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Originally Posted by nittanyalum
Umm, the school boards are deep in the pocket of the NRA???
Driver's ed (classroom & behind the wheel) was mandatory when I was in school too. Is that not the norm anymore?
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Driver's ed is not provided by the public school system in my area anymore, although it was when I was in high school. However, it was not mandatory. If you don't want to get a driver's license, there's no need to take driver's ed. Driver's ed is mandatory to get a driver's license. If we're going to compare the two, then the same should hold true for owning a gun. Mandatory gun safety for those who are going to own a gun.
I'm somewhere in the middle on this issue. While I see no reason for anybody other than military to have automatic weapons, and I would never touch a gun, let alone own one, I'm not opposed to other people owning them. Most of the men I know I have hunting rifles. If gun laws were enforced, we'd go a long way toward reducing violence by guns. Yes, it is people who kill people (if you want to use bumper sticker phrases), but a gun (or a bomb) sure seems to be the easiest way to kill someone.
It's a tough one and a complex one. From what I heard on the news about NIU, it was 90 seconds from the time the shooter began killing until he turned the gun on himself. I don't think anybody would have stopped him in that short a time period.
We face a real dilemma in this country. Freedom vs. Security. It's been emphasized since 9/11 and the Patriot Act and everybody seems to have their own personal limit on where we draw the line between the two. There's a middle ground somewhere, but it's very murky. I tend to lean toward the Freedom side of things. I might feel differently if someone carrying, with a permit, shot up my work place or my kids' school.