Spadea is siding with the protesting kids on this one

It's not often that I side with protesting kids. Usually, they come off as ignorant and pushing a political agenda either to get out of class or to act out against authority or to serve as pawns of bigger political interests adept at manipulating young minds.

But that was not the case in Cherry Hill this morning. According to our news reports, a history teacher, Timothy Locke was suspended by the principal after discussing security measures (or the lack thereof) in the high school. One kid in the class reportedly complained that the conversation about security made the student upset and uncomfortable. Boom, snowflake complains and teacher is suspended. Worse that the suspension was the search of his bags for weapons and the report that he will have to undergo mental evaluations before returning. Did I hear this right this morning? A high school principal reacts to a complaint from a kid after the entire world has been shocked into hyper awareness about school security and shootings and firearms. If anyone should be fired it should be the principal. How can schools be made secure if the subject can't even be brought up? It doesn't take a security expert to have a conversation with kids about situational awareness and locking doors.

Unfortunately, the generation in charge of teaching and mentoring these school kids is don on the job. Having coddled them since birth with bike helmets and oven safety knobs, how can we possibly expect a different reaction? Look at the ignorance and arrogance of the kids being used by CNN and other biased outlets and left wing pols. We have a survivor of the shooting speaking on behalf of high school kids being paraded around to lecture on gun control. Quite frankly, it's embarrassing for the nation.

Our nation has never been safer looking at crime stats. This trend has been consistent among violent crimes and those committed with a firearm. Throughout this same time period, gun ownership has been rising.

One major challenge is that we have failed miserably to address mental health issues. It's been reported that many shooters in these horrific school tragedies have had mental health issues diagnosed and treated with medication. Is the issue that we're using the fear of a stigma as an excuse to ignore clear signs of distress? Certainly worth a conversation. Specific to Florida, there's the utter failure of the Broward County sheriff. Then the failure of the school over years to recognize that a student was increasingly isolated and needed help. So many issues at play in Florida that it makes your head spin. No wonder why kids across the nation are fearful of another attack. The adults failed and teachers and kids are dead.

At least the students in Cherry Hill get that there are some basic solutions that are appropriate right now. And having a direct conversation with a respected teacher who clearly serves as a mentor for many students is the start of something positive.

As I discussed this morning in context on the issue, it's a non-starter to ban weapons. I raised the example from an article I tweeted of the mom in Georgia who fired six shots at an intruder to save her kids. Could have been a different story had there been more than one attacker. Then the issue of the shop owners in Korea Town in Los Angeles during the riots in the 1990's. They used 'assault weapons and high capacity magazines sending out multiple warning shots, which actually prevented rioters from being killed. Then there's the whole issue of the AR-15 style weapon essentially being the base of numerous hunting rifles. Then the issue of the exemption for police when these new laws are discussed. After the display in Broward County, is there any doubt of a need to make sure citizens can protect themselves?

Of course, the 'elephant in the room' is the all important issue of the literally hundreds of millions of weapons in private hands and more than a billion magazines. There won't be any confiscation in the US because of that pesky thing called the Second Amendment. So save your voice gun-grabbers. It's time to lock up the schools and provide teachers with the ability to save kids. Here's my simple four point plan:

First: Prevent the killer from getting the gun in the first place. No easy task given the amount of guns on the black market, but doable if the states are able to focus on mental health and report people who are unfit so they pop up on a background check. Thankfully, leaders like Congressman Tom MacArthur are all over this one.

Second: Lock the schools and stop the free flow of access during the school day: ID, locks, armed guards. Try getting into a school in Israel to commit mass murder. Actually you wouldn't succeed in Newark for that matter. Not gonna happen. Bring the same level of security to suburban schools.

Third: Allow people who are licensed and trained to continue to carry their weapon regardless of their location. According to one report, private citizens with a concealed carry permit (using data in Florida and Texas) are less likely to violate gun laws that police officers.

Fourth: Speak to your kids as adults. It's a scary world. Situational awareness and a healthy respect for firearms outside of the nonsense and fantasy of typical killing video games would go a long way. There was a time when it was more common than not for American kids to take up riflery in school and there was no violence other than a few exceptions on the scale of what we have seen recently. One thing that's changed is our culture of fear that comes from ignorance and agenda driven politicos, and media pundits.

Practical solutions to empower cops and staff and harden the soft targets that extend to more than just schools. It's time for Americans to stop having the same old tired debate and get behind concrete ideas that will actually make us safer.

Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015. Tweet him @NJ1015 or @BillSpadea.

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