Every day our children go to school and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. They promise to be loyal to the United States of America, in which this undivided nation is a place which provides liberty and justice for all — “justice” meaning fairness, equity and quality of being fair and reasonable. “Freedom” means a state of being free within a society from oppressive restrictions imposed by the authority on one’s way of life.
After the children at Sandy Hook Elementary School recited the Pledge of Allegiance on Dec. 14, that pledge of loyalty failed them. We as adults have failed those children, our children, our society and everything that the United States should stand for: liberty and justice for all, not just the few — who hold a gun.
The National Rifle Association wants us to believe that people should be free to hold guns and gun clips in the United States. That is their purpose; they are a gun club and that’s what they do — promote guns. But in doing so, they have taken away our basic freedoms. Our children are not free to go to a safe school. After the Sandy Hook gun shooting, my daughter’s school is on lockdown in anticipation of more school shootings.
We need to remember that the only purpose of a gun is to control another and to kill, and the only purpose of gun clips is to control a lot and kill many. People don’t even have to pass a background check when they purchase guns at gun shows. The NRA is [there] to promote guns, and their idea of each teacher having a gun in each classroom is incomprehensible.
Abraham Lincoln said that “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
As we begin the new year, let’s remind ourselves that the intent of our nation was to apply fairness and justice for all, not just a few. We need your help in making our country a safe place for all. Let’s all make some noise. E-mail or call your local and federal legislators, and let them know that you not only want a safe America, but you demand it!
Stacy Frank
Boca Raton
I have no doubt that Ms. Frank’s feelings are sincere…a Mother wanting to protect her child, but unfortunately, she and many like her are naive in their thinking. Statistics show that cities in the US with the strictest gun control laws have the highest crime and death rates from illegally obtained guns. People will find a gun if they want one, and more restrictions only make it harder for law abiding people to get them legally. Rapid fire assault weapons should be banned except to law enforcement and the military.
No one, including the NRA are advocating armed teachers anymore than armed pilots in the cockpit. America schools are “gun free” zones and any sick individual, carrying some sort of grudge…real or imagined, know they won’t be effectively challenged when they enter one. However, if a retired or off-duty police officer, known to be armed and well trained was stationed at each school to patrol the halls, similar to the police presence we see in our malls, banks, airports, athletic events, concerts, etc., it would be an extremely effective deterrent. I really don’t see how anyone, especially a parent, could think otherwise! Our children are our most treasured possession, yet the most vulnerable when they go unprotected to what should be a safe learning environment.
Guns are only “bad” in the wrong hands, and we need the “good guys” armed to protect us against those who should not have them. Rather than going after guns, we should concentrate our efforts on what drives these people to want to kill others, regardless of the weapon used. We should condemn those who make money from violent TV shows, movies and the sickening video games that teach children and adults killing skills. Your (www:Neighborhood Trained Killers | Main)
Our society has produced too many withdrawn, anti-social, friendless and perhaps bullied individuals who have no other outlet but to engage in hours of gaming or watching sick videos. They lose touch with the real world and lack the understanding of consequences for their actions.
Pres. Lincoln was a staunch supporter of our Constitution and would consider gun control a great loss of our freedom, as he stated in other quotes. Though Ms. Frank’s quote was accurate, she misunderstood his meaning. Lincoln was president during the Civil War and the meaning of his statement that America’s own division of North vs. South, could destroy us from within. Certainly not guns.
You misquoted Abraham Lincoln. The actual quote has nothing whatsoever to do with taking guns away from Americans, it has to do with a government that takes away your liberties. And the right to possess a gun is the second most important liberty given in the Bill of Rights.
This is the actual quote that you thought you were referencing:
“All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
“At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” (from “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions: Address Before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois” January 27, 1838)
As you can clearly see the quote dealt with corrupt political system
Your concept that fairness is an element of justice is simply not contained in any case that I have read by any court in the United States. The terms “fairness” and “justice” do appear as a standard, but they are mutually exclusive. For example in a California case where the town of Santa Monica imposed a burden on a few private property owners to provide low income housing the court wrote “in fairness and justice” this burden on a few should be borne by the general public. “That being so, just compensation must be paid to the owners of rental properties to which the ordinance is applied.” You hope to burden all law abiding citizens for the crimes committed by a few anti social psychopaths. Your suggestion is neither fair nor is it justice.
By imposing on all people a ban of an inanimate object like a gun is not a solution. Evildoers will obtain guns just as they obtain Heroin. Banning every one for the deeds of a few evil people is neither fair nor is it justice. Those who use guns to commit crimes with the use of guns should be punished severely, and they are. The use of a gun to commit a crime can add 25 years to a sentence. But punishing evildoers is also not the solution. Perhaps there is no complete solution, but certainly a society that lacks a moral code that respects human life is one that will generate more murders.