FINDING THE TARGET

As Newtown slowly fades from the 15 minute news cycles you start to get the same feeling as after every large tragedy in the United States. That feeling is? Nothing will change! So instead of trying to jump into the the pile of talking heads I decided after reflection to take the statement made by the NRA and Mr. Wayne Lapierre and offer the NRA some free crisis management advice. More then that though I wanted to offer to the NRA a statement that might allow them to conserve their original grass roots objectives while being proactive and true to the moment. The Italic is the original text as read by Mr. Lapierre at the news conference, the bold and the strike outs are the revised text which might have gone much further to find solutions and address the problem. Therefore I offer that the NRA might perhaps have said this instead; It is long but I think worthwhile to read if not only to see my vision but to understand just how out of touch the NRA actually is (see striked out text) and how difficult it will be to resolve this very deep problem.

 PROPOSED REVISED STATEMENT

'' The National Rifle Association's 4 million mothers, fathers, sons and daughters join the nation in horror, outrage, grief and earnest prayer for the families of Newtown, Connecticut ... who suffered such incomprehensible loss as a result of this unspeakable crime''. They got this part right

''Out of respect for those grieving families, and until the facts are known, the NRA has refrained from comment. While some have tried to exploit tragedy for political gain, we have remained respectfully silent''. We feel there are those who are more apt to speak to these tragic events then we, an association, that does represent a large portion of our citizens who do own firearms and that this tragedy was perpetrated using firearms. Hence our goal here today will to be to speak about the current situation in our country, the challenges we face relative to gun control and potential ideas to move our Nation forward under the shadow of this terrible event.

'' Now, we would like to must speak ... for the safety of our nation's children. Because for all the noise and anger directed at us over the past week, no one — nobody — has addressed the most important, pressing and immediate question we face: How do we start the discussion which leads all us, all Americans, towards a new revised Amendment to our constitution which will not infringe on the basic right to ''bear arms?''  How do we, with the goal of we protecting our children right now, starting today, in find a way that we know can works? The only way to answer that question is to face up to the truth. We as a Nation are obsessed with guns, we are obsessed with violence and we are ultimately paralyzed to act. For a very long time we have stopped asking the right questions about our future. We are simply defending the undefendable. Living under the philosophy that things are not that bad and that whatever ails us will fix itself. We have been living with an Amendment that no longer applies to the 21st century. We have become impotent to do what is right, what is best for our Nation; for each other, each citizen, regardless of race, religion or sex. This thing we all seek is simple, it is basic. It is the right to a better life, a secure life, a future for our children, our most valuable commodity. The time for rational discussion is now. The troubles that plague this great Nation will never be solved if we do not engage now, if we cannot put bipartisanship aside, to put down our guard, our fenced in territories and move towards a better option. Politicians pass laws for Gun-Free School Zones. They issue press releases bragging about them. They post signs advertising them. And in so doing, they tell every insane killer in America that schools are their safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk''.

'' How have our nation's priorities gotten so far out of order? Think about it. We care about our money, so we protect our banks with armed guards. American airports, office buildings, power plants, courthouses — even sports stadiums — are all protected by armed security.''  Every year in this great country of ours more then 30,000 of our citizens die at the hand of firearms (homicides, accidental discharge, suicide; 2011 statistics from the CDC). We care more about the constitutional rights written over 220 years ago then we do about the affect this Amendment is and has had on our ability to grow as a civil society. There is no doubt that if our forefathers, the creators of our constitution where here today, they would be the first to push for changes which properly reflect today's society.

''We care about the President, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents. Members of Congress work in offices surrounded by armed Capitol Police officers. Yet when it comes to the most beloved, innocent and vulnerable members of the American family — our children — we as a society leave them utterly defenseless, and the monsters and predators of this world know it and exploit it. That must change now''!

'' The truth is that our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters — people so deranged, so evil, so possessed by voices and driven by demons that no sane person can possibly ever comprehend them. They walk among us every day. And does anybody really believe that the next Adam Lanza isn't planning his attack on a school he's already identified at this very moment? How many more copycats are waiting in the wings for their moment of fame — from a national media machine that rewards them with the wall-to-wall attention and sense of identity that they crave — while provoking others to try to make their mark''? Given this, we as a society, must recognize the need to improve the identification of such individuals, improve the care and treatment available to them but most of all ensure measures to restrict wherever possible their ability to arm themselves. The NRA understands that regardless of whatever measures or laws are implemented that society will always be at risk from these types of individuals. The idea that we can arm ourselves to the point of eliminating it is far fetched.

A dozen more killers? A hundred? More? How can we possibly even guess how many, given our nation's refusal to create an active national database of the mentally ill?

We as Americans have not been doing enough. We have become mired in the politics, in the posturing. We value more our positions then we do results. ''And the fact is, that wouldn't even begin to address the much larger and more lethal criminal class: Killers, robbers, rapists and drug gang members who have spread like cancer in every community in this country. Meanwhile, federal gun prosecutions have decreased by 40% — to the lowest levels in a decade''. We have told ourselves that more guns will solve the problems we face. ''WE'', have convinced ourselves that we can fight guns with guns. It is a foolish notion and the numbers prove it. We just don't want to face the facts. We are in a worst case of denial possible.

'' So now, due to a declining willingness to prosecute dangerous criminals, violent crime is increasing again for the first time in 19 years! Add another hurricane, terrorist attack or some other natural or man-made disaster, and you've got a recipe for a national nightmare of violence and victimization''. This has all resulted in us, our politicians and our leaders losing focus on what truly is the issue. It is simple, yet complex. There are simply to many guns in to many of the wrong peoples hands. To try and deny this would be foolish.  And here's another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal: There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people. Through vicious, violent video games with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Splatterhouse. And here's one: it's called Kindergarten Killers. It's been online for 10 years. How come my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn't or didn't want anyone to know you had found it?Then there's the blood-soaked slasher films like "American Psycho" and "Natural Born Killers" that are aired like propaganda loops on "Splatterdays" and every day, and a thousand music videos that portray life as a joke and murder as a way of life. And then they have the nerve to call it "entertainment." It is clear that the sickness of violence which inflicts us, our society, is made by us. We can not turn elsewhere to find the guilty. It is not forced upon us. We consume it in indigestible amounts and then question why we see such violence reproduce itself in our communities, in our families and in our schools. The truth is we have no where further to look then directly in the mirror. Every one of us, we are all perpetrators of this violence. You do not have to be the creator of it to share in the responsibility. Your consumption of it is all that is required.  We tell ourselves it is not real, that it will not or is not hurting our society, our young people, that it is only make believe. But is that what it really is? Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?

It has become all to obvious that In a race to the bottom, media conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing an ever-more-toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty into our homes — every minute of every day of every month of every year. A child growing up in America witnesses 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the time he or she reaches the ripe old age of 18.

''And throughout it all, too many in our national media ... their corporate owners ... and their stockholders ... act as silent enablers, if not complicit co-conspirators. Rather than face their own moral failings, the media demonize lawful gun owners, amplify their cries for more laws and fill the national debate with misinformation and dishonest thinking that only delay meaningful action and all but guarantee that the next atrocity is only a news cycle away''. The media is no longer the provider or the reader of the news, they are the makers of it. Each 24 hr news feed is brought to you by one side or the other with very low concern for facts but simply a focus on ratings. News has become big, big business. The talking heads invade our living rooms each day and claim to state the truth or provide the facts when in reality they are now simply an extension of what was a story. They feed us their version of it, they pump it up, make it more grandiose, more exciting and all the while they claim to be neutral and fact based but we all know they are not. They are a perverse version of what we have become as a society.

The media call semi-automatic firearms "machine guns" — they claim these civilian semi-automatic firearms are used by the military, and they tell us that the .223 round is one of the most powerful rifle calibers ... when all of these claims are factually untrue. They don't know what they're talking about!
Worse, they perpetuate the dangerous notion that one more gun ban — or one more law imposed on peaceful, lawful people — will protect us where 20,000 others have failed! Understand this though; what i have just said is not important what is important is that there clearly is a gun problem in our society. It is not different then claiming their is not an obesity problem in our great land when all you have to do is look around you to understand that there in fact is a very, very serious problem. The facts cannot lie. The math does not lie. It is not important who has a ''machine gun'' mixed up with a ''semi automatic'' what is important is that there is a gun problem and we must begin a dialogue to address it. No one, not the NRA, nor the media, nor the parents at home can deny that the common denominator in all those guns deaths mentioned earlier is ''guns''. It is not mad men, not crime and not insanity. It is in fact guns.

''As brave, heroic and self-sacrificing as those teachers were in those classrooms, and as prompt, professional and well-trained as those police were when they responded, they were unable — through no fault of their own — to stop it'' . Some will say teachers should be armed. Those individuals who we as parents trust every day to educate our children, share values and the truth. The NRA does not share this vision nor this ideology. There is a place for guns but it is not in the class rooms strapped to an educators waist. As parents, we do everything we can to keep our children safe. It is now time for us to assume responsibility for their safety at school. The only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection. The idea that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun is absolute foolishness. The fact is the way to stop bad guys from having guns is to have better systems in place and to effectively control who ultimately gets to own one. Will it be a fool proof solution? Of course it will not. It is one of the prices we pay for living in a free and democratic society. This is not a police state and it is not, for very specific reason. The primary one being we do not try and up the ante with more guns, we try and find solutions based around less guns. This does not mean eliminating guns all together, far from it. Everyone recognizes Would you rather have your 911 call bring a good guy with a gun from a mile away ... or a minute away?

Now, I can imagine the shocking headlines you'll print tomorrow morning: "More guns," you'll claim, "are the NRA's answer to everything!" Your implication will be that guns are evil and have no place in society, much less in our schools. But since when did the word "gun" automatically become a bad word?

A gun in the hands of a Secret Service agent protecting the President isn't a bad word. A gun in the hands of a soldier protecting the United States isn't a bad word. And when you hear the glass breaking in your living room at 3 a.m. and call 911, you won't be able to pray hard enough for a gun in the hands of a good guy to get there fast enough to protect you. So why is the idea of a gun good when it's used to protect our President or our country or our police, but bad when it's used to protect our children in their schools?
They're our kids. They're our responsibility. And it's not just our duty to protect them — it's our right to protect them. It is the sad reality of the world we live in that no matter how valiant any attempt to restrict guns would take years and years to have the desired outcome. Guns will remain an active part of our fabric but it should be a concerted effort to determine how they make up part of it. The goal being to make them a small part, not the main canvas.

You know, five years ago, after the Virginia Tech tragedy, when I said we should put armed security in every school, the media called me crazy. Perhaps I was, at that time, overly zealous. Believing that more force was what was required to keep our children safe. Perhaps the time was not right to advance a new idea, a new direction.  But what if, when Adam Lanza started shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday, he had been confronted by qualified, armed security? Will you at least admit it's possible that 26 innocent lives might have been spared? The simple fact is we will never know, the reality is we shouldn't explore this option because it ultimately is not what will bring long term sustainable safety and security to the American people or our children. The only thing which can help guarantee this is a comprehensive revision of the laws which allow the general possession of firearms. Is that so abhorrent to all of us you that we you would rather continue to risk the alternative?

''Is the press and political class here in Washington so consumed by fear and hatred of the NRA that it is not able to see that we can be part of the solution. There is a way for America's gun owners to be part of the solution and not seen as part of the problem. We all have work to do, compromises to make. We should however be unwavering in our determination to find solutions to the problem of guns. that you're willing to accept a world where real resistance to evil monsters is a lone, unarmed school principal left to surrender her life to shield the children in her care? No one — regardless of personal political prejudice — has the right to impose that sacrifice.

''Ladies and gentlemen, there is no national, one-size-fits-all solution to protecting our children.'' There have been some mistakes along the way. Mistakes on all sides, on the NRA side; on our Presidents side for But do know this President zeroing out school emergency planning grants in last year's budget, and scrapped "Secure Our Schools" policing grants in next year's budget. We can look for scapegoats but this will only waste valuable time.

''With all the foreign aid, with all the money in the federal budget, with all the fiscal challenges our Nation faces it is clear we can't afford to put a police officer in every school. Even if we did that, we could not claim nor state that this would be the solution to prevent these types of tragedies in the future''. politicians have no business — and no authority — denying us the right, the ability, or the moral imperative to protect ourselves and our loved ones from harm.

Now, the National Rifle Association knows that there are millions of qualified active and retired police; active, reserve and retired military; security professionals; certified firefighters and rescue personnel; and an extraordinary corps of patriotic, trained qualified citizens to join with local school officials and police in devising a protection plan for every school. We know these individuals can help to build comprehensive plans to better protect our schools. To develop National Standards & Practices which can improve overall school security. We believe the President and Congress should immediately convene a body to begin the implementation of a Nation wide plan. We can deploy them to protect our kids now. We can immediately  quickly make America's schools safer — relying on the ingenuity of these brave men and women of America.'s police force. The budget of our local police departments are strained and resources are limited, but their dedication and courage are second to none and they can be deployed right now.

I The NRA call's on the President and Congress today, to act immediately, to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school — and to do it now, to make sure that a blanket of safety is in place when our children return to school in January. Before Congress reconvenes, before we engage in any lengthy debate over legislation, regulation or anything else, as soon as our kids return to school after the holiday break, we need to have every single school in America immediately deploy a protection program proven to work — and by that I mean armed security. Right now, today, every school in the United States should plan meetings with parents, school administrators, teachers and local authorities — and draw upon every resource available — to erect a cordon of protection around our kids right now. To create a National program for improving school security.Every school will have a different solution based on its own unique situation. Every school in America needs to immediately identify, dedicate and deploy the resources necessary to put these measures in place right now. And the National Rifle Association, as America's preeminent trainer of law enforcement and security personnel for the past 50 years, is ready, willing and uniquely qualified to help.

Our training programs are the most advanced in the world. That expertise must be brought to bear to protect our schools and our children now. We did it for the nation's defense industries and military installations during World War II, and we'll do it for our schools today.

The NRA is going to bring all of its knowledge, dedication and resources to develop a model National School Shield Emergency Response Program for every school that wants it. From armed security to building, design and access control to information technology to student and teacher training, this multi-faceted program will be developed by the very best experts in their fields.

Former Congressman Asa Hutchinson will lead this effort as National Director of the National School Shield Program, with a budget provided by the NRA of whatever scope the task requires. His experience as a U.S. Attorney, Director of the Drug Enforcement Agency and Undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security will give him the knowledge and expertise to hire the most knowledgeable and credentialed experts available anywhere, to get this program up and running from the first day forward. If we truly cherish our kids more than our money or our celebrities, we must give them the greatest level of protection possible and the security that is only available. with a properly trained — armed — good guy.

Under Asa's leadership, our team of security experts will make this the best program in the world for protecting our children at school, and we will make that program available to every school in America free of charge. That's a plan of action that can, and will, make a real, positive and indisputable difference in the safety of our children — starting right now.

The There'll be time for talk and debate later are now. This is the time, this is the day for decisive action. We have come as far as we can under the current legislation and laws. There must be a new beginning in America. There must be an openness to revisit the constitution, to address now what we have all known for so very long; The Second Amendment is out dated, it is old and it no longer represents the values of our society. We must ALL come to terms with this, regardless of where you live in this great Nation, no matter how much you value your guns. The time is upon us to act. We are at the same cross roads as 220 years ago when our founding Fathers sat together to draft the original constitution. They did this amongst great tribulation, great challenges and great risk. They persevered, so now must we. Changing what we believe is not easy, facing significant challenges is even harder. America and Americans have never turned away from such challenges. We have faced them head on together, we have paid a great price, we have lost hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens in conflicts both at home and abroad. When the world has needed us we have always answered the call. We have been criticized and questioned for our actions. We have made as any enemies as friends. It is of no value to revisit the actions of the past only to recognize that we have always pushed forward just the same in an attempt to make the world a better and safer place. Now is the time for us to take all this energy, all of this commitment and all of this focus and put it onto the single greatest challenge we face. The challenge of America on our own land, on our streets, in our homes. It is the implementation of a clear, concise and effective gun control program. It is a revision of the 2nd Amendment.  It is our time. The NRA calls on all its members to open their minds, it calls on our Political leaders, on all citizens to come together to find a solution. One which will never guarantee the end of all violence but will set a tone throughout the world of our commitment to fix this tragic illness which has plagued our great Nation for far to long.
We can't wait for the next unspeakable crime to happen before we act. We can't lose precious time debating legislation that won't work. We mustn't allow politics or personal prejudice to divide us. We must act now. For the sake of the safety of every child in America, I call on every parent, every teacher, every school administrator and every law enforcement officer in this country to join us in the National School Shield Program and protect our children with the only line of positive defense that's tested and proven to work.

For the record for those who might not have understood. I actually believe everyone should have the right to own a gun. I believe it should take a minimum of 6 months to get approved for ownership which must include a visit with a psychiatrist. You must also take a minimum of 2 months firearms orientation. You must also every 2 years re-apply for your permit including a new back ground check. If you are found to be in possession of a firearm illegally the minimum sentence should be 5 years in prison. If you use a firearm in the commission of a crime the minimum sentence should be 20 years. You see i think there are many people who should have the right to own guns, they should not be punished as a result of the actions of others who do not earn the right. Unfortunately there will always be guns. Until such time that we move beyond our current values and understanding. We are no where close to this. It is the unfortunate truth!

Rob