A noble effort to marginalize and trivialize rational fear to a growing problem.

@UrsiMajor When the fear is out of PROPORTION to the actual risk, then the fear is not RATIONAL. If you cannot accept that, then your emotions are rendering you irrational and your opinion is therefore valueless.

@dahermit I think it is on par with wearing a life jacket in a boat. I can swim pretty well, yet here we are in a life jacket. And by the way, nobody dislikes kids more than me.

So you are a gun fanatic? You sound like one.

@Carin I am a logic fanatic. Are you a masturbation fanatic?

@dahermit You are quite unpleasant. Blocking you.

Awwwe i felt really good about my cheerieos idea. But fair enough.

@NoPlanetB yes, children are well known for being reasonable humans

@Marcie1974 I am so thankful I did not have parents like you and PlanetB. Geez!

@Sticks48 Me?

I’m pretty sure @PlanetB and I are on the opposite sides of this.

@Marcie1974 I apologize Marcie. I read what you said wrong. It didn't sound like you. I am truly sorry.

@Sticks48 no worries....I’m not always super articulate.

@Marcie1974 Me either.

@NoPlanetB Of course they did and empathy too. You should try it. If you can't spend a couple of hundred dollars to make your children feel secure' you are not only cheap, but a lousy parent, period. To expect a child to understand all of this shit is ridiculous. Depending on where you live also has a lot to do with it. When you live in a state where there are six guns for every man, woman, and child, and I know a lot of folks who don't own a gun, you do think about it I am sure if you are a parent.

@NoPlanetB We were done before here. You just didn't realize it.

@NoPlanetB One loses the debate when one resorts to memes. Lets see, I have eleven likes so far you have zero, but who's keeping score?

I started teaching at the elementary level in 1979. When I retired in 2010 I had gone from schools with all the entrances and classroms unlocked to the campus being locked down all day with a key card needed to get in or escorted in after the day begins. Different times to be sure.

@Sierra4 yes it is. Sad and sorrowful times.

Do you have school age kids? Your response was extremely insensitive

@NoPlanetB so she and her children aren’t allowed to be fearful? Or anyone else for that matter? Stuff your emotions down?

I was very relieved when my youngest graduated this year and wasn’t in a school building every day. There were a couple lockdowns during the last year. But the fear I felt while waiting to hear why it was in lockdown was probably just overreacting right?

@Marcie1974 Would you rather be coddled with "sensitivity" or told the truth?

@dahermit both actually. Why are you assuming she didn’t also talk to her kids about the unlikelihood of a shooting happening in their school? But if a person is sensitive, I think those emotions should also be considered.

We are pretty safety conscious in general. Swim lessons, smoke alarms, strong anti-smoking and anti-alcohol upbringing, always use seatbelts and teach them how to act around dogs to not be bitten.

Definitely not over reacting, do you have school aged children?

@Marcie1974 No, but I have a school age grandson.

If I can respect your reaction and how you handled it, you should be able to respect mine.

I don't think it's over-reacting to take reasonable safety measures.

I like that idea. Even though I think an arm can go thru there. If it offers the illusion of safety for kids it's well worth it.

really good idea.

I know!

Yes, since we moved to CO it's been on our minds, though their last school in Mississippi had an incident before moved there, and had shooter drills etc. They supplied kids with mesh backpacks so they could see if they had weapons (I guess) which were mandatory. I know the risk of a shooting is low but as parent still I worry.

@NoPlanetB Here's one study that puts the odds at 70%.
[vox.com]

@sewchick57 Is correlation synonym with causation? Consider that for years it has been stated that poverty causes crime in the U.S. Inasmuch as most of the non-mass shootings happen in economically depressed areas amongst gang members it would suggest that is true. Consider than, that the wealthy nations where school (and all shootings) are rare, could it be that the higher standard of living in those countries is a major factor in not only fewer school shootings, but low crime rates in general?

I feel very strongly about them being nice to all kids and I think they try to be nice to less popular kids. I know the chances of a school shooting are low but I want to make sure they are as safe as they can be.

@Carin What makes you think that a "bullet proof" backpack is actually "bullet proof"? And, at what level of protection (level one, two, three?) has it been tested? How effective would a bullet proof backpack be if it is on a kid's back? Will would be shooters be aware that "some" backpacks may be "bullet proof" and shoot for the head or an area not covered by the backpack? There is ZERO data that suggests that "bullet proof" backpacks will save anyone. Note that beck in the days before Blaze Orange (about fourteen hunters were killed during the deer hunting season here in Michigan), there were companies selling Red Deer Hunting coats with fiberglass panels in them...implying that the panels provided some protection from bullets from deer hunters, when in reality fiberglass panels offer NO protection from rifle bullets.

@dahermit That's what they are advertised as. I don't know what a school shooter thinks of them. I really don't care if you approve or not.

It’s especially frustrating that the gun nuts refuse to even consider to look at why other countries don’t have mass shootings. They cling to their firearms

Yes, they needed packs anyway and these look "normal"-- they didn't want anything that might look weird to their friends. Their old school had drills and one lockdown which the more sensitive of the 2 found scary. Both their old and new schools have armed guards.

@jorj Many mass shooters come from two parent homes. You say that guns have always been here. Yes, but, NEVER before has gun ownership been so widespread. Not since the 1880s in the American west have there been widespread "open carry." . I grew up in the rural south "where most households had guns for hunting and for getting rid of dangerous and predatory varmints, but most people did not own pistols and NO ONE owned assault rifles. They did not struct around with ""open carry."

The idea that we needed guns to protect ourselves from other people seldom entered our minds, and NO ONE thought that we needed guns to protect ourselves from a predatory government, or to rebel from that government. Those ideas are the result of the vicious ideology of the reactionary right, and the fear and loathing of the white supremacist right. The NRA has added fuel to the fire.

Place the blame where it belongs and stop trying to promote a false narrative.

@jorj The NRA is inextricably linked with the Republican party and with laundered Russian money. Unfortunately, a few Democrats may be taking money from that morally bankrupt organization, but almost ALL of national level Republican politicians are. Again, get your facts straight before beating your gums.

@jorj I have provided facts. You only offer idle conjecture.

@jorj When you compare me with Alex Jones, that makes me legitimately angry. Jones is a vicious, greed, lying demagogue who makes up conspiracy theories, not because he believes them, but because he makes money off of them by drawing in gullible people. I am an intelligent, well educated, critical thinking person with a lifetime of experience in many social and cultural contexts and with a very strong personal moral code. When you compare me with Jones you are casually and carelessly attempting to demean and defame me simply because I disagree with you. That is despicable!!. I can't help it if you cannot recognize facts.

"We regulate any and all vehicles, watercraft, and aircraft, hence why can we not regulate gun use and ownership?"
Where in the Constitution does it say there there is a "Right" to own "vehicles, watercraft, and aircraft"?
I must be missing it when I read my copy of the Constitution.

Because the NRA has many members of the government in their back pocket...that's why.

Please don’t confuse your privileges from your Rights. Be careful of the differences in the two. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater as the saying goes. Review your Rights in a copy of our United States Constitution.

To those too stupid to read or comprehend what I have posted!

Reread the the part of the post you moronically misquoted below:

We must have a license to drive, we have to register a vehicle, a boat, yacht, all aircraft, hot air balloons, then we must have insurance to fly and drive them!

We must have insurance to used them!!!

The constitution does not give the right to license the driver, the car, the water craft, aircraft, or that you must have insurance!!!

The Second amendment does not state that you have to have a license or insurance!

Both types of technology can be and are use as lethal weapons in the wrong hands!!!

Yet, the states issue licenses for driving, vehicle, watercraft, and require insurance, the Federal government requires a license to Pilot an aircraft, the aircraft to be registered, and a license to work on them.

It is time to stop playing all out word games!!!

NOTE:

All full automatic weapons, surpressors are under Federal law a Class Three weapon. Which are registered and licensed, the owners of such weapons must be Registered and Licensed by local, state, and Federal laws. They are required to be fully vetted by intense background checks!

Hence if the State and Federal government can and all ready regulate, register, and license fully automatic weapons and suppressors!

What would be the difference in doing the same to other weapons?

If the Government wants too and has the will too, they can control the ownership of weapons!

The ATF has a mandate right or wrong to enforce weapons use and ownership already!

I do not support those so called gun control methods, yet it is time to pull the plug for public safety, so you can be safe in schools and in public!!

Their school seems to have pretty good security. I had to get buzzed in to pay on their lunch account & they have guards. I don't know if their packs are with them at all times but they can hold them up to protect their heads or anything else.

They look like normal backpacks so I don't know if they would be stolen. The boys' names are on the inside.

My boys are twins too.