Code Red

An odd series of occurrences happened the other day, I guess it started Tuesday night, that has brought on this posting.

I had CNNHeadline News on and was watching Glenn Beck followed by Nancy Grace. The odd thing was they both featured the same story. For a general show this isn't that odd, but I don't ever recall these two shows focusing on the same 2nd tier story. The story was about a female teacher in Oregon who wanted to carry a gun with her in school and was suing the district over their weapons ban. I didn't catch all the details behind her reasoning but of course both Columbine and Va. Tech came up. Now I know my feelings and thoughts for if I was in her situation and I can say I agree with her. However I do not know all the reasons for why the schools say she should be banned from doing so. I will have to make a phone call to discuss all this with my covert, secret, inside source. Okay so it's not a big secret that my Dad is a quasi-retired (for the month of October) Superintendent of Schools.

Anyways, that brings us to two separate events that happened Wednesday. First off if you missed any news coverage then you missed the occurrence of yet another school shooting in Ohio. The other was part of an email we received from one of Andrew's teachers. In the email she mentioned a "drill" they were practicing, a drill she called a "Code Red" drill. She discussed how in this drill the class takes refuge hiding behind the door until the danger is cleared. Now I remember fire drills where you went outside and tornado drills where you sat in the hallway but I don't ever remember a drill where we hid behind the door. I is definitely a little scary that our kids have to practice these drills in school but at the same time I am glad our school has the foresight to actually incorporate some sort of plan.

Now I'm not a gun owner nor am I a member of the NRA (yes they still allow you to be a member and not own a gun). I don't actually remember the last time I fired a real gun, however I do remember my first time. I was probably 11 or 12 and we were shooting my Dad's .22 (I think) up at our property in the U.P. shooting out paper plates in the sand dune from about 20 yards. While I don't own a gun now I can't say I never will and, by law, I almost had to go out and buy one.

While house hunting last year we were looking to put an offer in on a house in Kennesaw GA, this is when my cousin informed me of a old-time ordinance stating that all residents of Kennesaw must own a gun (Wikipedia). Kennesaw's handling of this issue and their results over the past 25 years have made them the focal point of gun control debates. This is an old article tittled Gun Town USA which discuss this.

Also In an Op-Ed out of the NY Times tittled A Riffle in Every Pot the author wrote:

Experts don’t think the Kennesaw ordinance, which has never actually been enforced, did much to change gun ownership rates among Kennesaw residents. And, given that Greenleaf’s mayor has estimated that 80 percent of the town’s residents already own guns, the new ordinance can’t make all that much of a difference. But criminals are likely to suspect that towns with laws like these on the books will be unsympathetic to malefactors in general, and to conclude that they will do better elsewhere.

I think his last statement is key to this topic. A perfect example would be the city of New York, where there are only 200 CWP's (concealed weapons permit) issued. A scene from Pulp Fiction keeps coming to mind. The one when the husband/wife robber combo are discussing why they should stick up the cafe instead of another liquor store... to eliminate the "hero factor".

Now a rational person would surely take the "hero factor" into consideration before committing such an act, but I can't say that someone who is willing to go into a school and begin shooting is necessarily the most rational of people. I don't think they would really care if someone where they are going to go shoot up has a gun or not.

So do you like your odds being armed or unarmed against an irrational person with a gun? I know that's a loaded question but it is a fair one to consider.

I was going to end the blog right at the question but I couldn't resist the chance to throw the phrase "loaded question" into a blog about guns...thanks for the sense of humor Dad.