“I don't want teachers to have guns. I want certain highly adept people who understand weaponry and guns,” President Trump says. “These people are cowards. They're not going to walk into a school if 20% of the teachers have guns — or maybe 10% or 40%.” https://t.co/24D5X2q5Fk pic.twitter.com/FvJkq6WnVF
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 22, 2018
Do I hear a bid? Twenty percent? Forty percent? However bad you think he is, Trump can always manage to be that much worse. He’s throwing out what-if scenarios as though he was still stunting on The Apprentice, seeing which ‘ideas’ trip the applause meters.
Then I remembered: Trump’s parents sent him to a ‘military academy’ instead of a regular high school, because he needed ‘the discipline.’ (And the supervision must’ve been pretty good, since there’s no reports that Young Donald succeeded in ‘accidentally’ shooting anybody, including himself.) Since he has no interest in learning anything beyond his own personal experience, arming the school staff seems perfectly reasonable…
I never said “give teachers guns” like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving “concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience – only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
Picture your worst, most aggressively goateed & polo shirted 'cool guy' teacher. That's who Trump pictures double-tapping goths.
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) February 22, 2018
But they still have to buy their own pencils and paste. pic.twitter.com/mCYy4oDCvO
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 22, 2018
Only sensible reasons to arm teachers:
1. You want many good teachers to quit, & you want to discourage potentially good replacements.
2. You want weirdos w authoritarian impulses who couldn’t be cops to be teachers.
3. You want to sell more guns.
4. You want more shootings.— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) February 22, 2018
Schools get broken into all the time for 200 computers, can you imagine if they now contained weapons?
— Joe Smithy (@nk_knight1) February 23, 2018
Prediction:
Some small, very red township will arm teachers.
A teacher will be involved in a shooting death of a student.
The liability lawsuit will bankrupt the school district.
I give it two years.
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) February 22, 2018
It’s the NRA’s wet dream to arm the schools – and no doubt offer training and advice and memberships – by scaring the shit out of parents. It’s like the scam kiosks that used to sell plane crash insurance right at the gate before your flight – because, hey, it COULD happen! https://t.co/RdqFKLCSVP
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) February 23, 2018
WH spox Raj Shah on Trump and gun laws:
"I wouldn't say that we are or aren't going to propose something as specific as legislative language."
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) February 22, 2018
“Come on guys, our shtick is contradictory blather. You know this. Write legislation? We have to write a cheat sheet on looking human for Puffy the Clown here.” https://t.co/88s7MLRjYg
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 22, 2018
dmsilev
Do we go with a Russian Roulette joke or a Schrodinger’s Cat joke? Decisions, decisions.
Ryan
So these shooters are going to be rational enough to understand that 20% of the campus is packing as a no-go zone, but also be ruthless enough that no matter what we do, they will find a way to get an assault rifle irrespective of what laws exist? Go home Donnie, you’re drunk!
Major Major Major Major
wait what
Wapiti
When Trump had an opportunity to bear arms, he chose otherwise.
Duane
Jimmy Kimmel said Jarvanka and Jethrene will attend the Olympic’s closing ceremony. That has to be a joke, right? If not, our long national nightmare continues.
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
You’re too young to remember that.
dmsilev
@Ryan: I think we’re all supposed to agree that banning or severely restricting sales of things like AR-15s is unpossible Because Reasons.
Wapiti
@Ryan: The shooters will just kill people at the mall, or in a movie theater, or the bowling alley, or at a concert in Vegas. Or some other town, next time.
dmsilev
@Duane: Maybe they’re planning on defecting to NK?
Major Major Major Major
@zhena gogolia: thank god.
Calouste
@Wapiti: Or set of the fire alarm, like what happened in Florida. Or call in a bold threat. And then take aim during the evacuation.
khead
So, I posted a while back that we were adding another cat. And we did! Jack has spent the last 6 weeks lounging around, gaining weight and chilling while my wife recovered from surgery. Unfortunately, It turns out that while Jack loves us – he really loves us! – he just doesn’t get along with the other kittehs in the house and that’s kind of a deal breaker in our situation. So things are not working out.
We are pretty bummed because Jack is not a bad cat. Jack is friendly, smart, playful, and loyal…. but he also wants a lot of attention. Pretty sure he would be better off as the center of attention in a household where he is a single, indoor-only cat though. So if you have an interest, please contact me here or on FB! He’s ~8-9 pounds, fixed, all shots and chipped. Also, we have his records. I am posting this here (and will post again later) instead of hitting up a front-pager for a rescue bleg. We have the resources to take care of Jack and his previous foster parent/organization has agreed to take him back if necessary. We just feel awful that things have not worked out and would REALLY like to find a nice home for him with some nice folks (BJ jackals?) instead of returning him to an unknown fate. MD/DC/VA/Philly area.
ljt
Something’s happening’ here…
Bruuuuce
What kid’s going to say no to a teacher with a gun who decides that the student _is_ going to have sex with them? Especially when the teacher’s been taught how to shoot and threatens the kid or his or her family if word gets out. This is one of the worst ideas in the extensive catalogue of right-wing idiocies, ever.
Corner Stone
@dmsilev:
Shit gets a little raw when one does that around here.
Chet Murthy
@Bruuuuce: And then there’s Coach Parham and his famous inability to tie his shoelaces. Only this time, he drops his pistol while showing it off and BAM! somebody’s dead.
John Revolta
@Major Major Major Major: Well I don’t believe they were a “scam” per se, they were actual insurance policies you could purchase on the spot and mail in before you got on the plane. I hadn’t even noticed they weren’t there anymore. I guess they made people uncomfortable. Lenny Bruce used to do a good routine about them.
Duane
@dmsilev: Defecting would be smart. They’re too arrogant and smug. I look forward to the fashion reviews of their winter attire jumpsuits.
dmsilev
@Corner Stone: I’m allowed; I’m a certified quantum mechanic.
Bruuuuce
@Chet Murthy: and so on. But, ya know, hoocouldanode? :-(
Corner Stone
@dmsilev: Buckle up, Buckaroo!
SWMBO
We were at the hockey game tonight. The family that sits to our left has teenagers that go to Taravella High School. Some of their friends go to MSD. They knew a couple of kids that were shot. The oldest one just got back from Tallahassee yesterday. He was so hoarse he could barely talk. I asked if he was ok. “Yeah I guess. It’s just hard right now.” I told him if he wanted to change things, register to vote. He said,”I can register to vote in 1 month 8 days.” He also said all his friends know exactly how long before they can register. And every one of them are going to vote. The kids are going to be alright. We just have to hang in there and support them.
Chet Murthy
@Bruuuuce: Speaking as someone who went to HS in a town I’ll never again darken with my shadow, the few teachers I’d trust with a gun, weren’t about to pick up one. The coaches? Shit, most of ’em were idiots and lazy sacks to boot. I can’t see ’em actually doing the work to be prepared to face a shooter with a damn derringer, much less an AR-15 or even a Beretta M9.
SWMBO
https://www.nhl.com/news/florida-panthers-honor-parkland-victims/c-296251122
John Revolta
I imagine there’s at least one teacher in every school who would be glad to be That Guy who’ll bring his gun to school and wear it all day long. Probably have to get “certified” or some such. He’s probably also That Guy that all the students hate already and he’ll be the first one popped by the shooter while he’s sitting at his desk.
Mart
Utah allows armed teachers. Kids get consoling after teacher shoots herself on the crapper in 2014
Bruuuuce
@Chet Murthy: Exactly. The few teachers I’d trust to get it right with a gun, putting in enough range time for mastery, already have too few hours in the day because they’re teaching and preparing.
Aleta
DeVos and the Kochs want less funding to public schools, a shift of education money to online businesses, and school vouchers maybe as a way to start the transition. Maybe emphasizing unsafe public schools will help with that.
Paul Gottlieb
At least heavily armed teachers would have a better chance of keeping Republican legislators from looting the Teachers Pension Fund
Aleta
Fortunately for some people, the school officer who didn’t go in is available to be blamed. Maybe he froze, maybe he thought he needed backup or else he wouldn’t get through the door. Maybe he couldn’t think straight. Maybe he was not the right person to singlehandedly defend the school, and should have been replaced if that was the job description.
He can be used. To support the NRA argument that heavy security and ex-military (who think they’d do better–though look at Blackwater) should be in the schools.
To make the excuse that it could have been prevented without regulation.
M. Bouffant
I can imagine the fun I would have had. “Hey teach, you gonna shoot me if I don’t hand in my homework?” “That gun make you feel like a real man?” ad nauseum.
Aleta
@Paul Gottlieb: ha that’s very funny
NotMax
@John Revolta
Yup. Flight insurance vending machines. While the odds were in one’s favor if going without, in the 40s, 50s and 60s they were not an unwarranted purchase, if for nothing else some kind of peace of mind.
Aboard some of the flights was on that were necessary to get back and forth from NY to Brazil in 1961, they came darned close to being redeemed.
Aleta
Rule Number 14. When an armed teacher is in a classroom, a student versed in lifesaving first aid must also be present, in case of accidental discharge, along with a 2nd armed person so the teacher can’t be overpowered by a student or unexpected intruder.
Corner Stone
@M. Bouffant: “We both know you’re not going to pull on me. I answered #2 by saying 2+2 equals 5. Watcha gonna do about it, young lady?”
NotMax
@Duane
Pass up an opportunity for all that free swag? Not the Swineamic Duo.
Viva BrisVegas
So are these teachers supposed to be packing rifles or handguns, because at ranges over 20 yards I’d put my bets on one teen with an AR-15 over half a dozen teachers with Glocks.
frosty
Some small, very red township will arm teachers.
I nominate York County PA. We already had Intelligent Design cost a school district big bucks. We’re ready for the next challenge…. but please don’t let it be my district!
Duane
@NotMax: If our failed media gives Jarvanka a first ladie’s coronation, this Olympics is dead to me. Better not to go than humiliate our nation with that presence.
Aleta
@khead: I’m interested. I used to have two big white male cats and was madly in love with them. They also needed lots of attention, lots of play and lots of personal territory.
How old is he? Do you know if he was somewhat tame when rescued, as though he’d known a home before he ended up in the colony?
ETA Will check back here tomorrow.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: 2 is 1 and 1 is none.
ljt
Still trying to get this right…Something’s happening here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/02/22/first-national-bank-omaha-drop-nra-branded-visa-card/365555002
Aleta
@Adam L Silverman: ?
I’m not serious. Pointing out the contradictions.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: I was being semi-facetious. “Two is one and one is none” is a phrase I was taught regarding equipment and gear. If you have two of everything, you really have only one because you’ll eventually have to use one of the two leaving only one left. However, this is better than if you have only one of something, because when you eventually have to use it then you have none left.
Duane
@Adam L Silverman: Have you heard anything regarding a presidential appearance at the Olympics? It seems a grand stage for an egotist.
Adam L Silverman
@Duane: My understanding is Ivanka is going for the closing ceremonies as an attempt at public and cultural diplomacy (the public and cultural are technical terms) to combat the effect of Kim Yo-Jong’s appearance at the opening ceremonies. I’ve seen nothing reported about the President going to the closing ceremonies.
Adam L Silverman
@ljt: I fixed it for you.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Somewhere in a sweatshop the midnight oil has been burning to turn out a high fashion version of the hockey uniforms.
Bet on it.
Anne Laurie
@Duane:
What, all those two-bit athletes and tiny pissant countries getting more attention than His Majesty Lord Smallgloves? Nagahappin!
(Besides, I suspect even the more jingoistic WH staffers — lookin’ at you, Steven Miller — don’t want to risk putting “Yap First, Think Never” in such close proximity to the Korean border. Kim Jong Un probably can reach Pyeongyang with one of his mighty missles, and you know Trump could not resist taunting him… )
Ivanka is going, to smile and wave from better-equiped peoples’ chairs. And Sarah Huckabee Sanders is going with her, on cleanup patrol. There’s a Jay Ward parody there somewhere…
Duane
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks Adam. Just a feeling trump would pull a spectacular entrance ala Bush Jr.
Adam L Silverman
@Duane: They stopped making flight suits in that size since they had to start buying Goehring’s from the Hindenburg company.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Oughtn’t be too difficult to convince him they’re called parachute pants because that’s what they’re for.
Duane
@Adam L Silverman: Still make orange prison jumpsuits in his size, right? That’s what matters.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: USAWC was casual Friday my last two years there, provided there were no VIPs visiting. For civilians that meant collared shirts, no ties, trousers for men and equivalents for women. For military personnel it meant Army ACUs or service equivalent. Every pilot wore their flight suits. We used to call it pajama Fridays.
Adam L Silverman
@Duane: That is my understanding. I have no personal experience and do not intend to get any.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Military pilots are ambulatory egos.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: They are interesting folks.
Bess
We do not allow individuals to own fully automatic weapons. We do restrict gun ownership, even for the most responsible individuals.
When the Second was written guns were single shot, muzzle loaders. A really skilled person might fire once per minute. When I was growing up rifles, shotguns and pistols seldom held more than six rounds. Now we’re dealing with the recent development of weapons designed to hold far more rounds and fire much more rapidly.
Perhaps what we need at the moment is a national discussion on where the limits should now be set. Should high capacity, rapid firing weapons be part of the machine gun or part of the ‘six-shooter’ category?
Ask for a reasoned argument for why individuals should be allowed to own weapons designed to kill large numbers of people. Certainly not for hunting or self-protection, IMHO.
Mart
@Adam L Silverman: You could always work for an equipment insurance firm.
john fremont
@Bruuuuce: Jeez, if Jerry Sandusky had been one of those armed coaches?
john fremont
@Viva BrisVegas: Within the last 20 years, there was an incident at a county courthouse in Texas where an armed civilian b ystander attempted to stop an assailant with an rifle. The guy got a few rounds off with his pistol before the assailant fatally shot him with his rifle.
Citizen Alan
@Bess:
The problem is that no such discussion is possible when a sizeable percentage of the nation actually fantasizes about being part of some violent right wing coup and demands unfettered gun ownership in support of that fantasy. Nor while a majority of SCOTUS supports that view of the 2nd. That is yet another reason to despise the Wilmer Humpers and the Steiniacs — because if Hillary had won, even a centrist Justice appointed to Scalia’s seat would have flipped Heller and given me some hope that gun policy will change in my lifetime.
SFAW
Although it’s a heavy lift for the number of Shitgibbon “I never said that!” statements to surpass his lie-count — especially since one is a subset of the other — I’m thinking Nathan Thurm is feeding Lying Littledick his lines, via earpiece, when he’s called on
his bullshitevery statement he spews.SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
If you say so.
cleek
well of course the gun lobby is lobbying to arm teachers. there are 3M+ teachers in the US – that’s a huge unexploited market!
glory b
@dmsilev: Right?
I’m getting increasingly concerned that the Repubs are shifting the discussion to “school safety (i.e., turning schools into prison camp style facilities),” instead of guns.
I was listening to a few liberal talk radio shows on my way to lovely downtown New Castle (Lawrence County PA) today, the calls were all about officers at schools, training teachers to shoot, etc. We’re losing our focus!
trnc
@Bess:
,
Also important to note is that when the Second was written, it included the words “A well regulated militia,” which referenced the same militia explicitly put under the direct control of congress and the executive branch per Articles 1-8 and 2-2.
Still does.
Tall Geeky & Cool
@Wapiti:
When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled. Brave, brave Sir Donald.