Donald Trump. Take the tape from your VCR down to the kitchen. Place it on a burner and set it on fire. "The Substitute" was a Decent Action Movie. I enjoyed it. But in "real life" it would be a disaster, a tragedy. For those who have never seen it, The Substitute, the tag lines for the film were: “He has a lesson to teach. And nobody's going to have a problem with It." and
"The most dangerous thing about school used to be the students." The Plot goes:
"After he did some jobs for CIA, ex-marine John Shale is visiting his high school love Jane. She's now a teacher in Columbus High School in Miami. Soon after his arriving Jane has her knee cap broken while jogging. After that, John decides to go undercover as her substitute in high school. Very soon he finds out that gang named Kings of Destruction is terrorizing the school. Shale is going to give everything to stop them, even his own life."
What we forget is in Pt 2 of the action series, Shale becomes a teacher for the Peace Corp with his love Jane.
He lost his whole "crew" except for Joey. Everybody else perished. An "armed Teacher" Literally destroyed and entire school and half its population before victory.
It was a good movie. But like all movies, the plot was fantasized for good versus evil. Good guys versus bad guys. Getting shot "hurt" but never stopped you. They fired machine guns, handguns and bazookas and grenades at each other with minimal effects.
While great in a movie setting, in real life it would have looked more like a Syrian war zone.
Shrapnel would have killed or maimed almost all of the combatants and body parts would have been scattered like a doggies chew toys.
So while you "think" a teacher with a handgun would have "blown the hell" out of him; the reality is they would have probably died never even getting close to him to begin with.
His weapon of choice was a military grade semi-automatic rifle with a thirty round magazine. While a handgun is effective against other handguns, with the right training, it wouldn’t stop what was effectively a longer range semi-automatic military style weapon designed for maximum killing efficiency. Having multiple loaded magazine made it even deadlier. Once your head or leg or arm are ripped from your body by ONE shell, you don’t fight back, like they do in the movies. You bleed out fast and die in pain. Worse yet, you live without a body part, always being reminded of that moment the rest of your life.
In the movies, everyone "fights it out to the end, giving it there all" In real life "we fear death". Some can rise above that fear. A few. But the majority cant and dont. Science calls it a "Fight or Flight" reaction. Most choose flight. The self-need to survive.
In Texas, at the Church, he had body armor. He had a weapon of war. When shot, he fired back. A handgun wouldn’t have stopped him. In Vegas, there were several dozen "good guys with guns". Armed with side guns. It didn’t slow or stop him. His military grade weapons never even allowed for a response. He shot over 500 people, many with side arms. But arming teachers "would be different"?
Einstein said that stupidity was repeating the same thing over and over again, and expecting completely different results. Like the Good guy with a gun "theory" A theory is a contemplative and rational type of abstract or generalizing thinking, or the results of such thinking. Gun supporters sustain a set of theories not held by most rational non gun owners or the general population. Theories promoted by the NRA and their allies. The NRA has one goal and one goal period. To sell guns and weapons for manufacturers to as many as they can get to buy them. Gun safety, Gun knowledge, gun training all are secondary consequences of that effort and don’t pay their bills. Gun sales do.
"The more guns people own, the safer we will all be!" If that were true, then we need to flood the streets with Heroin, Crack and other drugs. That way no one takes them. Open gambling in all 50 states so no one gambles. Open drinking up to everyone because we need less alcohol abuse. Can you say stupid? If a theory is fact, it will work the same way for other real world applications too. This one doesn’t hold up to fact or reality.
But boy, does it increase gun sales, huh? So while they pull Trump and the GOP around by their noses, while they present "the Substitute" style theories in support of their gun sales efforts, we must be the Einstein’s. Who know no matter how they spin it, it will never work the way they want. When something doesn’t work, you change it, not keep repeating it, over and over again, expecting different results.
How do you stop military style weapons from killing innocent kids and people? When every theory fails, then try something new, like banning the weapon in question. Banning the Magazines that hold 30 + rounds. Put metal detectors at the entrances of schools. Don’t arm teachers. Don’t force an accident to happen unnecessarily. Don’t force a teacher to develop PTSD. To choose to take a student’s life. To feel cowardly for not being able to take a life. To feel guilt for not being the "action hero" who "saves the day"
So Mr. Trump, Burn you copies of the Substitute. Talk to real teachers. Quit thinking that banning certain weapons is the same as "repealing the second amendment" That the "right to bear arms" can’t be restricted or mandated to ensure the safety of the public as a whole. Remember we still don’t allow machine guns and machine pistols. We don’t allow bazookas and anti-aircraft guns either. Not as an attempt to "restrict" our freedom, but to ensure that our freedom isn’t limited by their ownership. Restricting these weapons keeps citizens safe from their use. Banning assault style weapons would be the exact same. We don’t need a weapon that fires 30 rounds in under a minute. It’s not a hunting weapon. It’s not for protection. It’s too expensive to use for target practice. It only purpose? To kill human beings fast and efficiently. It is a weapon of war.
Stop hate. Stop pretending. Stop calling us together, then separating us by party, and color and religion and hate. Life isn’t "the Substitute" That isn’t real. This isn’t what real America is about or should be. We shouldn’t be arming teachers. Our kid’s shouldn’t feel the threat of death to just learn and live. They should be worrying about the Prom, and summer jobs, and dating. Not dying and being shot. Teachers shouldn’t be worried they may have to kill someone. They should worry about grades, getting insurance for their families, summer jobs and teaching there students. Let them teach and live, not worry about policing and guns and killing.