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THE UNITED STATES’ powerful pro-gun lobbying group, the National Rifle Association, has called for armed police or security guards to be deployed to every school in the country.
“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” declared NRA vice-president Wayne LaPierre, in the group’s first public reaction since last week’s massacre of 26 children and staff in an elementary school.
In a combative statement that was briefly disrupted by two protesters bearing banners accusing the group of having blood on its hands, senior NRA leaders made no concession to calls for greater gun control.
YouTube: WSJDigitalNetwork
Instead, they demanded that schools be immediately given armed protection.
“I call on Congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation,” LaPierre said, in a lengthy statement. He took no questions from reporters.
He said the NRA was ready to help train security teams for schools and work with teachers and parents to improve security measures, and attacked the media and the political class for demonising gun owners.
Last Friday, a troubled 20-year-old man burst into an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and gunned down 20 six- and seven-year-old children and six staff members trying to protect them, before taking his own life.
The massacre was only the latest in a series of criminal mass shootings in the United States this year, and prompted President Barack Obama to throw his weight behind plans to revive a ban on assault weapons.
But LaPierre insisted that gun ownership was not at the root of the problem, blaming the deaths instead on a lack of armed security and accusing Hollywood movies and video games of celebrating and promoting a culture of violence.
“You know, five years ago after the Virginia Tech tragedy when I said we should put armed security in every school, the media called me crazy,” he said, referring to a 2007 campus shooting that left 32 people dead.
“But what if, what if when Adam Lanza started shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday he’d been confronted by qualified armed security?” he demanded.
“Will you at least admit it’s possible that 26 little kids – that 26 innocent lives might have been spared that day? Is it so abhorrent to you that you’d rather continue to risk the alternative?”
Wow….it’ll be like clay pigeon shooting with a free mystery prize “)
Old news.. really old news… They spoke about this over a month ago
Welcome to the journal -
It’s news to me, and it’s a column so have a little shush.
It’s a column, not a news item. It even mentions that it was announced a month ago.
It was news on the journal a month ago.
Yeah sure, it’ll obviously be very cost effective to send copies of the new Dan Brown to Leitrim using this delicate drone thingy which kids definetly won’t throw rocks at! Thank you Journal for this glimpse into the future!
I can’t see these ever working in their current format. In the past few weeks I’ve had books and other packages delivered that I’d ordered from the net, if I’d been relying on drones to deliver the same items they’d be somewhere over Eastern Europe by now. While technology is a wonderful thing, sometimes low tech is the best method for a given task. Keep it simple.
I wish they wouldn’t keep droning on and on about it.
Considering trains first got up and running in the early 1800′s, and we can’t even get ours working properly in 2014, not to mention ‘newer’ advances such as 3G and Wi-fi, i don’t think the Irish have anything to be overly concerned regarding drones, our children’s children will have passed on by the time they utilise them properly here
The future of suicide bombing
Also great for drug dealers
The Muricans already use drones to carry out cowardly attacks
How would that be like suicide bombing?
I’m scared !
You’re ok. You live in Antarctica.
Unless he’s an ice-sylum seeker.
Those drones would be nicked if they landed here in Ireland.
Too windy anyway
Jangles is correct, you need a much larger airframe and engine to withstand higher winds, the ones pictures wouldn’t handle even a strong breeze. The drones required to achieve this would be too large to operate effectively within an urban environment.
And they don’t have wind in America?
Sure they’re fulla wind
More likely TAXED …. FLYOVER TAX ….. USE OF AIRSPACE TAX ….. I think I’ll lie down now I’ve a droning in my head
Never mind parcels, when will a drone collect me at my house and drop me off at work?!
What is a robot and what is generally a machine is generally only outlined in Science-Fiction, these drones are simply automated machines and we’ve had automated machines for quite a while. Only to less technically minded people would the line between robot and machine might seem more defined as their only reference is from movies like Star Wars and iRobot.
The only time these technologies become questionable is when we achieve truly self aware AI, and as a software engineer I can tell you that’s a VERY theoretical practice and is, at best, a long way off from being applied to mobile machinery.
What is no more than an expensive self-flying remote control copter (without the remote control of course here) with GPS guidance and basic obstacle sensors is a far cry from self aware AI, but I will say this, it will be pretty cool seeing these things flying all over the place!
Nope.
Tip onward, Journal.ie, this article and subject is two months out of date. Try and keep up, boys and girls!
Try and realise its a column, not a news article, perhaps reading the column where it states this may help.
The US article on this was broadcast two months ago with Charlie Rose. It’s a filler. End of …
It’s an opinion piece. But when you read the headline and proceed straight to comments that tends to go above your head.
Me and my families would have 100′s of heart attacks if we saw these flying overhead in our American neighbourhood ..
Imagine how many of these drones would be vandalised and their pay load stolen if Amazon were to use them for deliveries?
Quadcopter.ie sell them… They made a fortune over Christmas…making a bigger fortune now on repairs with rookie pilots out Stephens day in 60mph winds.
Shades of the Jetsons! I await my first drone delivery from Amazon. But…what it you’re out when the drone calls. I can’t see it being practical just to leave deliveries at the front door.
have your say