Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Nerf Gun Causes Lock Down At School on Long Island



Nerf toy causes lockdown at Long Island school


Let me make this perfectly clear so all of you out there do not get the wrong idea. Yes, I have a problem with schools, police, and other officials who cannot think for a minute before going all out when there MAY be a problem, but all of you have to decide if every time a student brings a Nerf gun to school it should be locked down. While the police or even the person who called may not have known if the gun was real, this is a trend in America and the trend is what I really want to talk about.

We have come to the point that we are at right now. Every time someone looks or dresses like someone who shot up a school before, they must be the next ones who are going to shoot up a school. Those of you out there who do not know odds may not be aware that it is not very likely you will ever encounter a school shooting, let alone die in one. Yes, I know we have had some shootings in the past and 20 children are dead in Newtown, but not every kid who brings a Nerf gun to school and wears a black jacket is going there to kill someone. My question is: If the person who called the police was close enough to see that the kid had a gun and saw the color of the gun, how did this kid not know it was a Nerf gun? Is it one of those situations where you are better safe than sorry or is it because the media has beat us up over the past few months about guns?

This is what happens when the media goes all out for a cause they want to support. The effect of that is that people get scared, and everything they see just happens to be someone with a gun. Parents are more likely to watch closely and call the police over nothing at all, even what someone may be wearing. It may be useful to alert the police if you know the person and they may not be mentally stable, but to alert the police because you think the guy wearing black might have a gun is going over the top. Where does it end? Do you call the police on the person who is carrying a gun when walking through the mall legally because you do not know if the person is stable or not and you just want to be safe? How far do we take this just to make ourselves feel better about the world and how it can be a dangerous place?

Again, I know I am on a slippery slope here because there will be people who tell me you need to tell someone no matter what is going on if you have a feeling something bad could happen. Well, in that case I might spend half my life on the phone because of the people across the street from me with that logic. We have to have some kind of logic to base our fear of of or it is no longer logical fear, it is created fear from what we see on the TV and in the movies. Fear can be created, and those trying to pass these gun bans like we have seen in NY have created this fear that without the government and without their interaction into our daily lives then we may not be able to survive. We are human beings and we have survived as human beings a lot longer than any government has ever survived. That right there should tell you something right off the bat!

We have to be a little more careful about how we handle these situations, that is all I am trying to say. Yes, there is a time and a place to ramp up what may be considered weak security if you get a call from someone saying someone else has a gun, but from what the article has said about the caller who called the police about the person with the Nerf gun and the black jacket, it was just something the school could have taken care of with local authorities without causing alarm in the community. Parents end up coming to the school to pick up their children either after or during a search of a school where they find a Nerf gun. At that point there is no threat to anyone, and the regular day can resume as it would. If you are afraid your child is going to get shot with a Nerf gun, do not fret, no one (that I know of) has ever been killed by a Nerf gun! Go back to class and thank the police for being vigilant. 

But no, you know what works better for the media? Go out and make sure everyone knows a gun COULD have been brought in to the school today and people who wear black are suspicious! This is America, and the debate over our right to bear arms will continue while the media and others show us images of terrible, horrific scenes that will make people want to change their minds about our rights!

No comments:

Post a Comment