Our first freedom is the only way to end school massacres

I don’t believe in immediately jumping on the political bandwagon as soon as something bad happens. I’ve been biting my tongue, but given the continued shortsightedness and frankly extremely irresponsible rhetoric from many this week, I feel the need to point out some cold hard facts.

There are multiple fundamental disconnects from reality in much of the media coverage and popular dialog every time something like the tragedy at Sandy Hook is carried out by a criminal.

Ask any policeman or policewoman (we have several family and friends who serve) and they will confirm:

• Bad guys will get weapons, period.
• Bad guys don’t care whether the law says the weapons they want are legal or not.
• Bad guys will target “gun free zones” for the same reasons wolves prey on weaker animals.
• Police are not here to protect us, there aren’t anywhere near enough of them in any sort of democratic society we’d want to live in; rather, the police are here to draw chalk outlines and catch the bad guys after the bad guys have already broken the law.
• Responsible citizens must have the ability, and that includes weapons, to defend themselves when attacked.

If you consider that this was a “gun free zone”, as was Columbine, as are the vast majority of such crimes, and you really think about it, it is obvious that “gun free” does not work.

Ever.

I believe in the right to defend my family and others. Without that right, all the other things in our lives are subject to removal. In that sense, the Second Amendment truly does acknowledge our “first freedom”. The inalienable right to self defense enables all other rights, freedom, and liberty.

If you don’t believe that a little sign or a law will make bad guys leave their weapons at home, then the only rationale response is to allow responsible, legally vetted adults to carry and defend themselves and those who cannot.

We already trust our childrens’ lives to school officials including administrators and teachers. Why not allow them the one tool that will help ensure bad guys are stopped from harming our kids? And by allowing them to carry, and telling the bad guys that schools are not soft targets, why not end the vast majority of school massacres before they ever start?

It’s the only sane thing to do in this whole insane mess.