So I'm in the tail end of an intense four week design project (midreview was last Wednesday, final review is next Monday) and I've been quite busy juggling that and ordinary class obligations. Sorry about the lack of new postings, but as I'm not completely insane yet I still pick bed over blogging.
Anyway, I was working in studio yesterday when I overheard that some really young kid tried to shoot up a school nearby with an assault rifle. I peeled the superglue off my fingers and fired up (no pun intended) the ol' interweb. It turns out a 13 year old middle school student came to school dressed in a trenchcoat with a t-shirt tied around his face and pulled out a Mac-90 AK-47 Replica. He fired one shot into the ceiling, then the gun jammed (be glad it wasn't a real AK-47 I suppose) and an assistant superintendent managed to convince him to leave. The kid apparently had a fascination with Columbine.
I have to say at this point that even coming from Ohio (which regretfully passed a concealed carry law recently) I was unprepared for the level of gun mania here. In a metropark driving to visit the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi we ran into roving bands of hunters drinking beer with rifles at ready. You can't go to a show without getting patted down first. Police officers ride in their cruisers with loaded shotguns strapped to the seat. Call me a limp-wristed eastern elitist, but I have got to believe that the fact that the boy's family OWNED an AK-47 (or replica thereof) strongly contributed to his decision to shoot up his school with an AK-47. Simple logic right? What does one own an AK-47 for? Pretty much fighting infidels, protecting yourself from the marauding armies of the UN, or conceivably mowing down armies of mutant white-tailed deer threatening your garden. I mean come on!
So I was even more interested to learn that at a late press conference our Governor Matt Blunt mentioned that a Wisconsin legislator's suggestion to arm teachers might be a good idea. So, let's get this straight: kid attempts to shoot up school for whatever reason is able to bring an AK-47 to school because his parents are gun nuts and he has easy access to guns. So let's solve that problem by introducing more guns to a school environment? I remember when I was in middle school we put glitter glue in the teachers coffee during indoor recess and she never noticed. There was that one kid who could pick the teacher's desk lock with a paper clip to get at the candy in the upper right drawer. I simply cannot believe that there will not be opportunities for children to get their hands on the teacher's gun. What happens then?
I really think it is fascinating and pretty terrifying to watch politicians attempt to place NRA votes above the safety of our future generations while maintaining the guise of conscientious responsibility.
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