Somebody tries, unsuccessfully, to blow up a plane by putting a bomb in his shoe.
So now everyone that gets on a plane has to take off their shoes.
Somebody tries, unsuccessfully, to make a bomb on board a plane using liquid explosives.
So now all liquid holding containers are banned from planes.
We are subjected to intrusive searches before boarding a plane because, well, even that 80 year old woman could be a terrorist intent on doing us harm.
And you know what? I don't feel any safer now than I did after 9/11.
Because no mater how many times it happens, nothing is being done to keep me safe while I'm out shopping, or at the movies, or singing songs at Circle Time with my group of preschoolers.
My director has scheduled a meeting Monday night to discuss the tragedy and to present plans for what our school can do in the case of such a tragedy happening here.. Really.
There are no places to hide in my classroom. Four year olds need to be seen at all times. The bathroom stalls have no doors- just paper sheets hanging across my eye level. The tables are two feet off the ground- nobody can really fit underneath.
I looked around my classroom on Friday and thought to myself, "Well, we could drop the kids out the window and tell them to run- but to where? Our school is on a mini campus with a grassy lawn and a parking lot in front and a playground in back. We are the only building on the block. Should the kids run out into traffic?
We are already a 'locked down' building. Nobody can enter unless buzzed in by the receptionist. Would that be enough?
I don't fear Al-Quiada. I fear someone entering the mall and opening fire at the Food Court. I fear someone hiding on a roof somewhere and shooting at whomever is there. I fear someone taking out a gun and killing because the gun is there and it works.
The debate on gun control is said to be a nasty one to start. But so was the debate on abortion. With all the regulations states have placed on clinics that make it impossible to offer the services, it has become difficult, if not impossible, for women to obtain abortions today.
How about the same regulations on gun providers. Start imposing impossible to follow regulations that would force them to shut down- leaving maybe one or two places where one can purchase guns and ammo.
Get rid of gun shows. Forbid private sales- you want to sell your gun- have a government buy back program. Make it just as difficult to obtain a 'well it's legal' gun as it is to obtain a 'yes it's legal' abortion.
Because removing shoes, and banned shampoo and patting down citizens is not keeping me safe.
Sun Dec 16, 2012 at 8:34 AM PT: I want to thank you all for the rec's- and for keeping the comments civil. I just read through them all and not one HR in the bunch.
Having a discussion on guns is possible.