We must become proactive
By The Bakersfield Californian
Waves of shock and tears boil through us all over the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. As we listen to our local news accounts, peppered with the tempering reverie of psychiatrists and local school staff, noting the encompassing gates, evacuation plans and signs instructing visitors to report to the school office before entering -- we must ask ourselves if this is enough. Our president's reaction to the massacre rang of probable gun control in our future. When will we become proactive rather than reactive? It's time to demand more.
Currently, security staff in our elementary and junior high schools are called campus supervisors. Campus supervisors are civilians with no access to firearms -- teachers have no access either. Why aren't we training school staff extensively in terrorism countermeasures and arming them so they can rightfully protect our children? Why are the Kern High School District's police officers only issued handguns? Is it because shotguns and tactical rifles are viewed as too militaristic? Research schools in Israel. They have armed security guards at their schools. They learned from their school tragedy in 1974. They became proactive.
Today's world is scary. Today's world is very different than the world I grew up in. It's time for change. The fact is, only law-abiding citizens with guns can stop malefactors with guns. Hold firm to your Second Amendment right. Get proper firearms training. Demand more of the powers that be to protect our greatest asset: our children.
Nancy Venable
Bakersfield
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