOOT MY CHILD SHOT FIRST.. OUR FRIENDS PETER AND MART N AND THE LIKE WOULD CALL ON MING MICK WALLACE.. I’M IRISH AND WE ARE A SUPER BREED OF PEOPLE BUT ALL STEREOTYPES COME FROM SOMEWHERE AND I NOW KNOW WHERE THE “THICK MICK” ONE COMES FROM. BUT IT GET BETTER. THEY WILL CONTINUE TO ARGUE BECAUSE, YOU GUESSED IT, THEY ARE THICK MICKS.

And for a child to see a police officer in a school is no different from seeing them on the street or in a mall.
Btw all police officers are armed. So your headline is misleading.

If the U.S. government were to place one armed officer in each school in America, it would cost almost $5 billion dollars ($50,000 a year for each officer, not including benefits or other costs), and even at that it would not guarantee every child’s safety, plus what if the armed officer decided to start shooting the children himself, or simply became unstable over time due to issues in his life? There are far too many things that could go wrong in a situation like that.

Liam, it’s very rare that police officers go on shooting sprees. Being in a school or not makes no difference.
Besides police officers can be seen outside schools in their patrol cars from time to time anyway.
Let me stress here that I have no time for the NRA or Wayne lapierre or their ideas.
I don’t get the red thumbs here.

If they are police officers, and they are armed, then they are armed police officers. How is that misleading ?

Because All police are armed anyway. This just make for a better headline.

Yes. I agree, it’s a better headline, but I still say its not misleading

But on the topic, my opinion is that armed police officers will not solve Americas gun problem. Only a complete rethink of gun controller will go towards solving it. Not just controll of future distribution of guns, but on top of that, confiscation of inappropriately held existing guns.

muppet

In what way?..

I would be careful making comments against certain posts on this topic Terence as the Journal staff on will delete it, an as a Irishman some comments earlier would to me border on racist !

After Ireland, then Villa..

I fail to see what is racist in my comment, possibly being generalist in my comment yes and unfair to Americans but to the wider world they aren’t showing themselves to be the most rational!! Murt, it seems you may have something against the country of your birth, fair play though for getting out and getting sorted! Villa are a laughing stock but you can’t help who you support!!

Sorry Terence it was not mean for u but our other friends rants earlier and I place it wrong ( middle of the night ) I had also commented on his Mick statements in terms he would understand but Journal staff deleted it and had not the b@@lls to comment. The modern version of the black marker
I think

No problem rmcd86, the journal is fast turning into a breeding ground/platform for trolls, language disgraceful

*introduce (not ontroduct)

ban guns AND the nra?? now that’s really stepping it up.

Murt The Troll Hunt

David the Dik Sherman.. See I can pretend to be a 4yr old too..Flute

well Murt Hunt:
we have our faults,
but we don’t scream that we have a right to the latest model of Bushmaster, or whatever,
cause some ol geezers who owned slaves, & who’re in their graves for two centuries, dictated that we should have one, in the interest of Freedom !!!

i know more about a Bushmaster than your ……. ahem ….. founding fathers.
i saw a picture of one
those geezers would think it was the latest design of a whip !!!

For someone with such a low opinion of Irish people and their opinions on this and that you seem to be spending an awful lot of time on here reading and responding to them! If we are such fools why are you bothered what we think?

My god Michael read my posts before “assuming” what I mean. I’m from Ireland so my “forefathers” are the same as yours so go easy on them fellas.. Also your repeating what I’m saying but just dumbed it down..

I’m from Ireland Gavin and i left cause its awful haha..Ironically though for someone with such a low opinion on American ways and opinions and you too are spending a lot of time talking about it..

Look Murt, I think you might be mistaking some of these comments as critical attack on American society. It’s more to do with bewilderment at the outrageous acceptance of guns. I cant believe you think that the continued belief that more guns is going to solve the problem of gun crime and gun related deaths. Can you not see the paradox. Yes we as a society allowed the terrible abuse of children by the church and have now thankfully exposed the trauma and i might remind you America also suffered similar atrocities. I have visited America many times and have found it a welcoming and I wish to visit again, but please don’t let the NRA hijack it on behalf of the profit of the arms industry.

I’VE SAID 100 TIMES I HATE GUNS. BUT IF TIMMY THE LOONEY IS IN MY KIDS SCHOOLYARD LOOKIN TO SHOOT PEOPLE ON TUESDAY, I WANT HIM SHOT IN THE HEAD BEFORE IT HAPPENS. THAT’S ALL. START PASSING YOUR LEGISLATION, I HOPE IT WORKS I REALLY DO HOPE THE MAKE GUNS EXTINCT BUT UNTIL IT’S PASSED AND UNTIL IT ACTUALLY WORKS THEN INNOCENT CHILDREN NEED AND DESERVE TO BE SAFE IN SCHOOLS. THAT’S ALL.

Legislation will take 5 years to get through government and 300 years to be effectively applied since there are 300 million ILLEGAL guns on the streets already. Until they figure out the solution and I’m against guns but I’m all for shooting the shooters first.

@ Murt, it does appear that you genuinely believe that having armed police officers in schools is a practical solution. In fairness, if that is your belief no reason or logic will displace your view.

It seems to me that if you favour armed police in schools as a solution, then you need to implement that more widely and extensively. Churches, hospitals, sports stadia, political rallies, parades, and all places of human congregation will need armed guards. Perhaps every housing estate and apartment building needs armed policemen. Beaches,, swimming pools, cinemas, nightclubs, postal sorting offices and such places need armed policemen and they need heavy calibre, high velocity weapons for maximum lethality. Gun clubs will need armed policemen and department stores need a few armed police as well. Each street in a town or major city needs armed policemen. I think that neighbourhood watchmen need to be armed and all clerics of all faiths should have armed escorts when administering religious ceremonies.

PTAs, junior soccer matches, baseball, softball, athletics and other sporting events need a large cohort of armed guards.

I am warming to your idea. Let’s say you go into a pub or a restaurant. You take out your gun or guns, place them on the table and be ready to be the first to draw at the first indication of trouble. Multiply the police forces a hundred fold, every bus, train and plane should have armed guards like the Wild West stage coaches. Parents could rotate in school each week to back up the armed police and there could be a cordon sanitaire around schools and other places in order to intercept would be gun killers.

There are 310 million guns in the USA, possibly more, but the challenge is to take the guns out of lockers, attics and stores and make sure that the guns are everywhere.

I have a dream! Let the USA be the first fully armed society. Everyone at a wedding, funeral or baptism should be armed and we could give new meaning to the shotgun wedding. The fully armed society is a safe society. Once everyone is armed to the teeth no one will want to use their guns because of the deterrent effect.

Yeahaa guns for everyone and the pesky varmints will be afraid to attack us.

@ Murt, chuckling! You are so highly intelligent, so wonderfully articulate, so logical and so highly rational that this dumb little man is unable to comprehend your superior intelligence. I bow in awe of you. Are you truly human or a superior intelligence sent to enlighten us?

All 100% true Peter. Whilst trying to be a sarcastic ass you accidentally hit the nail on the head :-)

Murt Hunt, you are a rather excitable in your upper case posts and in your argumentative style.

You avoid the substance of the points made in reply to you and resort to mere invective. You do realise that you further discredit your weak, even lame arguments, in so doing.

Your style of expression is somewhat ballistic and exclamatory.