In light of recent events...

The shooting that took place in Connecticut was an act of pure evil.  The shooter was clearly mentally deficient, as evidenced by his murder of his mother.  This event has sparked outrage all over the nation, as the media has pounced on the fact that the shooter used an ar 15.  This, coupled with other recent tragic shootings involving similar weapons (The Aurora shooting), has the anti gun cultists in a frenzy over so called "assault weapons".  What I'm going to say is currently being echoed across the internet by just about every pro rights organization ever, but I feel like adding my voice to the din. 

First of all, there is no such thing as an "assault weapon".  Assault is a verb, and in this case is being used as an adjective, to the discredit of every grade school educated American.  Definitions of  "assault weapons" range from any semi automatic firearm, to firearms with scary looking features like Carolyn McCarthy's "shoulder thing that goes up"...whatever that is. An assault rifle is technically defined as a rifle that chambers a mid size cartridge and fires in fully automatic.  The name is still grammatically incorrect.

Also getting the anti gun cultists knickers in a bunch is the idea that is being thrown around of allowing teachers and administrators in schools to carry guns.  The argument generally goes that teachers aren't trained military or police, so if they were to draw their gun in response to a threat in their school, they would be completely ineffective and would do more harm than good.  I call b.s. Yes, if a teacher were to miss and accidentally hit a child, it would be terrible, but how much worse would it be to sit idly by and let the entire class be slaughtered?  The other half of the argument is that guns have no place in a civil society, and therefore should not be anywhere near children.  History should have taught us by now that humans will always do evil things, and we will always need to have the ability to stop them.  A civil society cannot exist without weapons.  Children should be taught to respect firearms, not to fear them, or live in ignorance of them.

The media is currently pandering to the anti gun furor while columnists post articles questioning the need for "military grade" weapons.  A bill by Senator Dianne Feinstein is planned to be introduced into the house and the senate.  This bill would make illegal the sale or manufacture of "high capacity" magazines and "assault weapons".  I will be interested to see how the good senator will define "assault weapons".  The bill will also ban the possession of either proactively. There is no way that this bill will stop future gunmen from committing acts of evil.  Stolen weapons, explosives, large trucks, fire and even knives and axes would be used in a gunless world. 

The only thing that can effectively stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.  Schools are currently gun-free zones, or more accurately large boxes of victims.  Locked doors and metal detectors and the Sheriff's Department are not going to stop a school shooter before they have their way.  A teacher or administrator with a Glock or a Sig could.