Your gun rights end where my daughter’s life begins, punks.

by Karoli on February 16, 2010 · 16 comments

It’s nearly 1 AM when your almost-16 year old daughter shows you the series of text messages flying around local airspace saying that some unnamed punk has threatened to bring a gun to school to settle some scores. What do you do?

If you’re me, you take it damn seriously. So seriously, in fact, that you have no intention of sending your kid to school even though she loves school because sending her there after such threats have been made is the equivalent of thrusting her into a war zone with no armor and no defense. At least, there is no intention of sending her until there has been official reassurance that the kid with the mouth and the threats and the anonymous texts has been caught and disarmed.

No, you call the school and you call the cops but no one really knows what to do with the report because you don’t know the name of the punk with the gun, only that there might be a punk with a gun and the risk is much, much more than you can possibly bear because we don’t give birth to our children, rock them to sleep, watch them grow, live through their joys and disappointments to see them bleed to death on the floor of a classroom because some stupid kid thinks they’ve got the right to terrorize a group of kids with a threat and the possibility.

You take it seriously because Lawrence King was executed by a smartass punk kid with a smartass punk set of parents whose family was so dysfunctional they’ve managed to leverage it into a juvenile trial where the consequence of executing a classmate in cold blood with malice and advance planning is punishable until age 25 when the slate is wiped clean.

Do I sound bitter? I am. I’m angry that we live in a country where teabaggers can stand outside a town hall where our President is speaking with their guns, their threats and their free speech and trample all over my rights as a consequence.

Because carrying a gun is obviously more important than respecting the right of all citizens to learn, to exist, to live, right? Is that right? In this country, the safety of my daughter matters less than the right of the punk without the name to threaten and even carry out that threat? Because why? Why are guns a god?

Why is my daughter’s safety less important than the punk’s right to threaten it?

This is my youngest child, my only daughter. She has faced more incidents like this in the last year than either of my sons did in their entire high school careers. Why is that? While the gun control freaks rant about the possibility that they might have to give even an inch for the sake of my daughter’s safety, her school becomes a war zone? A school that sits in the middle of a strawberry field in the middle of a diverse community where kids manage on a daily basis not to hate each other for their skin color or sexual orientation is now a danger zone. A danger zone because one kid with a grudge and a mouth has the right of way in our constitutional debate.

Free speech. Gun rights. Zero respect for those who choose to live in peace, not carry guns, not step on other people’s lives with their swaggers and their stares.

I’m so angry I can’t even think straight.

Tagged as: California, Education, guns, oxnard, Rio Mesa, school, speech, threats

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Francine Jewett @careaware

Well said. School may already be on this. If you know, others may have called principal and cops. See how it plays out in morning. Also, may bring in heavy cop presence and people who can trace texts. School will be on it full metal jacket mode. Everyone takes this seriously. it's been going on for years. Beleive me, you will find a lot of support in morning. It is sick thatit goes on at all. Communites that have hd strict gun control have seen huge rise in crime. There is no simple answer, but for now be reasrred that help is on the way.
http://www.coffeefiltertv.com Kyle Sellers

I'm confused as to how you are turning this into an argument against gun-rights. It's illegal to bring weapons to a school, but apparently that law isn't working. This sounds more like an argument about the INEFFECTIVENESS of gun laws–they don't stop people who are willing to break the laws.

“Why is my daughter’s safety less important than the punk’s right to threaten it?” It's not. That's why it is illegal for guns to be brought to schools and illegal for minors to purchase guns.

The statement that bugs me the most is this: “Zero respect for those who choose to live in peace, not carry guns, not step on other people’s lives with their swaggers and their stares.” Don't you know that the majority of people defending the 2nd amendment don't own guns? Out of my four or five closest conservative friends, I am the only one who owns a gun. Out of my extremely conservative extended family, only 4 of the 16 households own a gun.

Schools ARE gun-free zones. They are the ultimate in gun-control. Obviously, this is not enough. Maybe the culture of violence and the glorification of “gansta” is more to blame than gun laws?
http://www.drumsnwhistles.com/ Karoli

Kyle, any time someone even breathes gun control of any sort the NRA jumps out of the bushes and screams GUN RIGHTS TRUMP ALL. That's why. I'll be curious to see how you handle it when your kid is faced with similar circumstances. This shit happens because we all know KIDS CAN GET THEIR HANDS ON DADDY'S GUNS.
http://www.coffeefiltertv.com Kyle Sellers

I've never heard the NRA say that kids should be allowed to bring guns to schools. And any NRA member would say that an adult who allows their guns to be accessible by their children without supervision is irresponsible. If the father of this mystery punk was an NRA member, the odds are that he never would've been able to get his hands on daddy's guns.

Though he could still have made the threat.
http://www.drumsnwhistles.com/ Karoli

As long as the NRA opposes any ban, including concealed weapons, requirements for registration, lockup and storage of guns, kids will be able to put their hands on them. And yes, @rogerben I agree with you. Parents need some sort of basic stupidity test before keeping guns and ammunition in a house with kids.

The irony here is that I am more or less respectful of the second amendment, but the NRA has taken it to such ridiculous lengths that it no longer resembles anything close to reasonableness. You can't shout FIRE in a crowded room, but you can hit a gun show on Sunday and be packing a weapon on Monday.
http://admin.support.journurl.com/ rogerben

Unlike Kyle, I'm no conservative, but I'm still pretty much a fan of The Second Amendment. With that said, I've always thought a ban on concealable weapons was a nice compromise… the intent of the founders was to ensure the populace would always have some means of defense against tyranny, and rifles/shotguns are the real tools of guerrilla fighters.

I do have to take issue with one thing, though… “This shit happens because we all know KIDS CAN GET THEIR HANDS ON DADDY'S GUNS.” Kids have *always* been able to get their hands on Daddy's guns, but it's only become a significant issue in the last decade. Ergo, the problem here is the parenting, not the gun ownership.

In all seriousness, we need parental regulation AT LEAST as much as we need gun control.
http://www.drumsnwhistles.com/ Karoli

Schools are NOT gun-free zones. If they were, NO KID WOULD HAVE DIED from a gun. Ask Lawrence King how gun-free his Port Hueneme MIDDLE SCHOOL was.
Francine Jewett @careaware

Unfortunately, kids can get guns without having to resort to parents as they are sold on street in many communities, like drugs. Though I do agree that parents should have the brains to have guns locked up or gun locks on the guns.
This is not a new problem but it is a growing problem.
America has a sick gun culture. We have a huge number of deaths by guns that they don't have in othe countries.
When my kids were little in the late 80's, a guy took a automatic weapon to our local K Mart and went off. I had to teach my kids to drop immediately if mom said drop. Just in case. I had to teach them to run if I said run. Urban survival skills and this was in a “good” neighborhood.
When they reached high school age they were taught at school what to do on a lockdown in case a student went off or a crazy person got ijn the building. Again, in a “good” neighborhood.
I tried to give my kids sene of pride that they had urban skills, to put some kind of sane spin on it, and as it has turned out, they both have traveled extensively internationally and in this country in urban areas where the ability to sense danger and act on it is important.
After so many shooting at universities, I thought about getting a permit to carry and thought seriously about carrrying in the classroom at the university where I taught to protect my students. I never did this, but i know teachers who carry because they'd rather be able to defend themselves and their students.
So this issue goes way beyond parents with guns in the home. And it doesn't end with high school.
Going Postal has become part of our vocabulary.
We had the shooting at U. of Alabama this week and by a professor! And I heard there was an incident at U. of Buffalo yesterday.
Yes, the NRA is nuts and way over the top, but they are one small part of a sick culture.
A not well known eighties group called Concrete Blonde did a song. The name of the song was something like Godis a Gum. It ws a very anti-gun culture song. That was 20 years ago.
Personally, I say take the violence off the TV. It incites the lunatic fringe. Prosecute parents whose children are picked up with guns as minors. Get rid of handguns as in England where only rifles, and only hunting rifles are legal. Yeah, we have a right to bear arms, but do we really need semi automatic Uzis? 357 mag handguns. Been in a gunshop lately. That's a big wakeup call.
Even the police are outgunned in some communities.
Personally, having lived with this problem for most of my life, and having taught inner city back in the 60's when it was already a problem, I know there are no simple answers. Those of us who got out of college and went to teach in the inner cities did it because we wanted to be part of the Civil Rights movement and were recruited as white kids from our excellent all white colleges because the “historically black” universities were substandard back then ffor reasons we all know. The gun culture was already in full swing in those communities.
Those children did not play outside after school. But no one cared or ws looking.
All I can say is educate the children about guns, educate them about what to do if they are ever in a dangerous situation, be realistic about life in America. Any high school without a lockdown plan is asking for trouble. And, yes, I favor metal detectors in schools and locker searches. And a school cop on the premises at all times. When our kids lives are in danger, let's not be too fussy about their right to privacy in a public school. Or our feelings about how it should be.
Yes this is erroding our rights, but the first right is the right to safely.
http://calfirenews.com/ Bob O

I twitter luv ya gorgeous, but this was non nonsensical illogical raving mom rant the 16 yr old has no gun rights at school and no one advocates them!

This is not about guns, knives, bombs, poison or even sticks and you know it!

It is more about modern society and that spoiled disturbed child and his spoiled friends with smart phones and part-time parents and the kids that have nothing at all.

But in regards to guns and schools I will tell you the Israelis train and equip teachers with sub machine guns to defend the students… and not so long ago in a less PC world you could shoot guns in some school training programs.

Do the Norwegians have a gun problem with requirements to own and be trained?
http://ashleighburroughs.blogspot.com Ashleigh Burroughs

You don't have to be rational – your child is in danger… you are not an idiot parent…. you take steps to protect her.

Our rights are meant to trample over one another, I think. The tension between yours and mine is what keeps the experiment of our democracy growing and changing.

That said, she's your child and you have not only the right but the responsibility to be furious and vigilant and outraged and pro-active and mad as hell. You Go Girl!!!
http://calfirenews.com/ Bob O

and edit that extra “non” out of there please!
http://www.drumsnwhistles.com/ Karoli

I can't edit your comment, but I'll just ignore the second “non”. I've written a follow up to this post with more details. Looks like the core of the conflict is racial tension, something we've not seen at this school in the past. I hope it isn't a trend moving into the future, but more of an isolated incident.

At any rate, the kids who are the likely suspects aren't spoiled at all. Their Hispanic parents are likely bent in two in the fields, and the black parents tend to be serving on the Port Hueneme military base nearby, living in base housing. I'm not certain that the kids involved were of that group but I'll give gun rights a break for now, since race seems to be a higher motivator. Both of them together (guns and race) are a hot cocktail that may still play out to a tragic ending.
So Sad

I read the article from Ventura County Star you linked to your post. The Principal was quoted as saying this is not a racial incident. Yet you continue to write as if it is. Karoli, where are you getting your information? Two groups of kids had a fight. They escalated as kids do. You bring in the race issue from your arm chair. The kids are mad as heck with each other and and may not care what color their skin is. You do… They fought like kids do on school yards. You tie it to racism. You continue to stir the racism pot rather than finding out just exactly what the fight was about. A good journalist would do the opposite of what you are doing. A good journalist would find out what the fight was about. A sloppy armchair blogger would take advantage of a school yard fight and send it out to blogger world to use it for her own hot button issues.
Not sure which is worse, two kids having a school yard fight, or a (grown up?) blogger lady sending inuendos viral over the internet.
Blackfrank32

Im a parent and I love my daughter more than anything in the world. It would concern me also if that situation occured. However I strongly disagree with your views on guns. I am a gun owner and proud of it! Every citizens has the RIGHT to bear arms and it shall not be infringed. You can’t be bitter because they’re are bad people out there and want to rush around and start bashing peoples RIGHTS. Did you know the armed citizen prevents more crimes than the police? You think mr gang banger is gonna rob, rape or kill you if he knew you were carrying a gun? No. Also did you know that violent crimes INCREASED after they banned guns in Great Britain? Look I know where you’re coming from about your daughters safety and school violence concerns me. That why I carry a gun everywhere I go to PREVENT bad things from happening if necessary. When seconds count the police are just minutes away.
Blackfrank32

And also just to make one thing extremely clear. This country was NOT meant to be a democracy it was established as a REPUBLIC. And it is not an experiment either! What the US Constitution says goes….PERIOD. It was not meant to be changed. Granted you can add amendments but you can NEVER alter the Bill of Rights. That is liberal propaganda that has been pushed into society. Know the Constitution and our true history before you say things like that please. Im not here to pick arguments or anything I am here to simply educate. So please don’t take me the wrong way:)