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Subscribe to RSSAfter a controversial press conference last week, NRA head Wayne LaPierre made an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" saying the American people would be "crazy" to not put armed guards in schools. Meanwhile, Newtown, Conn., continues coping with the death of 26 people during the tragic shooting. NBC's Ron Mott report.
Updated 10:50 a.m. ET: On NBC’s Meet the Press, National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre on Sunday refused to support new gun control legislation and maintained his support for putting armed guards and police in schools in response to the Dec. 14 school shootings in Newtown, Conn.
“If it’s crazy to call for putting police in and securing our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy,” LaPierre told NBC’s David Gregory. “I think the American people think it’s crazy not to do it. It’s the one thing that would keep people safe and the NRA is going try to do that.”
He added that the United States is now spending $2 billion to train police officers in Iraq and asked why federal funds could not be spent to train school guards to protect schools in the United States.
Asked about restricting the size of ammunition magazine or clips, LaPierre said, “I don’t believe that’s going to make one difference. There are so many different ways to evade that, even if you had that. You had that for 10 years when (Sen.) Dianne Feinstein passed that ban in ’94. It was on the books. Columbine occurred right in the middle of it – it didn’t make any difference.”
For the first time since the Connecticut shootings, NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre answers questions from NBC's David Gregory about his organization's stance on gun violence in America.
Feinstein, D-Calif., was the author of the 1994 ban on certain types of semiautomatic firearms which expired in 2004. She has announced that she will introduce new legislation early next year. Semiautomatic firearms, including semiautomatic weapons sometimes called “assault weapons,” fire one round per pull of the trigger.
“I know there’s a media machine in this country that wants to blame guns every time something happens,” LaPierre said, but he insisted that an armed guard might have been able to stop Adam Lanza, the killer in Connecticut.
“If I’m a mom or a dad and I’m dropping my child off at school I’d feel a whole lot safer” if there were trained armed security guards or police protecting the school from people such as Lanza, LaPierre said, although he conceded that “nothing is perfect” as a deterrent against crime.
LaPierre also said, “We have a mental health system in this country that has completely and totally collapsed. We have no national database of these lunatics” and complained that de-institutionalization of the mentally ill had put too many dangerous people on the streets of America. “We have a completely cracked mentally ill system that’s got these monsters walking the streets,” LaPierre said.
And he said many states do not put their records of those adjudicated to be mentally ill into the national instant check system that is designed to screen out convicted criminals and the mentally ill from buying guns.
The NRA CEO also argued that the federal government had invested far too little effort into enforcing the longstanding federal law that makes it illegal for convicted felons to possess guns. The federal effort to enforce existing restrictions on gun possession, he said, is “pitiful.”
On Meet the Press, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre forcefully defended his call for armed officers in every school. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.
He said, “If you want to control violent criminals, take them off the street.”
But he firmly opposed curbs on private gun sales and contended that the advocates of stringent restrictions on such sales want to put “every gun sale under the thumb of the federal government.”
LaPierre called Feinstein’s bill “a phony piece of legislation” which he predicted would not become law.
After a week of silence following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School the NRA responded, saying armed guns in schools is the answer. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," said Wayne LaPierre, NRA's executive vice president. NBC's John Harwood reports.
President Barack Obama has tasked Vice President Joe Biden with the job of consulting with members of the Cabinet and outside organizations to come up with legislative proposals by next month.
When asked about this initiative, LaPierre said, “if it’s a panel that’s just going to be made up of a bunch of people that for the past 20 years has been trying to destroy the Second Amendment, I’m not interested in sitting on that panel…. The NRA is not going to let people lose the Second Amendment in this country.”
Following LaPierre on Meet the Press, Sen. Charles Schumer, D- N.Y., said that the NRA leader is “so extreme and so tone deaf that he actually helps the cause of us passing sensible gun legislation in the Congress…. He is so doctrinaire and so adamant that I believe gun owners turn against him as well.”
Schumer said that LaPierre believes “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is good gun with a gun. What about trying to stop the bad guy from getting the gun in the first place? That’s common sense. Most Americans agree with it.”
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S.C., said killers such as Lanza were “non-traditional criminals… people who are not wired right for some reason. And I don’t know if there’s anything Lindsey Graham can do in the Senate to stop mass murder from somebody that’s hell bent on doing crazy things” -- apart from better security in schools. The South Carolina Republican also called for getting “mass murders off the streets before they act, by better mental health detection.”
After a week of calls for tighter gun restrictions, the National Rifle Association called for putting more armed security officers in the nation's schools and expressed concerns about violence portrayed in video games, movies and music. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
Graham said that while he was out Christmas shopping in South Carolina this weekend, people “have come up to me (and said) ‘Please don’t let the government take my guns away.’ And I’m going to stand against the assault (weapons) ban because it didn’t work before and it won’t work in the future.”
LaPierre’s appearance on Meet the Press followed the strong reaction over his defiant stand during a Friday press briefing about the NRA’s response to the Connecticut school shootings.
Amid a national debate over what security measures school administrators should take to ensure the safety of students, gun-control advocates reacted with disbelief Friday to LaPierre’s call for armed guards in every school and his blaming of Hollywood films, video games, and popular music for school shootings such as the one in Connecticut.
How firmly the NRA’s allies in Congress will oppose any new legislative initiatives from Obama, Feinstein or others remains an open question.
In a test of the NRA’s legislative influence, the House of Representatives late last year passed the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, which has not yet been acted on by the Senate.
In the House vote, 229 Republicans and 43 Democrats voted for the NRA-backed bill.
The House bill allows a person with a photo identification card and a valid permit to carry a concealed firearm in one state to carry a concealed handgun in another state in accordance with the restrictions of that second state.
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- 'You feel helpless': First responders rushed to school after shooting, only to wait
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- Inspired to spread the word, man's #26Acts Facebook effort goes viral
- 'Call for everything': Early moments of Newtown shooting
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NRA speaks: We care about murdered children. It creates more fear and sells more guns. The more dead kids, the more profits for our bosses in the firearm industry, and more money for us. We're talking about money! We're talking about freedom to gather treasures on earth!
Whenever there is a major crisis in America, always look to one source, a white male som-b i t c h.
Larry sounds like you are a racist.
Larry...look at EVERY inner-city and tell me what you see.
Larry is an angry person that wastes his comments on no value at all.
Larry is an idiot!!
I watched MTP this morning and LaPierre is right, if you want to stop mass shootings tomorrow morning put an experienced cop in the entry way of every school. But long term you have to do something about the guns and the hi-capacity magazines. An assault weapons ban and nothing larger than a ten round magazine. Then a much needed mental health expansion. Where there is care available for anyone that needs help. There has to comprehensive background checks for every gun sale. No gun sales on the internet. And finally something about all the violence in the music, video games, TV and the movies. Maybe an "R" rating for more that three bloody shootings. Even with all this in place, only the cop could have stopped the shooter at Sandy Hook before it started. This shooting was a perfect storm as it were. This guy was nuts, but very smart. His mother refused to get him help and taught him to shoot assault rifles, maybe his mother was nuts too. First he smashes his computer after removing the hard drive, then shoots his mother, goes to the school and shoots the young children. Kills himself when the cops show up. The really scarey thing is, there are now a bunch of copy-cat killers just waiting to become famous.
I watched a person in this debate, a person with some experience in this business say that the whole reason that so many people have assault rifles is to fight the government when they come to take over. Maybe people are flashing on the time when feds went after the moonshiners, or Ruby Ridge, or Waco. These mistakes happened because the government was led by incompetent people. I think buying an assault rifle because you think the government is coming after you is truly crazy.
Thats pretty damn racist...your not an opinion but another problem "go to hell"
Defiant-That is another name the libtard media is calling standing up for your rights. So if I stand up for our 2nd amendment rights I'm defiant. I never thought I would it here put that way in America. Standing up for my rights I'm now defiant. I'll be defiant until the day i die then.
Yeah, your right to have a 30 bullet clip trumps the lives of children. The standard rifle in WWII for the U.S. infantry was the M1. It had an 8 bullet clip, and the moving targets shot back.
I know I know........" Charlton Heston. "From my cold dead hands"
Same bull- s h i t different day.
left wingers twisting everything cant stop stupid i guess they will feed off each other. And in the end they will consume one antoher. Fall in line robots. I see you are the type thats scared to stand up for your rights which many a good person has laid down their lives for. And blaming everyone else for anything that goes wrong. Again Ill be defiant forever. Just so you know I dont have a 30 round clip--do have several 30 round magazines though. And my legally owned guns have never killed anyone.
"And my legally owned guns have never killed anyone."
Good. Make sure your psychotic 20 year old doesn't get his hands on them, then.
giving the NRA's about what they said about Stopping a bad guy with a gun one needs a Good guy with a guy, really? In line with the over all story seeing they now consider our children are the exploited 'target' in all of this one would have to suspect the shooter's mother was an NRA member, and what did he do to that one good woman who had a gun for her own protection and home defense? he turned her gun on her and killed her, she was the only person that was in essences our first line of defense against the shooter and when he shot her the NRA's reasoning and excuses fall flat. your right it's the 2ed admendment that your allowed to bare arms, but it doesn't say anything in there about the right to be able to by bullets and you should be able to mix up some chemicals to make black powder and only be able to purchase the casing which you would need to smelt your own bullet if you insist on using the type of gun.
Dosn't strick anyone as being rather odd that there is more regulations on buying a pack of cigarettes than there is on purchasing bullets for a gun, it is time, way beyond time to severally tightening up the regulations on the manufacturing and sells of the ammo that all the guns use and an requiring age limit for the purchase, and forget mail order completely. it is time to take the convenience out of owning a Gun because one legal gun was used illegally to kill to many.
I just love the way the media tosses around adjectives like "defiant". The NRA has my total support and backing in that they are the only defense we have at this point against the Obamatization of America. When 51% of people in this country think Obama is good for this country we are down the tubes. He has yet to show his hand on gun control to the fullest extent, but with proding from the UN who knows whats next?
Not yet, but he has committed that duty to Mr. Biden. However considering Obama's shoving of Obama care down our throats, i hardly think he will not try something.
The proposed gun law is for assualt weapons. The second amendment is not absolute whch mean there can be limitations. This applies to other amendments as well.
Time to stop whining about this gun law. If you have an assualt weapon then I expect you could keep it. Problem solved for the ones who own one or more.
Randall, Dude you better check the tinfoil on your hat if really think the UN is coming after your television set. To be sure the Obamatization of American is a good thing. Your problem is that President Obama is half black and you hate that, a black family is in the White House and you can't stand it. So just lay back down and have another beer, and before you know it, it will be 2016, and Hillary Clinton will be president for 8 years. The first woman to lead our country after the first black man. USA! USA! USA!!
Thanks MSN for your biased attack on the NRA. I see now that since I am in agreement with the NRA I need to send them a big fat check! The only thing Washington understands is money. All our politicians are for sale so I suggest if you don't want Obama to wipe his bottom with the Constitution you send money to the NRA.
I am for people keeping their hanguns & rifles but feel only collectors with background checks should be able to get assault type weapons. When the second amendment was written there were single load, single shot muskets. Not the type of weapons available today. They should be banned.
My AR15 is a rifle--
What is an "assault type weapon" (or more recently a "military grade weapon")?
The term "assault weapon" was a definition created in the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban to describe civilian semi-automatic rifles that LOOKED like fully-automatic military weapons (machine guns). Even though the "assault weapons" that were banned looked scary, they functioned exactly like other civilian semi-automatic weapons that were not banned.
New sales of machine guns to civilians have been totally prohibited by federal law since 1986.
@know your subject, the original M-15 did not look anything like the AR M-15, also it uses 6.76 mm ammo, and it didn't have a Bolt Assist Plunger, could be fired semi or full auto, and was prone to jamming. The M-16 had a Bolt Assist Plunger, still jammed and and could be fired sime or full auto. they improved the gun powder in the bullits. Less to no jamming. The M-16A1 can fire semi or burst of 3 rounds. These are all classified as rifles. Machine guns are SAWs, M-60s, 50 Cals, etc. Know Your Subject !!
The National Firearms Act is the law controlling machine guns. 26 USC 5845(b) defines a machine gun as a gun that shoots more than one shot with a single function of the trigger. That's it, nothing more and nothing less.
Every military weapon you cited, 6dogs, is a machine gun under the NFA.
We know that these lunatics will commit horrific acts with whatever means available to them. Today it's hand guns and assault rifles, tomorrow it will be suicide bombs. I partly agree with Wayne LaPierre, we need more good guys to protect our citizens without taking away our 2nd amendment rights. Some people say our right to bear arms are outdated and it made more sense in 1791. I can't think of a time in our history where we are more threatened from real invasion than today. We need to be able to protect our homes and family from invasions domestic or otherwise. Are we so naive to think that what's happening in the middle east can't happen here? One proposal to solve the safety of our children in schools is to arm our teachers. Providing all teachers pass a psychological evaluation, receive a thorough background check, and are trained the same way police are trained to respond to threats. I believe citizens should also provide proof of psychological evaluation and be required to attend safety classes not only to be a responsible gun owner, but trained to keep guns secure and safe from others. Gun related homicides in this country are primarily committed by people who have obtained guns illegally by theft or other means. I believe we can create more "good guys" without having federal and state law enforcement taking charge. After all, these government funded "good guys" hired to protect us could very well be the ones we have to protect ourselves from one day.
So if I holster my 9mm or sling my rifle over my shoulder, would you feel safe with me beside you or away from you.
The paranoia displayed in many comments here by some gun owners is unsettling. A ban on certain kinds of assault weapons made to kill a gazillion people in a minute, or having mandatory background checks when buying guns, will not impede the right of citizens to have guns at home for protection or for use in hunting or target practice. Gun ownership is one thing, gun obsession is quite another, and paranoia and obsession go hand in hand. Many clamoring about gun rights fear conspiracies, strangers, the government, and their own police departments and military. If I had a similar obsession with shoes, shoe ownership, shoe swaps, shoe clubs, and shoe shows, I'd be labeled "nuts". Well the "shoe" is on the other foot.
Our rights as citizens are invested in our constitution, not in guns. The traditional good will that Americans display to neighbors, and a willingness to help them, is derived from American spirit, not from guns. The safety that we have as Americans, thanks to brave men and women who serve in the armed forces, ultimately is derived from their idealism and self sacrifice, not from guns. Guns have a purpose, but they are a tool, not a way of life or a reason for being. Many gun owners though make plain that they believe just the opposite.
Dag! Not one self-identified survivor of Newtown, not one self-identified relative of a victim at Newtown, not one self-identified friend of a victim at Newtown on this thread so far, yet so many self-identified victims of the reporting about Newtown!
What is a "self-identified victims of the reporting about Newtown"?
golfsleft-
Some numbers of the earlier -- and perhaps future -- posters who seem against any form of restriction for high-capacity, high-impact, semi-automatic weapons do seem to be playing a -- if not the -- victim card. They seem to portray themselves as the parties injured by Newtown and other events..
The relatives of the victims are mourning, get it mourning. I really doubt they would be on here making comments and reading some comments expecially the ones that are whining about the ban and call commenters names.
I have not heard past or present anyone advocating a ban on guns. The call is a ban on assault weapons and guns that have large clips of ammo. No one needs these. As for arming teachers, that is absurd. Without a ban on assault weapons, a teacher or even a police officer is no match for someone with a weapon that can fire numerous times per second. I think Mr. LaPierre gave us a look at who he really is and what some of the NRA are, that is, he and his supporters believe citizens should be armed to protect themselves from the government. There are peaceful ways of changing what we do not like in government and to my knowledge, the government is not planning to lodge an armed attack on our citizens. People who think they need a large supply of military type weapons to protect themselves from the government, I fear are delusional and dangerous to us all. Let's have a rational conversation/debate about weapons and mass murders and come up with reasonable solutions for protecting people from those individuals who decide to commit mass murder of total strangers and even children. Keep your hunting rifles. Keep your handgun in your home for protection. That's your right but you do not have a right to possess military type weapons.
"the government is not planning to lodge an armed attack on our citizens. People who think they need a large supply of military type weapons to protect themselves from the government, I fear are delusional and dangerous to us all".
CatTrax, I'm glad you have an inside to what is planned and what won't happen to the US. My family feels much better with your sound mind and assurance of world peace. I agree, leaving our heads buried in the sand will allow us to be much less delusional and more controllable.
Whether it be our own government, or some other government, the possibility is as real as it has been in many other countries around the world historically. To believe that it could never happen to the US is delusional. To protect our homes and country from any well armed military with a hunting rifle and handgun is like bringing a knife to a gunfight. Is it fear or just acknowledging a real possibility today or in the future?
Nikolaus20: well said.
When someone tries to break in your home to do your children harm you will wish you had a weapon,OH wait,call the cops,they'll be there in 15 minutes.I have guns and have never used them illegally,I hunt,but I guess that's bad but hitting a cow in the head with a sledge hammer or shooting it between the eyes is ok to make you a hamburger.Make a magizine that holds only ten rounds and people will buy 2 instead of one...Ban assult weapons because they fire a round every time you pull the triger,I thought all guns did that.
gwhite--Left wing media wont explain it that way because it would make sense and would hurt their reputation as far as being total antigun.
"Ban assault weapons because they fire a round every time you pull the triger,I thought all guns did that."
You obviously don't know much about guns and that scares me.
Contrary to popular belief not all guns have triggers. Although the Zip gun seams to be by the wayside many of them didn't have triggers and in the days of the Old West they had a 6 shooter that didn't have a trigger, I beleive that it was called or refered to as a Fanner 50.
All semi-autos fire a round each time the triger is pulled. Most pistols, guns like Brownigs BAR (sold in most calibers and used for hunting), many shot guns, Ruger 10/22's, mini-14 and mini-30's to name a few. None of those are included in the assault weapons clasification.
From the article: "In a statement on the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Affairs website Friday, the group told its four million members that '... Calls have already been renewed to subject all private sales of firearms to background checks, even among family members and friends, and to end mail-order sales of ammunition.'"
On the one hand the NRA blames the mentally ill. On the other, they work hard to deny the tools necessary to weed out the mentally ill before they can buy guns. THIS is what I expected the NRA to address last Friday, because an assault weapons/large clips ban is purely political folderal so the politicians can look like they are doing something. Meanwhile, the NRA fights against background checks for gun shows and private sales, and fights against disallowing purchase and ownership of guns by veterans who have been deemed to be mentally incompetent to run their own affairs. It is these policies that make it evident that the NRA has no interest in gun safety beyond what it takes to improve gun sales.
I firmly believe that Gun Safety, Control, and Security is the Ultimate responsability of the owner. Be it the end buyer, Store, or Concessioneer.
Every shooting is different, Holms in Aurora was of legel age and didn't have anykind of a record. Leagally bought his weapons and ammo. There was no reason to prevent the sale.
In Newtown the young man was not old enough to buy weapons and couldn't if he tried. He mentle issues that his mother would allow him to be alone. He got her guns and ammo. The question is how did she keep it secured.
Every situation is different. If every situation had the same MO the answer would be simple.
I guess America forgets to easily. Google "Bath School Bombing" in the U.S.. Took place in 1927. More children and adults died there than in Ct.. Ban guns and we'll see much more of that and it will be worse. Funny how hysterics can foster panic in the world.
That guy bought explosives which you now need a licence to do.
@golfsleft, back in those days anybody could buy dynomite, caps and fuses from the local Hardwhare Store. People often blew up trees and boulders that were in their way.
The right to bear arms refers to a militia at a time in our country's history when we did not have a military presence as we do now and the militia was not fighting its own citizens. It was fighting for our freedom from the British. We now have a huge military as well as our national guard (which would be equivalent to a militia). I repeat: no one is calling for a ban on guns, just a ban on military style weapons in the hands of individuals.
Slippery slope. No thanks.
http://www.stephenhalbrook.com/article-nazilaw.pdf
Hate to tell you this but the gov. controls the National Guard, they are not a citizen's militia. They will fire upon their own citizens, see Kent State. People need to do their research, sheesh.
canoworms
Tell me how more guns would have helped at Kent State.
more firearms at kent state would have equated to more bloodshed.... A militia is organized... Nancy lanza is a screaming example of why the 2nd Amendment states "well-regulated." Idiots and crazies have never been trusted with arms... You want military weapons? Form a well-regulated militia.
Jeff B-250626, Kent State came about due to our idiot governor working in conjunction with the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, spying on the citizens of Ohio. Rhodes was fearful the youth of Ohio were going to overthrow the American government and therefore ordered troops from the Ohio National Guard to Kent State. It was the last mistake Rhodes ever made as it was the end of his political career not to mention the opening of the eyes of most parents in northern Ohio about the Vietnam War of the Military Industrial Complex. Rhodes was ignored by Ohio politicians and soon voted out of office. To this day we have never forgotten the Kent State massacre.
This will never happen again on the soils of Ohio. In the instance you stated the weapons in the hands of a state militia was the disaster and not the citizens of Ohio. The government of Ohio was out of control not the people going back and forth to class including some ROTC students who were shot. Get your facts straight and yes, I am a Democrat and have been all of my voting life but I am not blind nor a talking head.
The Republicans are baby killers.
Liblarry--Im against abortion thats murder are you.
Dr. Karl, If I'm not mistaken trade unions were outlawed in Nazi Germany. And who was it who was being persecuted, wasn't it the jews,gays,slavs and every other group deemed inferior by the party in power. And which party in this country would you say endorses that same ideology.
It seems to me that those who advocate for less gun regulation are supporting the party they party they should fear the most.
How the hell is it the NRA's fault that that lady tault her mentally ill kid to shoot? How is is the NRA's fault that that lady forgot to lock up up guns and keep them away from her mentally ill kid? How is any of this the NRA's fault? There is a decline in the american family system. That is the big problem these days. All these problems start at home. A stable loving home which teaches right and wrong. Then and only then will this attitude start changing in america. Oh sure, you'll still have the gang violence. Until the president and congress do something about the drug laws in the US.
Liberals don't believe in personal responsibility, it interferes with their desire to give every one a trophy and never hold anyone accountable for anything.
I've heard alot of talk about guns, fear, and gun control. I've heard very little talk about the real issue. Ban assault rifles and high capacity magizines and you may reduce the body count, but thats about it. The national media has insured that it will happen again. The next mentally unbalanced individual, waiting in the wings, can see that this is his route to "15 minutes of fame",before he blows his brains out ( or has the police do it for him ), even if he has to use a butcher knife (going to ban those to ?). Because it bleeds it leads, is not a good enough reason. For some reason, we like to go after the symptons and ignore the disease. Mental sickness is the cause, a combination of of a culture that cheapens life in it's video games, people who see reason to fear someones possible actions (and do nothing about it), autorities who don't follow up, this is the disease. Why don,t we talk about that ?!
We didn't ban fertilizer after Oklahoma (19 kids killed under 6) and we didn't ban airplanes after 911 and we didn't ban fire after Waco.
And we're not going to ban the glorification of violence which is the real problem.
BAN violent movies, video games and sports, NOW!
mort44-
You're right: We didn't ban fertilizer after the Oklahoma City bombing. There was, however, a push to place taggants in fertilizer as way to trace its distribution chain for evidentiary purposes in future bombings, but fearing that the same might happen to both black and smokeless gunpowder, the NRA Institute of Legislative Activity ("What? Us lobby?") worked against it.
It remains interesting that some who so wish to preserve Second Amendment rights are so willing to sacrifice First Amendment Rights. Those individuals might want to reconsider: If one part of The Bill of Rights can be sacrificed, that sets up the Slippery Slope for another.
The blatant callous criminal indifference of the NRA, its leadership, and its supporters, is matched only by their STUPIDITY.
Why should we pay for the treatment of the mentally ill when we don't want to pay for the poor, sick and elderly now? Now all of a sudden we want to treat these people after throwing them out into the streets in the 1980's.
Mr. NRA is the gun expert and says we need an armed guard in every school in the country. I will give him his wish with one rule attached. Let him pay for it. I don't own a gun so why should I pay for it? Car owners pay for license and insurance. People without cars don't. Here are the stats:
330K public schools (not including private)
Estimated cost $6.5 Billion a year
NRA members 4 Million
Cost per member to defend the schools $1650 each year
Point of sale tax, yearly license fees. tax per round. Makes no difference to me. Just don't send the bill to me.
The ignorant ranting by these hoplophobes wanting to ban magazines that hold more than 10 rounds or banning semi autos, banning all firearms, or blaming the NRA for a criminal's deeds is in itself a sign of mental illness.
BAFFOON!
Arthur, if you need more than 1 or 2 rounds to hit your target, then you best give up your guns. Few things worse than an idiot shooting a gun with his/her eyes closed.
Someone without a clue about shooting spouting off as though s/he does is worse. An assailant the size of a moose, hopped up on bath salts, meth, or some other junk, who has been shot twice and still keeps charging is definitely worse. Educate yourself. You shoot to stop the threat. That may take quite a few rounds more than 1 or 2; ask any law enforcement officer.