Editor:
In the wake of this week’s heartbreaking school shooting in Texas, it’s time for the Edmonds School District to revoke its policy banning police officers from campus. The old adage is true — only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun. That’s the reason the Texas shooter was finally stopped.
The ESD policy was adopted evidently because the school board bought that old leftist slogan that all police officers are racist. As it stands now, ESD students are at risk because the school board bought into a silly idea. The school board should lift the ban, allow the police on campus, and allow posting of school resource officers.
Kids shouldn’t be left vulnerable because a ;eftist slogan was mistaken for an actual truth.
Jeffrey Herman
Edmonds
Or some stupid school worker left the door ajar. A lot of failure to go around on this one.
Wow! What a positively insensitive remark. This tragedy happened because of American’s love of weapons, their warped view of the second amendment and the total lack of meaningful gun laws, particularly in Texas. The proliferation of military style assault rifle that there is no reason on this planet that they should ever be in the hands of civilians. A total failure of the law enforcement response to this tragedy was the final blow in this overwhelmingly sad event that will, like other mass shootings of children, have long term devastating effects on the survivors and the families of victims.
Susan the door should have been locked it is possible that it was unlocked it is possible the shooter had a key it is also as reported propped open. No matter what the case he should not been able to gain entry through it so it was a failure on somebody’s part. Then there is also the class room door why wasn’t that locked also isn’t that part of protocol to lock the class door during a active shooter? As I said before lots of blame to go around. I put the blame on the kid but there are many things if different would have changed the outcome. Including the security failure at that back door. Should no one be responsible for that? I hear they are putting a lot of blame on the police for not breaching the room sooner which is justifiable just like putting blame on the security failure at the back door is also justifiable. We can go back to the beginning where a troubled 18 year old kid was able to buy guns there is justifiable blame there too. So should a school staff member carry no blame for leaving a door that was supposed to be looked propped open?
This tragedy starts with the fact that an 18 year old was able to purchase and own 2 Military style automatic rifles, and obscene amounts of ammunition with little if any laws or regulations preventing him from doing so.. The fault is with American obsession with gun ownership, the horrendous proliferation of killing machines that don’t belong in the hands of any civilians, the lack of gun laws that afford any checks and balances or protection from scenarios like Uvalde, and politicians, elected officials who are or have been in the pockets of the NRA to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. The same elected officials, Republican Senators, who refuse to agree to or pass any gun reform laws. Let’s not forget their portion of blame in this massacre. For me they are first in line.
And where was the school security officer? Wasn’t it his responsibility to be in the school and ensure the doors were locked. He was driving around outside, right past the shooter, after he heard about the man with a gun? And if the shooter got in through the open door and there was no security officer, who was going to alert teachers to lock the classroom doors? I don’t believe classroom doors are locked except in lockdown situations. But I still say it was inappropriate to call whomever (if true) , propped the t door open a “stupid school worker.” The door being open played a roll but it did not start there.
How is adding more guns part of the solution?
It’s not, those “good guys with a gun” stood around about an hour before coming in contact with the gunman and who knows how many countless lives were lost during that time.
This should not be a “left” versus “right” issue. Other countries have similar political ideologies yet they do not encounter the same mass shootings. This is because those countries have much more effective gun policies.
I can hear it now, “What about the 2nd Amendment?” Yes I agree with the 2nd Amendment, let everyone who is mentally capable purchase a musket, the modern weapons of war should only be available on the battlefield and not in a classroom or supermarket.
Nathan is right on this one. Jim Fairchild’s attitude is part of the problem IMHO.
Tracy. How am I part of the problem? Did I leave the door propped open? Or am part of the problem because I think there is a lot of blame to go around in this tragedy? Or is it because I called a school worker stupid? My guess is that door is left propped open by a numerous staff so they don’t have to walk around to the front to get back in after lunch or a smoke break. Security 101 don’t leave the door propped open at a secure facility.
It was definitely inappropriate of you to call a teacher stupid and then to guess or make the assumption that it happens all the time. This was not the teacher’s fault. Given that the reporting by officials re this tragedy has been confused, inaccurate, even totally incorrect we don’t know for sure what happened except that an 18 year old male armed with 2 assault rifles and over 1000 rounds of ammunition killed 19 children and 2 teachers while, by their own admission, 19 officers failed to enter the room and stop the carnage. The cause of this is military assault weapons in the hands of civilians, specifically the 18 year old male.
Yah! We don’t want no “jack booted Officer Friendly” in our schools! How can we teach the kids to hate cops, when they can observe and make up their own minds?
Yes, a single police resource officer may be able to contain an active shooter, but in this case the “good guy with a gun” – the school resource officer was not even on campus when Robb Elementary was breached. Instead, the police officer drove past the shooter when he drove back to the school upon hearing of the breach. Where in the hello was this good guy with a gun? Probably heading to meet up with the Uvalde PD who stood around for nearly an hour waiting for other “good guys” to do their job for them
Exactly this.
Is this satire…? The Uvalde police department had 19 officers on the scene who did basically nothing while children were dying inside. I hope this person is trying to make a weird joke. Otherwise they are misrepresenting facts for their own agenda.
I recommend that Jeffrey do a little more digging into the background of this issue and our community as there are factually incorrect claims in this letter regarding the school district, the decision they made to not renew a contract, AND the horrifically tragic incident that has traumatized our nation (again).
Since Jeffrey likes old adages so much, they can also go research the one about people who assume.
The non political resolution (not left or right) would be to deter shooters from entering the school. From an individual schools standpoint that is really the only thing they can do. If a school believes having an armed guard would be a deterrent then they should consider that step. If they don’t agree with that option then what other deterrents can they use or consider?
The non political societal response (not left or right) would be how can we help people that are to the point mentally that they feel they need to do this?
Fund mental health services. Texas is at or near the bottom in per capita funding, alongside Idaho, Arkansas and Florida. Washington is in the middle.
I read an article on Israeli school security. They’ve had six terrorist attacks on schools since 1974 so I think we could learn some lessons from them on keeping children safe. They have 1 road into school and 1 road out, security guards posted on those roads, fencing around school, 1 way into school with metal detector and signs in by each individual, guard at entrance, security on site. Another thing they have a system where the application to buy a gun is reviewed, all the social media of that person is reviewed, and behavioral profiling of the buyer before a gun is issued. Israel invests heavily in monitoring profiles of people. If we truly want to protect our children this may be a system we want to explore further.
I’m pretty tired of hearing a “good guy with a gun” nonsense. The “good guys” stood around for over an hour as children died. The “good guys” are just as helpless as the rest of us. Get rid of the AR15’s.
My kids went to Edmonds-Woodway when they still had a School Resource Officer, Marty Speckmeir. He was a lot more than a good guy with a gun. He was a guy that the kids respected, but also saw as a friend.
There are a lot of things that went wrong in Texas, and maybe an SRO wouldn’t have stopped the rampage, but we’ll never know
One aspect of the mass shootings that seems never discussed is to look closely at who is doing this mass shooting and why. The majority of these killers are young men. What else about them? They are young men with no father in their lives and dysfunctional family lives. For years our society and culture downplayed fathers’ importance in young girls’ and boys’ lives. There was actually a celebration of single mothers and a denigration of fathers. Think if these young men full of anger and disaffection would have had an involved father in their lives. A mentor who guided and expressed love for them as they transitioned through the tough teenage years. We have rightly sought to improve opportunities and confidence in our girls but at the expense of our boys. Too many of them sit in front of a TV gaming, looking at porn and connecting with social media all day on their computers. How many times do we learn of these young men who are involved in crime are living with their grandma or a relative because their family is broken? Dad is somewhere, mom is struggling somewhere, and the young man is left to deal with his trauma and anger. This in no way excuses the acting out of one’s anger but you have to wonder…if these violent young men had a father in their lives, would some of them had behaved differently? But no one wants to say this. Why? By every societal measure, intact families raise the most successful children. Fathers in the home are a key component of raising confident young men and women.
Regarding guns, why anyone needs a semi-automatic rifle is a mystery to me. They are efficient killing machines not for hunting or self-protection. On site Resource Officers and tightened security on school campuses is a positive move. But what can be done by society with regards to the absence of fathers in these young men’s lives?
Jaylen Fryberg had a father, and he stole his gun and used it to kill four other students at Marysville Pilchuck
As soon as the politicians fueling the fire give up their protection, they can start addressing the general public. We have hearings going on right now about a supposed attempted takeover of our country by a mob of unarmed citizens. Then, maybe we can start asking why some of our kids want to kill their classmates? I think parents should decide whether police should be in their childrens’ schools, not politicians or any of us who don’t have kids in school.
Time for Action, not blame, Ask our district what the plans are? ask our district what the time frames are?. Ask our district have they assembled a think tank of folks that provide safe environment for our Children today, they know what’s Missing and what’s needed, remember there many different ethnicity’s and launguages to teach how to survive
an attack, Include more Lock down drills along with the Fire and Earthquake drills. EDMONDS SCHOOL DISTRICT#15 WE NEED ACTION NOW.
Thanks to the folks posting comments so far. I agree with Nathan — that it is not a left or right issue. We can’t possibly make any progress on this or other issues when most of our energy is spent defending our entrenched positions, pointing fingers, and trying to define and defile the “other side.“ Please. Let’s try to listen to each other and find some solutions.
When you post anywhere gun free zone your asking for problems. Police in the building is a great idea. Every politician has police protection. Every movie star and athletes have protection. Why not our most precious kids? What is so bad having police guarding our schools? Not having police is just too late. And more adult men outside.
In what universe are children and parents supposed to feel good about armed police in their schools on a regular basis? That is like putting a bandaid on a life threatening wound. The problem is too many guns. 400,000,000 in the US. That is terrifying and obscene. And the apparent weapon of choice, military style automatic rifles that do not belong in the hands of civilians at any age. They have one purpose. To kill at rapid fire, totally ravaging the body. A association, the NRA that has been allowed to wield too much power and seduce political officials either money. And compared to most civilized counties, there meaningful federal gun laws in the US. What happens in the US in schools, churches, movie theaters, supermarkets, night clubs and places of businesses is an abomination that all should be ashamed of.
If ESD puts a police officer in every public school, we are certainly going to need a lot more police officers and the money to pay for them. We are all obviously clutching at straws to try to solve this horrendous social problem where we are literally letting the deranged and anti-social kill innocent children pretty much monthly now, if not weekly.
Sensible, stringent, responsible gun laws are the only real answer and the last one we will try when the carnage becomes unbearable. We seem to be able to absorb absurd amounts of carnage in the name of saving ourselves from our own government with small arms which is another absurd notion.
If the “evil” government decides to destroy us for some reason, it will be with computers and deliberate destruction of our legal and electoral institutions slowly by inches; and small arms aren’t going to prevent anything like that from happening. Our system will be destroyed by alternative “facts” and you can only fight that by embracing and acting on true “facts.”
Lots of schools, big numbers. I wonder if a levy to fund the additions would pass?
In the case of the Texas incident, officers entered the school an HOUR before the shooter was killed. Doesn’t sound like the police had any interest in stopping the shooter.
It is time for the Edmonds School Dist. 15 Board to reverse its terrible decision of a few years ago that ended school resource police officer program in our schools. The stated reason of the Board’s decision was that “some students were uncomfortable around police.” Rather than providing resources to educate those students about the proper role of police in society, the Board catered to the hate and fear of a small minority and told the police to leave our schools. The resource officers were far more that a person with a gun. Students who were victims of abuse at home had someone to tell. Students who feared abuse or assault by fellow students had someone to tell and students who observed threatening behavior or statements by a fellow student to harm others at school had someone to tell. Yes, a police officer presence on campus will not stop every crime but, it is still a valuable way to provide some increased protection to students.
Gun regulation is widely supported by Democrats and Republicans alike – I read this from the historian Heather Cox Richardson who writes, Letters from an American, this morning:
“The events in Uvalde have dealt a devastating blow to the theory that a good guy with a gun will prevent gun violence.
A Politico/Morning Consult poll out Wednesday showed “huge support” for gun regulations. It showed that 88% of voters strongly or somewhat support background checks on all gun sales, while only 8% strongly or somewhat oppose such checks. That’s a net approval of +80.
Preventing gun sales to people who have been reported to police as dangerous by a mental health provider is supported by 84% of voters while only 9% oppose it, a net approval of +75.
Seventy-seven percent of voters support requiring guns to be stored in a safe storage unit, while only 15% oppose such a requirement, a net approval of +62.
A national database for gun sales gets 75% approval and 18% disapproval, a net approval rate of +57.
Banning assault style weapons like the AR-15 has an approval rate of 67% of voters while only 25% disapprove. That’s a net approval of +42.
And fifty-four percent of voters approve of arming teachers with concealed weapons, while only 34% oppose it, a net approval of +20.
And yet, their opposition to regulation and their embrace of cowboy individualism means Republicans have made it clear they will not entertain any measures to regulate gun ownership, except perhaps the last one, which teachers, parents, students, and the two largest teachers’ unions all overwhelmingly oppose.
The party appears to be doubling down on their support for expanded gun rights, trying to convince gun owners that the regulations under which we lived until 2004 will somehow end gun ownership altogether. “
Thank you, Rachel, for reporting the poll results. It is no mystery why our mostly Republican Representatives and particularly Senators choose not to protect their constituents. The gun lobby, those legislators, and a small segment of our society are willing to trade our kids’ lives for their personal gain.
In addition, there is no counter to unfair Senate representation “Currently Democratic senators represent nearly 40 million more voters than Republican senators – but the Senate is split 50-50, with the vice-president, Kamala Harris, wielding the tie-breaking vote. By 2040, 70% of Americans are expected to live in the 15 largest states, and to be represented by only 30 senators, while 30% of Americans will have 70 senators voting on their behalf, according to analysis by David Birdsell of Baruch College’s School Of Public And International Affairs.” From The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/12/us-senate-system-white-conservative-minority
We will have progress on gun violence and many other issues only when that error is rectified.
The police in Texas were scared of going up against an AR 15, and you would be too.
We need common sense gun and bullet legislation, at all levels of government.
No one needs an AR 15 or an AK 47. They, and their bullet magazines, need to be outlawed .
There needs to be background checks on all gun purchases, which means closing the gun show loophole.
The age of legally being able to own a gun needs to be raised. It is absurd that we let an 18 year old buy firearms and ammunition.
Red flag laws need be enacted nationally.
The US Senate needs to act on gun control legislation that is languishing before them. Please write or call all Republican members of the Senate and appeal to their common sense.
Their need to act is past overdue. The American people demand action.
Thank you everyone.
I’m sorry Bill, but you don’t know what you are talking about here. An AR15 is no more deadly than any other multitude of guns. “Assault weapon” is a meaningless definition based entirely off of aesthetics. If you want to take away AR15s, you should also want to take away every other kind of firearm. Americans have firearms for extremely important reasons.
Please find the 60 Minutes video of an AR-15 slug penetrating a large block of gelatin. It’s a military weapon designed to do maximum damage to human flesh, and it carves a large cavity in the gelatin as it tumbles through. For comparison, they show a 9mm round fired from a handgun, which does far less damage than the AR-15.
Kashf, could you please expand on your last sentence. It’s too general to have any real meaning. Just what are those “extremely important reasons” that Americans have firearms. The only reasons I can think of for Americans to have firearms is to hunt legal game, self protection, or collecting historical objects of interest. If I’m missing something, please explain it to me.
Clinton, The “extremely important reasons” that Americans have firearms???
Until recently, Hong Kong was the thriving and prosperous asian powerhouse of business, freedom and human rights. The residents valiantly resisted the oppression of their neighbors, the CCP, but they had no 2nd amendment. China has no gun problem!
Kasha Iqbal, I agree with Bill Phipps. And the statement that AR-15s are no more deadly is absurd. Talk to the pediatrician who had to work on the poor sweet children in Texas.
The AR-15 is the weapon of choice of the worst mass murderers. AR-15 ammunition travels up to three times the speed of sound. And the AR-15’s high velocity ammo is the fear of every american emergency room.
A gunshot wound is potentially fatal no matter what kind of ammunition is used. but the difference in an AR-15 round against gelatin targets is abundantly clear. And tests provide pretty accurate representations of what happens to a human body.
Organs don’t just tear or have bruises on them, parts of them would be destroyed.
Tests show that a 9-millimeter bullet from a handgun, travels about 800 miles an hour and slices nearly straight all the way through the gel.
An AR-15 round is three times faster and in tests, struck with more than twice the force. The shockwave of the AR-15 bullet blasted a large cavity in the gel.
The 9 mm handgun round has a larger bullet, but the AR-15 round has more gunpowder, accelerating its velocity.
There’s a lot more damage to the tissues, bones, organs. The bones don’t just break, they shatter. Organs don’t just tear or have bruises on them, parts of them are totally destroyed.
Lots of interesting points, some even supported by facts. Sometimes those facts are not fool proof by 100%. Here is what I wonder. If we put 9 members in a bunker along with some elected folks on the left and some elected folks on the right and gave them the tasks:
1. What specific ideas will pass the courts constitutional view of the 2nd amendment? Registration? Types of Guns? Waiting periods? Mental conditions or other stuff like that? They could probably give some guidance on what would be constitutional.
2. Now the L and R folks could now craft some ideas that will work with 1 and not add other things that will not pass the constitutional test. Some on the L will want more and some on the R will want less is my guess. They
would be influenced by how they see the voters who will elect them next time view the issues. Most voters could come up with something that would help and could be constitutional. But that would take Compromise and we are not likely to want to do that in today’s world.
Not being as well versed as others, I am guessing that some form of registration, waiting period, safety class, and background checks would likely pass the constitutional step. Maybe even some denial due to some mental condition, who knows.
The key may well be time for the court to step up and give us all some thoughts about the 2nd Amendment. What are the concepts that would produce a 9/0 vote? Their answer seems to be in the area of what are “arms”? More than a single load musket but less than a nuke.
Maybe the bright minds of Edmonds can come up with some ideas on how to begin in a way that the other guy will also agree. The far L and far R have not produced any compromise ideas, but maybe we can??
But just trotting out all the same stuff whenever we see an event will not lead to any progress on safety.
We might want to stay on topic, when referring to a specific event. A dropout student, with questionable adult supervision and no apparent source of income, bought thousands of dollars worth of guns, ammunition and protective gear. He then used social media to alert several women about his desires to rape and kill. If anyone has recommendations on “sensible” legislation that would have stopped this, without infringing on my right of self defense, chime right in. Address the problem and only the problem.
Would registration, waiting periods and the ability to deny or remove guns from folks who are considered a danger to themselves, or others be a start?
Not really, no. As Glen pointed out, multiple law enforcement agencies were warned of the killer’s intentions; they did nothing. Registration and waiting periods don’t help either; an evil person will just register and wait. Big deal.
Schools are nearly universally gun-free zones. Evil people know that they will face no opposition at schools so they go there. They know they will become famous due clickbait corporate news sites. To stop them, don’t give them any fame after their actions. Stop them from becoming evil in the first place: fathers are important; the family is important; traditional rituals acknowledging and supporting male development are important (mass shooters are nearly all male).
Instead, we tell children that they’re racist, that they are all going to die from climate change, that hard work doesn’t matter, drugs are OK, that boys and girls are interchangeable, that God does not exist. And we’re surprised that occasionally they go a little crazy?
Melinda, thank you for your comments. Evil acts like this happen when all hope is lost. In the absence of love, evil can flourish.
Sensible, responsible gun laws would not infringe on anyone’s right to self defense. The NRA narrative is that any and all small arms of all types with unlimited ability for rapid fire and with unlimited access to ammunition should be available to any individual who has the means and desire to possess such. This is, in theory, the minimum necessary for the “good guys with a gun to prevail.” Personally, I have a loaded (but hammer locked until I unlock it) .22 double action revolver hidden for our self protection and that feels pretty adequate to me, but then, I’m not irrational or mentally ill as far as I know. God help us.
Well said Glenn Nelson. I know some of the strictest gun laws in states have the most crimes and murder..Chicago? I definitely think strict background checks are needed for mental disorders. But does that include minors? As this man was clearly a mess. I too want to know where he got the money to buy the weaponry. Stick to this one event and find a solution to this event and you will cure many others. Stop the media once again trying to make this a Republican vs Democrat problem. This is a society problem. We tell citizens we are anti police in schools but allow killers in. As a parent I would prefer our children guarded. Can accidents happen? Yes but we can keep trying.
Joy, your Chicago example isn’t very good in terms of strict gun laws not working. A recent study shows that 60% of the guns police recover there come from out of state and were not originally purchased by the possessor in Chicago. 20% came from next door Indianna with liberal gun laws. The evidence suggests that for strict gun and ammunition laws to be successful they would have to be enforced nationwide; not just regionally. Your point about the need for better mental health needs assessment and treatment availability is well taken and on the mark I think. The personality and mental state profile of these almost universally Male school shooters is pretty well established at this point. The real answer will be both less easy access to assault type weapons and ammunition and better mental health interventions. Other nations where adults are allowed to own guns with regulations don’t have this problem to any great extent. Something about this is unique to our culture.
My vague understanding is when the AR15/M16 was first adopted by the government the reasons for its adoption were soldiers could carry more rounds and it was less lethal than current arms the reasoning was that a wounded soldier took more resources away from the enemy. At one time the small 22 caliber was responsible for the most gun deaths I don’t know if that is still the case, I do know it’s not the AR15 round. Many guns have different types of projectiles designed to do the most damage and are generally used in hand guns and big game rifles. I don’t even know if they make such ammunition for this caliber. Anyway raise the legal age to 21 and extend the wait time on hand guns and semi automatic guns to 30 days strengthen background checks and juvenile records need to be considered in the determination process. These are gun control measures I would support.
Seriously Cliff, you think Hong Kong would have survived as a democracy if the people had only been equipped with small arms to fight back with? Small arms are meaningless against fighter jets, rockets, tanks, tactical nuclear weapons and maybe, most significantly, computers and electronics. Do you see the Ukrainians asking for pistols and machine guns? They are asking for shoulder fired rockets, rocket launchers and short range guided missals (guided by tiny computers). The Ukrainian patriots can steal all the small arms they need from dead Russians as the resistance did against the Germans in WW2. That pistols and swords horse, you are trying to ride and romanticize, died sometime around the American Civil War and probably isn’t coming back anytime soon.
Seriously Clinton, nuclear weapons?
Clinton the take over of Hong Kong was peaceful because they had no way to defend themselves unless you consider umbrellas weapons. Ukraine has a military even if it is a shadow of it’s former self. At the beginning of the war they were handing out small arms to anyone who was willing to fight. Our government has sent or is sending millions of small arms to Ukraine. You are right small arms are no match for planes and tanks and bombs or electronic or economic means. But you can’t hold ground with them this is the problem Russia is having they can turn the place to rubble but they don’t have enough foot soldiers to hold the ground in face of small arms resistance. I don’t expect a foriegn government to attack us or our own government to turn against us, but don’t say it can’t happen. I don’t have guns because I need them today I have them for a day that I hope never comes.
Cliff and Jim, we at first sent Ukraine a bunch of WW2 surplus 50 Cal. machine guns, half of which didn’t even work. That’s when Zalenski said send me planes, rockets, and tanks. When you see Ukraine citizen soldiers on the news they are almost always armed with Soviet small arms. All the small arms in the world would not have saved Hong Kong. The only thing that could have saved Hong Kong would have been the free world Democracies going to war with Communist China using military grade weapons. Your AR 15 saving you from your own government is a delusion.
Clinton after reading a list of weapons sent to Ukraine not just from us it would appear that they have enough small arms to arm every man women and child. I wouldn’t expect to save myself I would expect that the aggressor would pay a heavy price a deterrent if you will. Afghanistan is a good example of this. There are no winners in war. I will make a deal with you when the world gives up all its weapons I will happily give mine up to. You are right Hong Kong had no chance at stopping China but they could have made them pay a heavy price what did it cost China? Are the people of Hong Kong better off now are they going to be better off in the future? Maybe Ukraine would have been better off just rolling over to Russia? How about the rest of Europe they are largely unarmed and most have very weak militarys should they just roll over to the aggressor? I don’t know what the future holds. I say prepare for the worst and hope for the best and with all the world is up against at the moment giving up my guns is a non starter. I know you don’t want me to give them all up just the highly effective one’s.
Jim, I don’t care if you waste your money on a basement full of semi-automatic rifles and ammunition, as long as you don’t sell one to an 18 year old male along with a thousand rounds the same day he decides to kill a bunch of students and teachers, or to some guy who decides to kill a Doctor he doesn’t like. Like most things, the devil is in the details.
And further, anyone with firearms in their home, especially a “basement full” needs to keep them secured, locked up so no child and no common burglar can get hold of one. For reasons that are tragically obvious in this day and age.
Clinton you got me all wrong. If I could I would fill the basement full of shoulder fired anti tank and aircraft weapons some of those kamikaze drones would be nice maybe a tank in the garage and a machine gun mounted on the roof of the house and at least a dozen trained security personnel. But alas I am but a peon that does the best I can with my limited resources and availability of effective defensive tools. Oh I forgot the helicopter. On the second point we are in agreement. Dang forgot the hand grenades too. As it is as my daily protection needs are minimal and rely on a dog, my hands, experience and maybe my cane. I would like to keep it that way. Although my sense is my needs for protection may be on the increase. Maybe I need 2 dogs and a pocket knife?
Jim, whatever it takes for you to maintain your false sense of security works for me. Over the years I’ve discovered the good life is pretty simple. Avoid, con men, common thieves, insane people and idiots as much as humanly possible and live the Golden Rule, which is the total extent of my religion at this point. Peace and Love as us former Hippies like to say.