School Shooting Drills in Kindergarten? - Our Kids New Reality

Every time I hear a news headline about another school shooting I just get so angry that we allow this to happen.  That we cannot do something to reduce the number of guns that get into the hands of nut-bugs who think its worth 15 minutes of fame to walk into a school of defenseless children with guns in hand (guns that they should never have been allowed to have in the first place) and murder as many children and teachers as they can.
It makes me angry that my Kindergarten and Second Grade grandchildren have to do 'shooter drills' at school.  That parents & grandparents have to be locked outside because of fear that one of us might be one of those nut-bugs.  That our school staff has to fear being killed when they go to work, at a wage that is already too low for the work they do, much less for hazard pay.

Why do we allow the NRA to have power over the peace and lives of children?  Why do we allow nut-bugs to get their hands on weapons legally when they have are obviously nut-bugs...in many cases their family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers know they have mental illnesses, but we allow them to legally buy guns at gun shows without even a check of their criminal or mental status.  We don't punish the people in their lives who make access to guns easy, like the mother of Adam Lanza (Newtown Killer) who purchased all of the guns and ammunition that he used to kill 20 children and 6 adults (including her). 

If we enforced gun registration like we do vehicle registration there would be less guns in the hands of nut-bugs because people who owned them and registered them in their name would not let them so easily get into the wrong hands.  No it would not solve the problem completely, but geez at least there would be some sort of maintenance over them.  If you had to register your gun like you do your car there would be an easy way to track who owned the gun used in the commission of a crime.  If you borrow my car and go kill someone with it, I am also liable... why shouldn't guns be that way?  If I want to drive a car I have to take a drivers training course and test for it, but I don't have to even know how to properly load a gun to get one of those.  If my car is stolen, I can report it and the VIN will help identify it if someone else is trying to sell my stolen vehicle...why not have that with guns?

The problem is, so many people buy into the bullsh!t that the NRA wants you to believe.  That President Obama wants to 'Take away your guns!" As depicted in this cartoon...

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However, THIS is more the Reality of gun control...

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What this is really about...Obama.  Sadly that is what it all boils down to.  The republicans have made it their goal to obstruct anything and everything that President Obama is for.  If he was against gun control I would be willing to bet they would be for it. 

When Ronald Reagan was Governor of California (see more about this story here) and had the BaJeezus scared out of him by the Black Panthers walking into the Capital building with loaded weapons, he proposed gun control so that no loaded weapon could be carried in any city in California except by law enforcement...and the Republicans supported him.   So maybe when the NRA (and Republican Politicians who are afraid of them) get the BaJeezus scared out of them, or one of their own children or grandchildren are killed at school by some nut-bug with an assault rifle and a bazillion round clip full of bullets, then maybe they will stop fighting 'Doing the Right Thing' for the safety of our kids.

This is not how I want my grandchildren to leave their school...

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Lunch With Archie Bunker?

Remember this couple?

Archie and Edith Bunker.  The character of "Archie, the bigoted working class man" was played by Carroll O'Conner, who was definitely playing the roll, because he was a liberal in real life.  This couple entertained us once a week from 1971 to 1983 and for many years to come in syndication.  I 'loved' the cranky old bigoted character Archie and felt sorry for Edith who had to live with this awful man. In many ways Archie reminded me of my own father.  But ultimately I grew up to be more like the actor who played Archie, liberal in my politics.

It's been over 30 years since that show stopped airing weekly, but Archie lives on in some people still to this day.  I know that because we had lunch with an ' Archie' one day -not by choice.  It all started one lovely Saturday just before noon...

My husband and I went to a fresh baked goods cafe to enjoy a nice lunch. We arrived shortly before noon, thinking we could beat the lunch rush, but apparently everyone else had the same idea because they were slammed.  We didn't see an open table in the place but a kind gentleman waved at me from a large table that would seat eight.  He said he had been with a big group that left a moment ago but he was still working on some paperwork so we could share the table with him.  We accepted his offer and sat down at the opposite end of the table so we wouldn't disturb his work.  Moments later an elderly couple was standing near us, looking around for a table themselves.  I passed on the offer of sitting at our table since it was plenty big enough for all of us.  They accepted my offer and sat in the two seats directly across from us.

The woman of the couple chatted with me about getting her garden started this spring, while her husband went to the counter to order.  She was pleasant and I enjoyed our brief moments of chit-chat while our husbands were up placing our orders.  I thought we might continue to have a pleasant conversation once our husbands returned, but that was not to be.

The moment her husband sat down he began complaining about the foreigners who owned the complex we were dining in. Called them Muslims, (he could tell this by their last names) and made derogatory statements about them. Said he was surprised we got such good food for this fair price.  How he connected the owners of the building, with the food quality and price set by the cafe owners leasing the space, I didn't get, but he tried to make a connection. My husband tried to make light of his comments by saying that this complex was dying out before the new owners came in and now the shops all seemed to be doing better. That went right past this man so I suppose he wasn't listening to my husband. He continued saying how the Muslims are taking over our country. My husband and I turned and gave a knowing look at each other, speaking the silent language that longtime couples use without saying a word.  We were both dissapointed that we offered to share our table with this couple.  The single man sitting at the other end of the table who shared it with us, was now gone. I assume he was either done with his work or didn't want to listen to this bigoted triad.

Eventually the man changed the subject (sort of), as he linked "those Muslims" to our president, "that black guy.' Who in his opinion was also a Muslim, and running this country into the ground. We gave each other that look again, this time saying in our silent language, "Is there another table open in this place?" We both looked around and saw that it was still standing room only.  If body language said anything, we were speaking volumes when we both turned our chairs towards each other and our heads as far away from his direction as possible. But he didn't pick up on our body language.  And our complete silence in this 'conversation'' seemed to go unnoticed as well because this man went on and on with his bigot rant thru the rest of the meal.  It wasn't a long, relaxing meal with small talk over a delicious lunch that we planned, we crammed our food down as quickly as we could so we could get the hell away from this man and his ignorant, negative rantings.  In that short 15 minutes time he covered his dislike for Muslims to the President of the United States, to black people and Africans in general, to singles mothers and even to the LGBT community.

Once we left the cafe we were glad to be free of that man, but felt sorry for his wife who had probably been with him a long time. She didn't join him in spewing hate, but she didn't give him the knowing married couple look either, the one that would have said, "Shut up, you are offending these people who might have a different view of things!" Or as Edith would have said, "Oh Archie!"


Ami Jo