A Pack, Not A Herd

It was just a quiet day in Israel.

And then:

In April 1984, three terrorists opened fire with automatic rifles and began throwing hand grenades at the busiest intersection in West Jerusalem. As the Los Angeles Times reported, "One of the attackers was killed in a hail of answering fire from the owners and customers of nearby shops." A wild firefight broke out with Israelis and the two remaining terrorists exchanges flurries of bullets until the police arrived and captured the terrorists. Fourteen people were wounded, and it was possible that in the chaos, some of the Israelis were accidentally wounded by "friendly fire." [116] But at the end of the day, no Israelis were dead, but one terrorist was, a superb result compared with what happens when victims are defenseless.

The next day, the surviving terrorists were presented to the media. They explained that they had planned to machine-gun a succession of crowded areas, fleeing before the police arrived. One terrorist complained indignantly that his bosses had not told him that Israeli citizens carry guns. [117]

On another quiet day:

A Palestinian opened fire with a submachine gun at a bus stop near the port of Ashod today, killing one Israeli and wounding four before being shot to death by bystanders, officials said...
National police spokesman Erich Bar-Chen said today's attacker, who was armed with an Uzi submachine guns, was shot and killed by a civilian and a soldier who were at the bus stop and hitchhiking post used by soldiers. Ashod is 15 miles south of Tel Aviv and 15 miles north of the Gaza Strip. [118]

When terrorists - villains less inscrutable but just as evil as Jeffrey Wiese - began targeting Israeli school children in the seventies, Israel responded by allowing, and in some cases requiring, Israeli teachers to be armed while in school, and especially on field trips.

So, one week after the Red Lake massacre, while the state's landed punditry carries on its endless wailing looking for answers, Mark Yost at the PiPress goes one better; He proposes a solution:

What can we do to keep this from happening next time? How about arming security guards, as well as a handful of administrators and teachers who volunteer to be properly trained?

But Mark, savvy fella that he is, knows his market:

I can hear the gasps echoing from Mac-Groveland to Crocus Hill. But if we think any legislation is going to stop the next Jeff Weise, we're fooling ourselves. Indeed, the idea that with the right legislation and an unlimited pot of money we can take the risk out of any of life's endeavors is simply wrong...As distasteful as the idea may be to some, we need to be honest and admit that only one thing would have stopped Weise: a security guard, administrator or teacher, properly trained, and armed with a gun.

It seems like an idea worthy of discussion. Right?

This is Minnesota. Our left isn't that bright.

Rebecca Thoman, president (and practically the only member) of Citizens for a Supine "Safer" Minnesota, is up in arms, as it were. See if you can find any thread of logic in the group's Thoman's response:

As if the tragedy at Red Lake High School isn't bad enough, the gun lobby suggests that we solve the problem with more guns, arming everyone from school security guards to the janitors. But do we really want our children to grow up in a war zone?

"As if" the massacre "...weren't bad enough?" You mean, the very suggestion that we make our school children and staff anything other than fish in a barrel would be worse than last week's butchery?

And given a choice between my children growing up in a war zone and dying in an abattoir, I'd think the choice would be clear.

But then, clarity is not one of Rebecca Thoman's strengths

The same level of thinking that brought Minnesota Concealed-carry [...and its' attendant complete lack of any problems - Ed.] would now have us bringing loaded weapons into our schools. The debate has been happening in other states. Arizona is considering arming teachers. Utah already allows teachers to carry loaded handguns.

And if you were planning to kill a school full of students, where would you rather go?

If we are to retain any semblance of civil society, citizens must realize that a powerful political force is at play. We must stand up to the interests that define safety as citizens living in armed compounds.

...and embrace the interests that define "safety" as sitting and waiting in a classroom as the sound of the shooting draws closer, as the glass on the door breaks, as the lock flicks open, and as the madman draws his bead on your chest, knowing that he's going to be in biiiiiiig trouble when the County Attorney gets done with him.

You know. The safety of the heifer as it walks down that long narrow chute.

The gun industry creates the problem of too many guns, then solves the problem with more guns. It may be a winning strategy for selling their product, but it is damaging to civility and democracy.

Right.

But having students spying on each other, looking for signs of any perceived, potentially "dangrous" deviance, like listening to Slipknot or wearing black clothes and excessive eye shadow - that is civil! Suspending little boys from class for making gun shapes and playing Army on the playground - way to teach democracy!

Sorry, Rebecca Thoman. Civility and Democracy are greatly enhanced by making life more dangerous for those who'd deprive us of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and less tenuous for the innocent among us.

Question: Do Rebecca Thoman and Citizens for a Supine "Safer" Minnesota know who the bad guys are?

And if one showed her the scenarios of Red Lake or Columbine on the one hand, and Ashod on the other, which would bother her (and her followers, assuming there are any) more?

Posted by Mitch at March 30, 2005 08:05 AM | TrackBack