Making Sense: Obama ignores the rational answer

By MICHAEL REAGAN
What do Al Hunt of Bloomberg News, David Gregory of “Meet the Press” and President Obama have in common — besides their liberal politics?
They all send their kids to Sidwell Friends School.
With campuses in Washington, D.C., and Bethesda, Md., the highly selective private school is where the Clintons and the Gores sent their kids, along with Joe Biden’s grandchildren.
It’s also where the local 1 Percenters and the government-media elites who can afford to shell out about $32 grand a year to send their children to be indoctrinated — excuse me, educated — and to be safe.
Unlike parents across America who are worrying about how to protect their school kids in the wake of the tragic shootings in Newtown, Conn., Sidwell parents spend their days worry-free.
Their children are better protected than the printing presses at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. And it’s not because of the heavily armed Secret Service detail posted on campus to protect first-kids Sasha and Malia Obama.
It’s because Sidwell Friends — a Quaker school, by the way —  is defended by guards with loaded guns. In addition to the Secret Service with its Uzis and large ammo clips, Sidwell has its own security staff of 11.
I didn’t hear President Obama mention Sidwell Friends’ solution to school safety on Wednesday when he announced his sweeping plans to reduce gun violence by banning assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, instituting tougher gun-registration laws and taking steps to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.
None of Obama’s measures would have prevented the slaughter of innocents in Connecticut, but that’s not the point. The point is pure politics and the president and his crew want to take full advantage of the Newtown shootings to advance their anti-gun agenda.
At his White House media extravaganza, the president used lawmakers, law enforcement officials and children as his props. The kids, drawn from across the U.S., had written letters to the president saying they were worried about gun violence and school safety. You can bet there were no Sidwell kids on stage with him.
While Washington’s grandstanders and anti-gun nuts prepare to fire their latest round of ineffective, politically correct, feel-good federal laws at law-abiding gun owners, at least six states are preparing new legislation that will allow teachers to carry guns into schools or require several teachers in the building to be armed.
Putting guards with guns in places that need to be protected from bad guys or crazies is not a radical idea. It’s perfectly sensible.
Politicians and celebrities use armed bodyguards all the time. We have armed guards in banks, jewelry stores and malls. After 9/11 we armed airline pilots and armed federal marshals posing as passengers.
Only politicians and hysterical celebrity dummies like Piers Morgan can’t understand why making schools gun-free zones attracts mass-murders and reduces the chances that anyone with a gun will stop them to zero.
The president never thought of using Sidwell Friends as an example of how armed guards at schools can make them safer.
He was too busy trying to score points by attacking the NRA, dreaming up laws to further oppress law-abiding gun owners and making fun of the people who know the Second Amendment isn’t about protecting duck hunters’ rights, it’s about the right of the people to protect themselves from their government.
Meanwhile, here in Los Angeles, the Catholic grade school where my daughter teaches didn’t wait around for the president or Joe Biden to come up with complicated new laws to allegedly ensure the safety of their children.
The officials at my daughter’s school decided for themselves the best way to make their campus safer. Taking a cue from the smart folks who run the Sidwell Friends School, they did a simple, effective and rational thing. They hired an armed guard.
Copyright ©2013 Michael Reagan. Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of “The New Reagan Revolution” (St. Martin’s Press). He is the founder and chairman of The Reagan Group and president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Visit his websites at www.reagan.com and www.michaelereagan.com. Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. Mike’s column is distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.  Published in The  Messenger 1.22.13

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