NRA's Budget Busting Gun Violence Plan

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Dec.21, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

           Urging a new Transportation Security-like Agency for the nation’s public and private schools, the National Rifle Association advocates placing armed “police” at every school in the country.  Yesterday’s plan of arming schoolteachers and administrators went over like a lead balloon.  “I call on Congress today to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police-officers in every single school in this nation,” said 64-year-old NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, opposing Sen. Diane Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) call for new gun control legislation.  Given today’s extreme budget constraints, where a divided Congress is poised to push the nation over the “fiscal cliff,” LaPierre’s proposal is so preposterous, so unrealistic that even conservatives in Congress raised eyebrows.  “Innocent lives might have been saved,” insisted LaPierre, defending the Second Amendment.

             Given the GOP budget-slashing mood in Congress, it’s doubtful the federal government can support a new bureaucracy to protect children against gun violence.  NRA’s argument surrounds the idea that only “bad guys” cause gun violence.  When you look at last week’s massacre by 20-year-old, mentally deranged Adam Lanza, the NRA called for a new federally-funded school security bureaucracy.  “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” said LaPierre, boiling the problem down to the most simplistic old West fix.  While it’s true that having armed security guards at every school in America would probably reduce the severity of gun violence, it’s also true that it’s unrealistic and too costly.  When the Bush administration created the Transportation Security Agency Nov. 19, 2001 in the wake of Sept. 11, it carried an initial cost of $60 billion a year.

             Adding another school system security bureaucracy would cost as much or more than the TSA.  While the NRA operates with a single-minded purpose of protecting the Second Amendment, the U.S. Congress must protect the U.S. economy from knee-jerk budget-busting proposals.  There are a lot of moving parts with the problem of gun violence in America.  Dealing with assault weapons is only one piece of a bigger problem of ballistic killers, often involved in murder-suicides.  Blaming Lanza’s behavior on violent video games doesn’t come close to dealing with the multiple variables affecting how the mentally ill get their hands on lethal weapons.  Today’s gun laws make no provision in routine Department of Justice background-checks for screening for mental illness.  Gun violence researchers not connected with the NRA all believe easy gun access is a contributory factor.

             NRA’s LaPierre isn’t really concerned about Lanza’s diagnosis and access to lethal weapons.  Using his now dead mother’s gun collection in his rampage, Lanza had no difficulty procuring the deadly weapons to murder 20 children and eight adults, including himself.  “Why is the idea of a gun good when it’s used to protect the president of our country or our police, but bad when it’s used to protect children in our schools?” asked LaPierre.  LaPierre knows that gun control laws aren’t an attack on the Second Amendment.  Keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill or irresponsible types should be a high priority for the NRA and everyone else.  Surely, the NRA doesn’t believe that the mentally ill should be allowed to buy guns under the Second Amendment.  Creating a new school security bureaucracy doesn’t address the need for better background checks and holding gun owners responsible if guns fall into the hands of violent offenders.

             Newtown, Conn. Police haven’t revealed whether or not Lanza was on any prescription or illicit drugs.  While there are some early reports about his gaming history, there’s no mention of whether or not he was on prescription meds or abusing drugs.  Routine toxicology screenings are available almost immediately, identifying illicit drugs or legal prescriptions.  While the police search Adam’s hard drives for motives, the toxicology report should give some revealing clues.  LaPierre’s press conference did more damage to the NRA, reciting the same old worn out talking points on gun control and violence.  “Their press conference was a shameful evasion of the crisis facing our country,” said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  What Bloomberg and others don’t get is that the NRA is only one-dimensional:  Protecting the Second Amendment and rights of the gun industry.

             Instead of getting upset with the NRA, Congress must do a better job of piecing together the best possible fix to prevent future incidents.  Sandy Hook Elementary School is just the latest in an ongoing problem screaming for a solution.  It’s not up to the NRA to fix the problem.  It’s up to the White House and Congress to deal with an implacable problem facing today’s American society.  However the rest of the world views the Sandy Hook massacre, elected officials must put their heads together and deal with the problem.  No mentally ill person should be allowed under the Second Amendment to buy firearms.  Operating guns under the influence of drugs or alcohol should be a crime.  Gun owners must be held accountable for violence with their weapons, regardless of who pulls the trigger.  When Obamacare becomes law in 2014, it must have good mental health coverage.

 John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.