Opinion: Let’s put a Glock in every lunchbox

by Eli Hernandez of Town Square Buzz

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Is McKinney well on its way to becoming the first police state community in the U.S.?

Moms, when packing your kids lunch tomorrow: sandwich, juice, banana and, oh yes, don’t forget their favorite Glock or AR-15, whichever they prefer.

If we want to keep our children safe, we must arm each grade school, middle school and, yes, every teenage student and their raging hormones, with a weapon of mass carnage.

Sounds outrageous?

I’m only taking the National Rifle Association’s absurd position on gun control to its logical conclusion. The NRA’s answer to gun violence is more guns.

I was not going to get into the gun control debate just yet, then I saw TSB’s story on MISD stationing swat teams (OK, OK, one officer) at each middle school.

Really? So this is what we have come to? What happened to actually educating our children? Now before you accuse me of being some left-wing, liberal nut job that’s against guns, let me be very clear. I fully support our 2nd Amendment and I believe it is our constitutional right to keep and bear arms if that is our choice as sane adults.

In addition, I come from a military family, thus we owned guns and I owned a gun awhile back. We can all agree that what happened in Newtown, Conn., was an absolute tragedy in every sense of that word. However, in our national gun debate, is the answer to our dilemma to put more guns on the street? Is this the society in which we want to live?

The NRA’s Wayne LaPierre said that to stop a bad guy with a gun, we need a “good guy with a gun.” And exactly who is this good guy? The majority of the killers in the worst mass gun violence incidents are described as "good guys" by their family and friends.

A liberal would say: What if the bad guy couldn’t get his hands on a gun in the first place?

But, is this a liberal or conservative issue, or rather an American problem?

Bringing the debate closer to home, I usually tell my under-studies that in a crisis situation, one should never knee-jerk, i.e., react impulsively. Instead, let the situation play out and get all the facts right before making a decision.

So why is the MISD knee-jerking on gun violence?

Parents who send their kids to MISD schools should be asking many questions as to why MISD jumped the gun on this issue:

• Was there a viable threat(s) that local police and MISD did not disclose?
• Were parents/tax payers consulted at all?
• Who made this unilateral decision? The Mayor? School board? The NRA?
• Was this in reaction to what happened in Newtown? Why now?
• Who are these SROs and how were they selected? Trained? Background checks? Psychological testing?
• What will they be looking for?

Now I am aware that last year there was a threat against a local McKinney school. There must have been a lot of "what ifs" by McKinney citizens. While there are missing details and the facts on this incident are sketchy -- I believe there was no real threat to local schools, just a lot of bravado and talk by a disturbed student. Does this warrant a declaration of martial law at all McKinney middle schools?

Because of this and other horrible incidents such as Aurora, Newtown, etc., I would like to see more involvement and concern from parents, citizens, and tax payers. They should be demanding more answers from the MISD and MPD?

But why stop there? In addition to SROs in every middle school, let’s explore some of these ideas:

• Let’s arm every parent, teacher, and student
• How about adding a Guns Are Your Friend course in MISD cirriculums
• School field trips will now go to Gun Shows and firing ranges
• Every student will take the NRA oath and be an NRA card member in good standing
• Before graduation from the MISD system, students must be able to deliver a clean killing shot

While these ideas seem ridiculous on the surface, to the NRA mindset would they be out of the realm of possibility?

Now let me say that I am as certain as can be that both the MPD and MISD mean well and have the best intentions for the safety of our children -- they have remained diligent and have done a great job to protect the littlest of McKinney's citizens. I just believe such a move in its middle schools was not necessary. They created a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist.

The City McKinney's motto is "Unique by Nature." May I suggest that the McKinney Police Department and your MISD are well on their way to making McKinney unique as the first police state community in these United States?

Eli is a columnist for TownSquareBuzz.com, a marketer, and published author. The views expressed in his column -- like them or not -- are strictly his. Feel free to contact Eli at TheEliHernandez@gmail.com.

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