On it’s surface this image is pure stupidity, but I would also say it has a more sinister context:
So yeah the implication is that students are in danger of school shootings. Of course this, at least statistically speaking, is highly untrue. First up school shootings are extremely rare. Remember that campaign during the AIDS epidemic in the 90s when it was stated that everybody would know somebody effected by AIDS. I’d say if you were an adult or teen during the 80s or 90s you probably know one or two people who died from the disease. Probably still going on today, but the chances of surviving that horrible disease are thankfully much better, so you probably know somebody who’s HIV positive.
I really don’t think that’s the case with school shootings. Yes if you live in a town with a shooting, most people were touched by it, but if you live more than a few miles away, you probably know nobody who has any relation to school shootings.
Further many of the school shooting numbers are bogus.
Still what is this image calling for? Knowing who’s passing it around, it’s more gun restrictions, and bans. Except in school zones guns ARE banned. Still the call goes that if guns are available OUTSIDE the school then bad people will break the law and bring guns INTO the school zone. But it gets bigger still, states with strict gun laws have high gun crimes. The anti-rights cult will never see the irony on this, instead blame states with lax gun laws (and generally LESS violence overall) for that crime problem. They often talk about the “Iron Pipeline” where criminals go to Virginia and Georgia, buy guns, and traffic them back to DC, New York, New Jersey, Mass, etc. Except there has never been one scrap of evidence to show that happens in anything but the smallest scale.
Still the message is that gun laws don’t work as intended, and the solution is to BAN MORE GUNS!
If anything, the “iron pipeline” involves stolen guns and black market deals, both of which involve, gasp, breaking even more laws!
I think they DO see the irony; they choose to ignore it as it conflicts with their chosen worldview, and is thus rejected.
You are correct. Also when you factor in the price of gas, and time on the highway where you are most likely to be stopped, and therefore run the greatest risk of your car being searched, better to just steal the gun locally…which is EXACTLY what the ATF trace data numbers point to.
NPR had a spot on yesterday where an violence expert of some cloth or another revealed that school is the LEAST likely place for a minor individual to be shot, and the school homicide rate in general is flat, even when you factor in these events.
Problem: Gun laws aren’t working to reduce crime.
Pro-rights solution: Repeal gun laws as ineffective and burdensome, and let citizens decide individually what defensive items (including guns) to own and/or carry, if any, and where/when to do so.
Anti-rights solution: Ban more guns, make it harder to carry, and restrict more areas against it. IOW, do the same old thing again, only HARDER! Because GUNS!!!