A parent in Texas is so distraught over the thought of a person being armed with high-capacity assault ammunition and high-capacity assault weapons going into his child's school to commit mass murder that he did a very dumb and dangerous thing.
To me, the story of this man, Ronald Miller underscores that fact that parents all over the country, including the gun-savvy state of Texas realize that it is past time for a ban on assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition.
Texas news reports that after dropping off his child at the school, Ronald Miller went up to a greeter and told her he was a gunman and that his "target" was inside the school.
Texas news KVUE reports that:
CELINA, Texas –– A parent in Celina ISD has been charged with making terroristic threats at his child's school. Police say Ron Miller, who was unarmed, told Celina Elementary School staffers that he had a gun to test the school's security response on Wednesday morning.
"Basically, he told one of the greeters, 'I am a gunman. My target is inside of the building. I'm going in the building. You stop me,'" said Celina Independent School District superintendent Donny O'Dell. "They recognized, at that point, that he did not have a weapon and they were able to go ahead and tell him to leave."
Fact is, if the 'greeter' had been carrying a gun, as the NRA are pushing, then the father could be dead right now. A "greeter" - whose assignment is to make sure student's get in the building and go to the gymnasium or lunchroom to wait for the first bell to ring to go to class - could have pulled a gun and shot the father, right in front of all those elementary school kids which would have caused lots and lots of havoc.
To me, this story showed that even in gun-savvy parents in Texas are so freaked out that so many people, too many people, have access to assault-style weapons and high-capacity assault ammunition that they are doing dumb things, like what Ronald Miller did.
That's why I think this father showed it is past time that we ban assault-style weapons and high-capacity assault ammunition.
I know gun safety discussions can become very heated as people can become very passionate about their position. So before anyone accuses me of "wanting government to take our guns away" ... or accuses me of not knowing that people use guns to hunt with, I'd like to add these final points,
- many states, including "Red States" prohibit hunting with the AR-15 due to its .223 caliber.
- many states, including "Red States" prohibit hunting with any type of rifle and only allow shotguns, muzzle-loaders and bows to hunt with.
- many states, including "Red States" prohibit hunting with anything bigger than a 6 round mag. (meaning: high-capacity ammunition is banned.)
- many states, including "Red States" that do allow hunting with a .223 caliber also prohibit hunters to use anything bigger than a 6 round mag. (meaning: high-capacity ammunition is banned.)
The reason many states, including Red States, ban hunting with a .223 AR-15 is due twofold:
1) the danger of innocent people being killed by them. You see, some Red States are flat and such terrain increases the potential for missed shots from a rifle to strike unintended targets, like people.
2) the .223 AR will not put down a deer - or any other animal bigger than human. The .223 ARs was designed to put down humans, not designed for hunting.
People wrongly think to themselves, “
Well if the Army uses the .223 to kill people it can surely kill a deer" --
not true. Deer are strong, fairly powerful animals with well-defined heavy muscle, bone and sinew. A .223 caliber bullet is simply too slim and too light to consistently plow through muscle, bone & tissue regardless of bullet placement.
Basically, .223 are banned in many states because no one wants to see a bunch of wounded Deer in the woods - that doesn't benefit anyone.
Therefore, in my opinion, banning ARs and banning high-capacity assault ammunition would not, I repeat not, have any adverse affect on any hunters. There is no rational reason any hunter would need an AR and/or high-capacity assault ammunition.
I want to emphasize that my diary is not about whether or not the father was dumb and could have gotten himself killed in front of elementary school kids walking into school
... and my diary is not a discussion on whether or not the school should have been turned into a Maximum Security School whereby the father would have been dropped by a sharp-shooter in a guard tower for talking to the "greeter" too long.
This diary is to highlight the fact that even the parents in "gun-loving" Texas are freaking out because of the easy access to assault-style weapons and high-capacity assault ammunition -- and the father's actions tells me it is past time we ban assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition.