Several parents in an Iowa town where a deadly school shooting took place earlier this month told school officials on Monday they want more preventative measures and transparency as the school board plans for students’ return.
Their comments came during a Perry school board meeting, the day after the death of Principal Dan Marburger, who was critically injured in the shooting.
Grace Castro criticized the school district’s policies, saying that “lives were lost due to our lack of preventative measures.” She suggested the installation of metal detectors at schools’ entrances and a temporary remote learning option at the same time, and enforcement of a clear-bag policy as “the absolute least you can do.”
Her comments echoed what many other many other parents — including some of the victims’ families — have been saying on the Perry Facebook page since the district first announced its reopening plan last week.
I don’t care more about guns than dead kids, stop intentionally misinterpreting my opinion and arguments. Respond to my arguments intelligently and provide counterpoints so we can better understand each other. So far, you’ve provided nothing constructive.
You say that guns are “fucking murder machines” then in the same comment state that the guns we have are too weak and useless to use against an oppressive government. Pick an argument and stick with it.
If our government is launching drone strikes against me, then they’re launching drone strikes against you too. We’re on the same side here, except if push ever comes to shove, it sounds like you’ll lay down and lick boots while others fight for you. If you’re not ok with living in a dictatorship, the least you can do is not actively get in the way of the one check/balance that the people have against our government’s military.
Gun ownership isn’t a right for Ukrainian citizens. Imagine how it felt for citizens in Mariupol, Donetsk, or Kyiv during the first few weeks of the invasion. I’m not suggesting that lone “muh guns” rednecks would save the country from a military invasion alone, but I’d bet my ass that most people who lived this would’ve been safer and fewer citizens would’ve died if they were armed and able to defend themselves while evacuating and seeking safety. The Ukrainian government backtracked and shipped citizens in Kyiv and a few other cities guns and ammo afterwards, but because gun ownership was outlawed before that, no one was trained on how to use them so they were effectively useless.
This is what you’re fighting for. A disarmed, helpless society that’d rather feel safe than be safe. It’s the same fear that ushered in mass surveillance and the complete degradation of personal privacy in the name of counter terrorism. People cheered for it.
It’s possible to have a well-armed society that isn’t rife with murderers; your grandparents lived it. Maybe we should refocus on making our society worth living in again for the marginalized people perpetuating violence. Give gang members and hopeless people an honest way to earn a livable wage, provide free and good access to mental and physical healthcare, revamp prisons so they reform instead of punish, reduce carbon emissions so our children won’t choke on their air… But you can’t boil that down into a headline as short and sensational as “children murdered because people can buy murder machines.”