The emerging narrative of the Parkland aftermath is clear: greater gun control, and more cops in our schools. These ideas are would be ineffective at best, and would succeed only in turning schools into prisons, and students into inmates. But imagine the public funds it would take to pull off this type of domestic militarization, and it’s easy to see why so many powerful industries are rising in its support.
What our public schools need is the presence of members of private security, not more cowards hiding behind a badge, a union, and an “officers bill of rights”. Protectors of our children should be ones who feel the ever-present fear of accountability, and of losing a paycheck. After all, “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.”
A private security firm doesn’t have the time nor the endless stream of public funds at its disposal to paper over colossal blunders such as the ones committed by law enforcement at every stage leading up to Parkland. They would almost certainly screen out the cowards in favor of the Frank Castles.
This won’t happen, but it should. Schools need do need protection, what they don’t need is more government intervention. I can’t imagine it would be that hard to hire a number of armed, professional guards from a private firm to patrol the school grounds. There would be no need for far-reaching legislation, no “gun control”.
Nevertheless, it is clear that a narrative is being constructed that is already being wielded in favor of turning public schools into Police States in miniature, which means either more cops, or an expansion of the TSA into our kids’ lives. More cops in schools mean more interactions between minorities and cops at a younger age. Which means a greater probability of kids building a rap sheet much earlier in life. It also means conditioning children to accept the Police State they will become acquainted with when they emerge from these prisons as adults. But it won’t keep them safe. Not from other students, but especially from the institution that will always remain the greatest and most immediate threat to their safety: the State itself.
Just a few thoughts from a caffeine-addled mind.
