In a sad attempt to halt their imminent liquidation, The National Rifle Association has proposed putting armed guards at every school in the nation. While this appears to be a noble proposition to protect our nation’s youth, it is also an easy way for the NRA to make a large profit.
Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children’s Defense Fund, criticized the plan as “nothing more than a continuation of the N.R.A.’s attempts to prey on America’s fears, saturate our schools with more guns and turn them [those schools] into armed fortresses.”
The NRA claims to have children’s best interest at heart, but the profits the NRA will receive from this proposal looks to far outweigh its benefits. According to a poll taken during the 2009-2010 school year, by the National Center for Education Statistics, there are around 98,800 public schools in the United States. If the legislation, put forward by the NRA, passes then 98,800 schools would be purchasing guns to arm their guards. That would mean more guns flooding into the hands of the public and profits flowing into the pocket of the NRA, exactly what the U.S. is trying to avoid.
The NRA puts fear into the American public’s eyes. They brainwash people into believing that the only way to prevent these mass shootings and firearm deaths is to buy more guns. Gun control activists urge politicians to use the United Kingdom as a model for gun control. England practices strict gun control and in return has a nearly absent firearm death rate. According to statistics from the University of Sydney, the United Kingdom experienced a total of 155 firearm-related deaths in 2010, pales compared to the 31,672 firearm deaths the trigger-happy United States experienced that same year.
Placing an armed guard at every school in the nation is not the solution to ending the accumulating number of gun fatalities in the U.S. “Arming the teacher is merely a response to the last tragedy,” said Representative Mike Thompson, a California Democrat, chairman of the House task force on gun violence, after the NRA released their plan to arm schools. “The one [shooting] before that was in a shopping mall in Oregon, and the one before that was in a movie theater in Colorado. I don’t think the proper response is to arm all the projectionists in the movie theaters or all the vendors in the mall.”
The NRA is using the recent tragedies as way to make encourage its profits. Their plan to arm every school in the nation is an easy way to increase the demand for guns. In other words, for the NRA, more guns equal more money.
Sara Papantonio is a writer and researcher for Ring of Fire.
