Saturday, December 22, 2012

Big policy changes, little information in advance

It is hard to get basic facts about the Newton school massacre.  Perhaps one should have watched all of the coverage at the time.  However, there does not appear to be much there afterward.

What are the basic facts?  Can you piece together a minute-by-minute narrative of events of the massacre from what is being reported?

The most basic fact of all is how did this guy get access to the school?  It has been reported that he forced his way in.  He may have used his weapons to do this.  But how did he use his weapons?

Did he bust a window?  Did he shoot through a door?  How did he do it?  How did he get on the scene? Did he drive through an access gate?  Was there a guard anywhere on the site?

Now, I do deliveries.  Some of those deliveries are to schools.  A couple of them have walled gates, which require anybody to wishing to enter to pass through security.  Simple arrangement.  Nobody gets in without having to pass through a security checkpoint.  Did Sandy Hook have anything like this?  If not, why not?

Lots of places besides schools have layers of security.  You go through one layer and then another.

If there were layers, and the bad guy gets by one, then he must get by another before he gains full access.

The time taken to get by a multi-layered security scheme would allow an evacuation plan to proceed in such a case as Sandy Hook.  If all else fails, lots of people could just get away or into secured zones.

I suppose all of these are simple questions from a simple mind.  Surely, we must do away with all of our civil liberties just because some folks think that they can ignore security procedures even though there has been a history of mass shootings at schools.  Only sophisticated people, such as those in the press, are capable of telling us what we should think on the basis of their deep and probing analytical coverage of the facts of the case. /sarc

In order for gun-control to stop one of these type incidents, a complete gun confiscation plan has to be implemented.  Otherwise, some guns will remain which can be used in another event just like this one.  For each proposal, please state why it would stop this type of event.  How can you assure that this will remove all guns from all possible places?  The only way that is sure to work would be a draconian suspension of civil liberties combined with a house-to-house gun confiscation policy.  Are you willing to surrender all of your civil liberties for this?

Before any policy changes are to be put into place, there should be a complete and full account of everything that happened and what could have done to stop it.  If confiscating all guns is the only solution, those who advocate it should be prepared to show why it is necessary.  For any policy change, those advocating should show why it would be effective in preventing any recurrence of such events in the future.


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