This just in:
New polling out today from Quinnipiac:
https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2521
American voters support stricter gun laws 66 – 31 percent, the highest level of support ever measured by the independent Quinnipiac University National Poll, with 50 – 44 percent support among gun owners and 62 – 35 percent support from white voters with no college degree and 58 – 38 percent support among white men.
Today’s result is up from a negative 47 – 50 percent measure of support in a December 23, 2015, survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University Poll.
Support for universal background checks is itself almost universal, 97 – 2 percent, including 97 – 3 percent among gun owners. Support for gun control on other questions is at its highest level since the Quinnipiac University Poll began focusing on this issue in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre:
67 – 29 percent for a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons;
83 – 14 percent for a mandatory waiting period for all gun purchases. It is too easy to buy a gun in the U.S. today, American voters say 67 – 3 percent. If more people carried guns, the U.S. would be less safe, voters say 59 – 33 percent. Congress needs to do more to reduce gun violence, voters say 75 – 17 percent.
Stricter gun control would do more to reduce gun violence in schools, 40 percent of voters say, while 34 percent say metal detectors would do more and 20 percent say armed teachers are the answer.
“If you think Americans are largely unmoved by the mass shootings, you should think again. Support for stricter gun laws is up 19 points in little more than 2 years,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
“In the last two months, some of the biggest surges in support for tightening gun laws comes from demographic groups you may not expect, independent voters, men, and whites with no college degree.”
Mass killings by U.S. citizens is a bigger problem than mass killings by people from other countries, American voters say 70 – 20 percent.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If Politicians Won’t Take Action, These High Schoolers Will
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Published on Feb 20, 2018
There’s only one group Stephen thinks can actually defend the kids. And it is. . . the kids.
LikeLike
Angry, righteous teens with cell phones are a force. It’s their future. And…Soon they vote.
LikeLike
It’s their lives. Some can vote in 2018. Almost all will be old enough to vote in 2020
LikeLike
Thanks, Diane. It IS their LIVES. Glad they will soon be able to vote. YEAH!
LikeLike
Go High Schoolers!
LikeLike
Parkland Shooting Survivors School Congress on Gun Violence: The Daily Show
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Published on Feb 20, 2018
While Fox News and Marco Rubio dodge the topic of gun control after a school shooting in Parkland, FL, teen survivors stage protests to call for common sense legislation.
LikeLike
At the same time Trump endorses guns for teachers to stop shootings. This is lunacy.
LikeLike
I cannot believe this merde about arming the teachers.
Are the states and districts going to pay for training the teachers, pay for their guns, their bullets, their liability insurance? Pay the teachers way more because they are not just teachers, but first responders? All of this when in many districts they’re not even willing to pay for enough teachers or even pay for enough books, pencils, and frigging copy paper for each classroom.
Give me a break.
I am a retired special education teacher. My students were developmentally disabled and severely emotionally disturbed. Some were also sometimes self abusive or violent, and I had to restrain them for their own safety or the safety of others. So, if I had a gun strapped to me (whether concealed or not), what if the kid was able to grab that gun?
These people are not just stupid and clueless, they have lost any moral boundaries, if they ever had any.
LikeLike
Amen, Zorba!
LikeLike
You are completely misunderstanding what is being proposed . . . it’s not about having teachers armed (certainly not like you), but having experienced, trained individuals, such as coaches, security guards (retired military, police).
Until such emotional, knee jerk responses stop, our children and staff members will remain unsafe.
LikeLike
Patrick: ” it’s not about having teachers armed (certainly not like you), but having experienced, trained individuals, such as coaches, security guards (retired military, police).”
You must not be a teacher. I’d say there are very few of us who would want coaches running around with a gun. I’d also say that few of us would want retired military or retired police roaming the campus with a gun. Good grief. Why not turn our schools into a prison…add a moat around the school for added protection and throw in some crocodiles.
We need strict gun laws. This county’s problem is that there are just TOO MANY GUNS!!
States with more guns have more gun deaths according to a study done in Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
America has 4% of the world’s population but almost half of the civilian owned guns in the world. United Nations data shows that America far and away leads other developed countries when it comes to gun-related homicides. Reviews of research done by the Harvard School of Public Health’s Injury Control Research Centers state: The US is an outlier on gun violence because it has way more guns than other developed nations.
Gun Violence Archive reveals there is a mass shooting – defined as four or more people shot in one incident, not including the shooter – nine out of every 10 days on average in the US.
LikeLike
He’s a DUMP.
LikeLike
I loved what John Oliver had to say about the topic on Sunday night, specifically his reference to the Andy Griffith Show. My opinion, police should not only stand with teachers on this issue; they should take the lead. Put away they assault rifles, officers.
LikeLike
Several years ago the police chief in our suburban community proposed that officers should have uzi submachine guns. They were turned down. So far, knock on wood, we have never had a situation in which an officer with an assault weapon would have made a bit of difference. I’m guessing that most of them have never even pulled their guns much less shot them in the line of duty.
LikeLike
This Superintendent from Broward County is Something and Somebody!
LikeLike
“Stoneman Douglas Who Have Grown and Flown All Over This Country”. Teachers: We have done our job.
LikeLike
Not talking about arming teachers, certainly not someone who views it like this.
The idea is to have trained, experienced individuals armed, such as coach(es), security guard(s), retired military or police, etc.
Until people stop these knee jerk emotional reactions, our schools will remain vulnerable and unsafe.
LikeLike
@Patrick: There is widespread support for having professionally trained security personnel in schools. This is a good deterrent against firearms violence, AND it would dissuade drug dealing, and other petty crimes, and could also serve to deter bullying. Students and teachers would feel safer, with uniformed guards on the school grounds. Bravo!
LikeLike
Charles,
The Parkland High School had armed guards. Did you know that?
What about stationing National Guardsmen outside the schools? They are trained with firearms. They are paid by the state. Let teachers teach and don’t expect them to be police.
LikeLike
I am aware that there were armed guards present at the school, where the shooting occurred.
I am opposed to the idea of arming teachers. That is beyond absurd. Fahgeddaboutit.
Students attempting to enter Central High School in Little Rock, ARK, to integrate the school, were escorted by national guard and federal troops. Your idea is not without precedent.
There is no one “magic” solution to preventing school violence. Reasonable people should agree, that having additional security presence, both uniformed and plain clothes, are part of the solution. Technology, video cameras, alarm systems, etc. can also assist in protecting students from violence (and petty crimes like drug dealing and bullying).
Teachers are required to conduct fire drills. There has not been a fatal school fire in many years. It is not unprecedented to have teachers conduct security drills. Saving lives is the goal.
NO serious person wants to have school teachers wearing flak vests, and having 9mm Glock pistols on their hips. We need to just send that idea to the scrap heap.
LikeLike
Charles,
You are surely aware that public schools routinely conduct security drills. That is why the school went into CODE RED, an active shooter in the building. The shooter confused everyone by setting off the fire alarm, which drew students into the hallways.
LikeLike
I am aware that SOME publicly-operated schools conduct security drills. I am aware that nearly all public schools conduct fire drills, that is part of the reason that there has not been a fatal school fire in many years. (Smoke detectors, and increase in fire-resistant school construction, also contribute to safety). In California (and other places) the schools conduct earthquake drills. No one expects school teachers to be firemen.
Of course, there was confusion at the recent school shooting (fire alarms are often set off during periods of disorder). Of course the school went into a “code red”.
As I maintain, there is no one magic solution to the problem of school shootings. The answer lies in a “mix” of:
Hardening school buildings
Stationing uniform and plain-clothes security guards in schools
Technology, including video surveillance
Training school personnel in emergency preparedness
Restricting access to firearms by potential shooters
Training teachers/administrators to see the “red flags” in behavior
Instructing school children in awareness and procedure, in case of fire or other emergency situation, age appropriate
We will never make all schools 100% safe. We can and should make all schools safer, to the best of our ability.
It is time to hold our political servants, accountable and demand action.
LikeLike
Charles,
You left out the National Guard, deployed outside, paid by federal government
LikeLike
Charles: You are missing the importance of getting guns off the streets. The US just plain has too many guns and too easy accessibility to obtaining more. I’m greatly offending the NRA that wants to arm everyone several times over. This however, is PROVEN to bring down the number of deaths. This should be done immediately. I do not want our schools to turn into modified prisons.
………………………..
Gun Control in Australia, Updated – FactCheck.org
…In 1996, Australia passed the National Firearms Agreement after a mass shooting in Tasmania in April of that year. In that incident, a 28-year-old man, armed with a semi-automatic rifle, shot and killed 35 people, and injured 18 others, in what was known as the Port Arthur Massacre.
Under the 1996 law, Australia banned certain semi-automatic, self-loading rifles and shotguns, and imposed stricter licensing and registration requirements. It also instituted a mandatory buyback program for firearms banned by the 1996 law.
During the buyback program, Australians sold 640,000 prohibited firearms to the government, and voluntarily surrendered about 60,000 non-prohibited firearms. In all, more than 700,000 weapons were surrendered, according to a Library of Congress report on Australian gun policy. One study says that the program reduced the number of guns in private hands by 20 percent.
In 2002, Australia further tightened gun laws, restricting the caliber, barrel length and capacity for sport shooting handguns.
Since 1996, the number and rate of homicides — defined as murder and manslaughter — has fallen. Below is the chart that appeared in our 2009 Ask FactCheck article, showing a 20 percent decline in homicides from 1996 to 2007…
https://www.factcheck.org/2017/10/gun-control-australia-updated/
LikeLike
The national guard is the “militia” referred to in the 2d amendment. The national guard is a state operation, the states pick up the tab for the national guard, unless the guard is mobilized in the case of a national emergency.
We have not yet reached the point, where the national guard has to be mobilized by the federal government, to protect school children.
The list of programs, that I stated, is only part of the “mix” that our nation needs to implement to make our schools safer.
Sadly, the armed police officer at the recent shooting, did not go in to where the shots were being fired. The FBI received numerous warnings about the alleged perpetrator.
We need to take a “holistic” approach, to find all of the possible and appropriate solutions, from spotting potential mental-health problems, to providing training to school personnel.
No school will ever be 100% safe. But we can work together, to find and implement appropriate safeguards.
We owe it to our nation’s children.
LikeLike