The lack of honesty in our political discourse is becoming an epidemic. The NRA killed these kids in Florida? No. Republicans prefer to take blood money from gun lobbyists as opposed to making kids safer? No. Democrats want to take your guns away? Well, they do, but they know they can’t because the Founding Fathers have a pretty decent win-loss record. But ideas like metal detectors in schools are silly nonsense, but that doesn’t stop some politicians from pushing them. Doug Jones promoted this “idea” to AL.com:
“We got used to going on airplanes by going through metal detectors. People complained about it. People complained about 911. People now appreciate it. You see fewer and fewer instances (of domestic airline terrorism). I think we’ll have to do that with schools.”
Why this matters: Jones isn’t the only politician pushing that ridiculous idea in Alabama. Gov. Kay Ivey suggested it as well. Unless you are going to have a single point of entry (most schools do not) and armed guards at that point, this will do nothing. Metal detectors are expensive, and manning them is even more expensive, so it will NEVER happen. There are only two options for protecting our kids, you can do as Hoover did recently and add money for school resource officers (although it needs to be done at a much higher rate), or you allow teachers to defend the schools and their students as State Representative Will Ainsworth has proposed.
Guns are not going away, you can get serious about this or you can continue to scream at each other about bans that are never happening. Meanwhile, we all get to watch kids get annihilated in the classrooms.
The details:
— In South Carolina, where the population is close to Alabama’s, the estimated cost of installing metal detectors would cost $14.4 million dollars.
— To staff those metal detectors in South Carolina, they will need $98.3 million dollars every year.
— Metal detectors being installed only stops a student from bringing a concealed gun into the school, but this is not how most mass school shootings occur.
— Since 1990, there have been 22 mass shootings at schools.
Dale Jackson hosts a daily radio show from 7-11 a.m. on NewsTalk 770 AM/92.5 FM WVNN and a weekly television show, “Guerrilla Politics,” on WAAY-TV, both in North Alabama. Follow him @TheDaleJackson.
