How epic a disaster was the National Rifle Association press conference on Friday? Let us count the ways.
There was the awful timing, with the press conference timed to begin just 90 minutes after a national moment of silence and a solemn tolling of the bells that commemorated the one-week anniversary of the shooting deaths of 20 children and their teachers inside their school in Newtown, Conn.
There was the ritual blaming of the media for “rewarding” and “provoking” violent mass killers, and the paranoid suggestion that the “national media machine” is colluding with makers of violent video games to debase the culture.
And all of that before we even got to the heart of the NRA’s response to the killings, which amounts to a refusal to consider additional restrictions on gun ownership and a call for armed security in every school building.
“It’s now time for us to assume responsibility for our schools,” NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Now, the sad part of this is that LaPierre raises a perfectly legitimate point about security in schools. There is certainly nothing wrong with debating whether kids would be safer if there were armed security guards or police officers protecting the front doors of our schools, as there are at government office buildings, banks and sports stadiums, and as there are at some schools already.
In fact the first response of many school districts when kids returned to school on Monday after the Connecticut shootings was to post police cruisers and police officers at school entrances so frightened kids would feel safe.
But how that differs from the NRA’s previous, hardened position is anyone’s guess. And by reducing that “debate” to the same old talking points — and selling the virtues of a bargain-basement plan to arm in some cases volunteer guards — the NRA takes a fairly mainstream idea and renders it bizarre.
In its first statement two days after the shootings the NRA said it is “prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.” We’re still hoping that is the case, but Friday’s show did not inspire confidence.
There was the awful timing, with the press conference timed to begin just 90 minutes after a national moment of silence and a solemn tolling of the bells that commemorated the one-week anniversary of the shooting deaths of 20 children and their teachers inside their school in Newtown, Conn.
There was the ritual blaming of the media for “rewarding” and “provoking” violent mass killers, and the paranoid suggestion that the “national media machine” is colluding with makers of violent video games to debase the culture.
And all of that before we even got to the heart of the NRA’s response to the killings, which amounts to a refusal to consider additional restrictions on gun ownership and a call for armed security in every school building.
“It’s now time for us to assume responsibility for our schools,” NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Now, the sad part of this is that LaPierre raises a perfectly legitimate point about security in schools. There is certainly nothing wrong with debating whether kids would be safer if there were armed security guards or police officers protecting the front doors of our schools, as there are at government office buildings, banks and sports stadiums, and as there are at some schools already.
In fact the first response of many school districts when kids returned to school on Monday after the Connecticut shootings was to post police cruisers and police officers at school entrances so frightened kids would feel safe.
But how that differs from the NRA’s previous, hardened position is anyone’s guess. And by reducing that “debate” to the same old talking points — and selling the virtues of a bargain-basement plan to arm in some cases volunteer guards — the NRA takes a fairly mainstream idea and renders it bizarre.
In its first statement two days after the shootings the NRA said it is “prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.” We’re still hoping that is the case, but Friday’s show did not inspire confidence.