TIMES HAVE CHANGED

A thought provoking article. Thank you, Officer Rodriguez, for your service and your insights. And thank you, Mas, for posting this.

Just turned 65 and remember how carefree my child hood was and how constantly on alert we must be now. That really hits the nail on the head. POWERFULL!

Take care of the babies! They shouldn’t have to live in this kind of world.

For those who believe that the current wars are unjust, this just compounds the tragedy. When I carry a pistol in public, I may only deploy it in response to “immediate, otherwise unavoidable threat of death or grave bodily injury to the innocent.” (Still remember that from LIF-1, Mas.) If only our military was, metaphorically speaking, held to a similar standard. If only the world was that simple.

Certainly the most depressing email I’ve received in a long time. I’m not even sure what to say.

“We have been at war continuously for the past decade defending ourselves and fighting for our Nation’s survival. War and conflict is all these children have known.” Some might argue about the wisdom of these wars but you can’t argue about what the kids have seen.

I hope someone comes up with an optimistic comment.

Steve

Mass, I thank God that there are men and women like you and this officer to protect, teach, and inspire us. Thank you for sharing this, and please pass my thanks to Antonio as well!

“…love our children more than we love even ourselves.” Well said, Antonio, well said!

Amen to that, sir!

Take care of our children, and love them more than we love our own selves…makes perfect sense to me.

I will continue to keep trying my best, however I can.

Dear Antonio,

I am going to pass on your message to my family and friends, many of whom are active in law enforcement and/or working with children.

I hadn’t really contemplated how the violence, and the media’s sensationalism of it, has effected ALL the children in this country (and the rest of the world).

You and others like you are heroes.

My very best,

John

I appreciate the sentiment, Antonio, but I must disagree: the idea that “people are shooting kids all the time” is NOT “their reality”, it is the false reality that has been projected onto them by the adults in their lives.

The chance of elementary school children being gunned down at school is beyond remote; it’s almost non-existent.

I really think you missed your chance here to inject some actual reality into her life, to offset her fears. Even high school students, arguably the most hormonal and violent segment of society, have almost no chance of being a “school shooting” victim.

The anti-gun crowd loves to trot out the real statistics about campus shootings as evidence of why we don’t need legalized campus carry, by ironically arguing that campuses are already the safes places our kids will ever be.

Just say “no” to hyperbole, and yes to reality.

It is truly a sad reality that our kids have to live in (sometimes unrealistic) fear that a “bad person” is going to do harm to them. Over a year ago, there was a mass shooting in our hometown, where innocent people lost their lives at the hand of an individual who was angry at society. My daughter still has trouble sleeping at night for fear that someone is going to break into our house and shoot us. We truly cannot blame “society” as the cause of all violence, but I believe that the hopelessness that many feel because of the economy, lack of compassion and brotherly love, and the selfishness of our culture can push people over the edge. The maniac who tragically destroyed lives in Tucson may have seen life in prison, or even the death penalty, as a better option than trying to make his way in society. Unfortunately, our kids are hearing about these incidents and about the sad state of our country from the news and from their parents. Ask any child under age 12 what the word “economy” means, and they will not be able to tell you, but will be able to tell you it is not a good thing. Mayberry is gone forever, folks. God Bless our great nation.

Letters like Officer Rodriguez is why I choose to carry a gun. I believe it is an inherent responsibility of an adult to stand ready to defend the innocent against the predators that lurk in our society.

I had a similar conversation with my 6yr old daughter many years ago. She asked me why I carried a gun when we went for our evening walks. I told her it was so I could keep anyone from hurting her or stealing her if need be. It might of been kind of hyperbolic, but she grew up safe and self assured and not afraid of her world.

To Craig:

I appreciate your comments and I can see where you are coming from. I do agree that their reality is something that is projected on to them by the media but “perception is a person’s reality” and that was the point I was trying to make, sadly.

I do have to respectfully disagree with your comments about student’s and their chance of being victims of violence. While shootings do not happen “all the time” in schools there are other violent crimes such as assault and even sex crimes that happen with unfortunate frequency. These kids are exposed to that and it does affect them personally and collectively.

I also worked for an agency that had to deal with a hostage situation that resulted in a student death. It was a small rural community just like I work for now. I can tell you that, while remote, it does and will continue to happen even in the most isolated of places.

To some others that posted:

Please don’t let my letter depress you 🙂 That was really not its intent (even though I see how it could be)

While writing this I remembered the passage from Romans “Do not be overcome with evil but overcome evil with good” As warrior sheepdogs I think that is an important mandate for us all to follow. We all prepare for a battle that may (hopefully) never come. I think equally if not more important is that we touch the lives around us in the best way we can. If we start with our children, the next generation will be better for it.

I want to say that I think ALL of you have started doing that just by virtue of your personal decision to be armed and take the responsibility for your personal safety (and your loved ones) That is the foundation that starts it all!

I appreciate each and every of you that has made that decision and commitment.

Again, thank you all for your comments. Stay safe and watch your 6.

A.R. (Tony) Rodriguez

Great letter. However, I have a slight disagreement with the officer. School shootings were not unknown to me in the early 60s in New York City. I distinctly remember one in my Brooklyn elementary school yard when I was about 12.

Things have not exactly changed, they have just spread.

ML

Mas,

If you had been in that classroom, how would you have responded to those perceptive kids?

To reinforce what KBCraig said, it’s also the case that the actual level of criminal violence in our society is at as low as it’s been since before World War II, and still declining, as can easily be seen if you look at official statistics instead of sensationalist television. In fact, kids are in so much safe now that if they maintained their current childhood mortality rate throughout adulthood they could be expected to live hundreds of years!

I’m a former (15 years) cop and current security director for a large urban school district. I agree that the children are as this officer describes. I typically wear a shirt & tie when working, but all the security officers in my schools wear traditional uniforms and carry handcuffs, but no weapons (we also have school resource police officers who are armed). I was recently in a middle school and a 6th grade boy approached to ask who I was. I told him I was with school security. He asked if i was in charge and I said I was. He asked if I had a gun. I said no. He asked if I had handcuffs, i said no. He asked if i had pepper spray, I said no. He kind of looked at me and shook his head. He then said, “you guys really need to carry guns. What if something happens?”

If your part of the country does not have children thinking this way, count your blessings.

http://www.IfItHitsTheFan.com

In my community in Seattle, the cops are among the most feared “bad guys” in the city. We see more incidents of outright police brutality and killing than we do any school shooting. I think we need to get to the root of the systemic problems that are causing kids to see violence as the solution to their problems, and part of that has to do with holding accountable the group that foments terror in our communities, rather than attempting to stifle it: the police themselves.

Fearmongering.

I hate to say it but the kids are right. Children growing up on the American frontier knew their environment and knew how to survive. Folks that lived through the depression were tough and able to handle the Nazis and Hitler.

As tough as it is to see, if these kids are going to survive in their world they need to be aware and ready for what they will face.

I hope their tough enough, smart enough, and maybe will do a better job than we did.

This sad state is why we are determined that our youngest grandchildren be home-schooled. I, too, am 65 and never had to face the “reality” (as a child) that our current generation of children do today.

We know (at least strongly believe) that we can protect our children “at home” and know that they won’t be exposed to many of the over-blown fears that children are generally presented with.

I remember having to “duck and cover” under my school desk in elementary school, trusting an inch of wood and some metal; to protect me from a hydrogen bomb. But that seemed (even at the time) kind of an exercise in futility but a pleasant break from normal classroom activity. These fears, today, of a psychopath breaking in to the school and murdering students and teachers is much more personal and scary than the errant A-Bomb. Our children need not, should not(!), have to be presented with such abomination.

Perhaps if school teachers (apart from those in Wisconsin, anyway) were allowed to be armed; if that zero-tolerance-fear-mongering weren’t rampant in public schools, children would feel more empowered and be better protected than they, in fact, are.

We know that the fear of armed citizens, and the reality of the same, does more to dissuade a criminal than any law or regulation ever has.

In the old days there was no such concept as “No guns zone” and any madman could count on at least someone (maybe principal, or PE teacher) to be able to defend children… No more, but are our schools and our kids safer?

I hope this “no guns zone” laws get repealed sooner or later as unconstitutional (aren’t they on a federal level) and plain breach of safety for the children (I hope one administration or another will see Israeli example of how they address gun violence and stop violating our rights).
Meanwhile, let us pray.

At a time when crime levels are typically at 30-year lows around the country, the only thing this evidences is the degree to which mainstream media has filled the public with an intense, irrational fear.

The world is not that scary. Caution is always wise, but our culture of paranoid fear is the real enemy.

I donno, Donald. In my opinion, I think the 6th grader has his stuff together! You should be armed to protect those who cannot protect themselves, namely the children in your case. One can’t depend on another that may not be there when the time comes that some lunatic decides to make a statement.

You were a long time cop and you should be carrying at all times. If it is a problem due to policy, you should make it a priority to change it.

Best wishes.

Violent crime has dropped fairly dramatically over the last 30 years, while people’s fear of crime has soared.

The difference? 24/7 news coverage.

Before cable news, any crime at school, or involving children, was reported in the local paper and within range of the local TV station.

Now, every time someone looks crossways at a kindergartener, Nancy Grace is bleating 24/7 to “lock that purrrvurrrt away!”.

Statistically, our children are safer now than ever before, and in school they’re safer than anywhere else in their lives (and I grudgingly admit this as a home-schooling parent who advocates totally abolishing all government schools).

Kids are far more likely to be sexually abused by Mom’s live-in boyfriend than by any “stranger danger”. Kids are far more in danger of injury while being driven to or from school, than while at school.

These statistics are so readily available that I don’t even feel obligated to provide a cite; google it yourself if you doubt it.

I honestly have mixed feelings about this topic. On one hand I blame the media and the sewage they produce that cause some children (and adults) to have this fear.

On the other hand, a good amount of reality I feel is good for one regardless of age. Gunfacts.info cites that school violence hasn’t really changed much in 100 something years, it just gets more attention now.

I just finished with public education not too long ago (finished college a few years ago). Probably since Jr High I have carried a good folder on myself even at school (carried a first aid kit on myself as well). The last murder in my home town occurred about 15 years before I was born so it was a safe place.

Since probably around 10 or 12, I’ve realized there are bad people out there and I might have to fend for myself. Whenever I went places as a kid I usually had pepper spray too…not sure how I got it honestly but I did. Funny thing is this sheepdog was born into a family of mostly sheep.

So I’m glad I grew up be weary of people, I’m sure it’s saved me already. On the same token, if I have children, I would tell them early on there are bad people and to be cautious in life. They would be homeschooled partly for that reason but mostly because of the lack of confidence in public education. Half the stuff done in school is just to take up time and has no value. While gun-violence may be relatively unchanged over the years, I really think the general school population has sharply declined for the worse.

On the flip side of things, I remember in school where there were four food groups and we were told ice-cream was in the dairy group and therefore good for us. Does ignoring or being unaware of something like nutrition or crime make us better off?

I am just 30 years old and I remember never being scared in school. School was always just a safe place. Your friend Antonio seems like a good man. We need more Antonios in the world.

The constant threats children face at school blow my mind. Our daughter is only two, and because of the violence, among other things, we are going to homeschool. I can’t believe more parents aren’t doing the same for their children. I know not all can, but I just would be too worried for her all the time.

I don’t know what the answer is. I don’t think the kids should be in a secure lockdown enviroment, where they feel like they are in jail and can’t go out for recess. But, what do you do? Arm teachers? Have police at everty door, checking IDs to people who enter? I really don’t know.

Don’t know about others, but the 1950’s and 1960’s were filled with pretty nasty school days for me. Drug dealing, police raids literally in the cafeteria during lunch as drug dealing kids were cutting up keys of pot on the table, kids snorting coke during class. Friends carrying guns, knives and clubs in school. Riots of several thousand outside the HS. Rampant race tensions and fights. Shootings and dead bodies on the front steps of the school. I taught school during the 1970’s and nothing had changed. It was clear that there were lots of good and great kids and lots of young gang bangers and cretins. So I have no idea where this idealistic paradise of the past was. I wish I was part of it.

When I had kids, I didn’t decide to home school them. There was a perfectly good option available that has few behavior problems and runs 98 percent college bound results. The Catholic schools in al the major urban areas outperform the public schools on every measure. They do it on 1/3 the per pupil cost also. You look at the student population and they have substantial non-Catholics as folks are on waiting lists to have their kids attend.

The public school teacher unions and Democratic politicians crippled the public school system after WWII. The old saying of “sow the wind and reap the whirlwind” applies. When someone like Michelle Rhee tries to clear up a school system in Wash DC they crucify her. So screw it. Take your kids out of the system. But lets not think that the past was some kid of nirvana. It wasn’t .

Who is John Galt? All the responsible adults who held the weight of the world on their shoulders have shrugged.

Mas:

Good piece; BTW, a big school district in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex recently announced plans to cut ALL SRO funding and replace them “security officers” (I’m thinking they’ll be unarmed, but that’s pure conjecture on my part).

I fear this will be the new reality across the country. Pretty soon, conversations between students and those assigned to protect them will probably focus on the fact the protectors are almost as helpless as the students!

Mike H.

All of the school shootings over the years and most schools are still “criminal protection zones”. Allow teachers and school staff with permits to carry and they’ll become safer places. I’d rather have a teacher stop a threat immediately than have my child wait 5-15 min for the police to arrive. I’m sure most would have thought that Amish school would have been a pretty safe place a couple years ago, but you just never know.