Schools
Port Jefferson Locals Mixed on NRA Call For Armed Guards in Schools
Tell us what you think about the issue.
Port Jefferson locals are reacting to statements made Friday by National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre on the Sandy Hook school shooting, breaking a weeklong silence by the gun organization.
LaPierre blasted the media and entertainment industry for promoting and glorifying violence in what he said was a “dirty little truth.” He called it “a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people.”
Among his ideas on how to prevent another unspeakably murderous act like the one Adam Lanza brought to Newtown, was to post armed guards in every school in America. The money, he said, could come from a variety of sources including the U.S. budget for foreign aid. His idea is to use qualified police, retired, active or reserve military personnel or other types of law enforcement agents to fill those posts.
Find out what's happening in Port Jeffersonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Related: You can read a full transcript of the NRA press conference here on the Washington Post website.
When we asked if locals supported the idea to put armed guards in school, John Feinberg agreed.
Find out what's happening in Port Jeffersonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“Veterans need jobs and are already trained in firearm use,” said Feinberg. “Gives them tons of more jobs!”
Lucia Torraco Tamargo said gun laws will only be broken by criminals.
“Yes. I totally agree,” she wrote. “Another law to be broken as criminals always find a way. We need to protect our children as much as we protect our banks.”
LaPierre also compared protecting children to protecting money in banks and life of the President of the United States.
Frank Raffaele worried about the effectiveness of that strategy.
“Putting more restrictions on law abiding people won't work,” he said on Facebook.
One commentor said that she wasn’t sure armed security is the best thing to do.
“We need to do something, but I'm not sure making children feel like they're in school at a prison is the answer,” said Stacey Heckelman Devaux. “Horrible as a tragedy it was, many more children are killed in car accidents, house fires, etc.”
Devaux suggested other ideas like metal detectors, immediate notification and lockdown procedures for the entire school building and alarms connecting to police.
"Banks have them," she said. "Kids are more important than money."
Janet Basile pointed out that the potential killers would go somewhere else leading to even more armed guards everywhere.
"Every public place would need them, the shooter would just move on to another unarmed place?" she said.
What do you think? Should we post armed guards in our schools to protect our children from another tragedy like at Newtown?
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.