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Members of Connecticut Legislature,
I am writing today regarding the recent tragedy at Newtown. This was an act of deranged behavior from a mentally ill individual, not of decent and law abiding people that own firearms and respect life. I am tired of the knee-jerk reactions that direct the priorities of this country.
There is no denying that is was a horrific incident and one that will be remembered for years to come. Well parts of it will be, everyone will remember the name of the person who killed seven adults and twenty children but how many will remember the names of those killed? The media in the US has a lot to be proud of in the coverage of this and other similar incidents. Who among you can tell me the name of the teacher killed at Columbine? I bet you all know the two responsible.
Now it is ironic that calls for additional security on the nation’s schools by the NRA is denounced as a non starter but yet several schools currently implement the same plan. Ms. Porters School in Farmington has private armed security on campus. Every college in the state has its own police force. You yourselves have armed capital security to protect you on a daily basis in Hartford.
I find Mark Benigni’s comment in the Record Journal insulting! I have a child attending elementary school in Meriden and he is fine approving the cost to place police officers at the Middle and High Schools but not at the elementary schools. When should cost be a factor when talking about the life of a child?
Posting a police officer in every school isn’t necessarily the best use of police resources, said city School Superintendent Mark D. Benigni. Meriden has school resource officers at its two high schools and two middle schools. Benigni estimated the cost at about $100,000 per officer.
http://www.myrecordjournal.com/local/ar ... 963f4.html
Meanwhile in New Jersey, the small township of Marlboro is taking a pro-active approach to ensuring the safety of its school children.
Don’t mess with Marlboro Township.
The leafy, well-heeled New Jersey suburb will station a permanent armed cop in each of its nine schools starting Jan. 2.
It’s apparently the first district nationwide bent on packing heat in every schoolhouse since madman Adam Lanza gunned down 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14.
“We’ve made a collective decision as a town that we need armed security in each of our schools,” Mayor Jonathan Hornik told The Post.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/jers ... uWbD62d51K
In 2000 Bill Clinton sought funds to put police officers in schools across the country. How come his plan bears merit but not the same plan from an organization that represents the firearm owners in this country?
Clinton also unveiled the $60-million fifth round of funding for "COPS in School," a Justice Department program that helps pay the costs of placing police officers in schools to help make them safer for students and teachers. The money will be used to provide 452 officers in schools in more than 220 communities.
"Already, it has placed 2,200 officers in more than 1,000 communities across our nation, where they are heightening school safety as well as coaching sports and acting as mentors and mediators for kids in need," Clinton said.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism ... in-Schools
Posting police officers at every school in Connecticut should be a priority for each of you. This is the only way to ensure the safety of our children from the monsters that exist within our society.
As for the calls for additional restrictions of firearms in the state and country. Before we go down that road, can we look at the current laws in place? Below you will read about Jordan Marsh, who was charged will twelve counts of stealing a firearm and got a suspended sentence! Turns out Jordan wasn’t quite finished and stole another firearm with intent to commit mayhem. How many other cases like this are out there? How can someone who steals and possesses twelve firearms get a suspended sentence?
Jordan Marsh, 26, pleaded guilty May 10 to a single count of stealing a firearm and received a suspended prison sentence and two years of probation. He initially faced 12 counts of stealing a firearm and other larceny charges.
According to East Windsor police, on Saturday, Marsh grabbed a Bushmaster .50-caliber rifle from Riverview Sales valued at $5,000 and ran from the store. When store employees confronted Marsh, he pulled a knife, then fled on foot. Police officers eventually caught and arrested him.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/apparen ... -massacre/
Several years ago Massachusetts used to have signs posted on the highways that warned of a year in jail for anyone found with an illegal firearm. Why can’t CT have a similar program? I am guessing it is possibly due to the closing of several correctional facilities by the current administration.
Rather than enact more laws why can’t we fund the police and judicial systems to enforce the existing ones?
Sincerely,
John Hayes
NRA Certified Instructor - Si vis pacem, para bellum -
[email protected]