The rest of the world would be shocked senseless upon hearing that a very significant portion of the electorate believes that a country drowning in guns believes that the only solution is to add more guns into the system, A LOT more guns, enough guns to arm every teacher.

Before we get to The Federalist’s argument, a family member asked me to explain a related dynamic he didn’t know and he knows more than me in most areas. He is also a tenured professor of education. He, like most people, thought “a gun is a gun is a gun” and two armed people are near equal so long as they have a “gun.” No, not even close.

No, there is a reason our “mass shootings” have gone from three to eight dead and ten injured to 21 dead and no reports of a greater number of people injured. Everything changed with the legality and ubiquitous presence of the AR-15 assault rifle, a gun that was banned from 1994 to 2004. ALL of these mass shootings with double-digit fatalities are committed by people using the AR-15, and it’s not because AR-15s hold more rounds. No. A handgun must hit small specific areas in a shooter’s body to immediately stop that person from shooting. The AR-15, on the other hand, is designed to kill in a war at 50 to 200 yards, by hitting someone just about anywhere.

The AR-15 is a rifle. Like all rifles, it shoots a significantly heavier round and – this is key – shoots that heavier round at three to four times the velocity of a handgun. With guns, the higher velocity and weight, the more momentum, the more momentum, the greater the damage on impact, far more. As I often write, someone hit in the upper leg by a handgun survives, and some survive a gutshot. The surviving person may have enough adrenaline to continue to attack and shoot. But anyone hit by an AR-15 anywhere near the center of the body, even the upper leg, immediately falls and then dies, quickly. We NEVER hear about a large number of non-fatal injuries anymore.

*Update: There are now reports that there was an officer on scene and three different officers engaged in gunfire with the attacker, the officer on scene had a handgun and couldn’t stop the bad guy with a gun, and two of the later three officers were injured in the exchange. “Injured” – they wear bulletproof vests and police responding usually wear helmets and thus didn’t die. They couldn’t stop the shooter before shooting his victims. We were unaware of these facts before originally publishing this but it proves our entire point.

The AR-15 can also shoot through door handles and two to three walls. Even the best-trained person with a handgun is no real match for someone with an AR-15. Thus, to really do anything under the Federalist’s solution, they would have to arm every teacher with the same assault rifle… in close proximity while teaching. In effect, the Federalist’s solution is an assault rifle on the wall of every classroom to have any effect. Or, just arm teachers with handguns to sell millions of handguns, enriching the gun manufacturers.

It is sick sick sick and a “solution” designed to be a gold mine for the gun manufacturers. They also believe the only alternative solution is homeschooling, which is also code for vouchers and private schools, private schools that would advertise that their teachers are “armed.” Here is the sick non-solution goldmine. The Federalist, a website, (Not the Federalist Society)

Schools should be a safe place for children to learn, but saying “guns have no place here” only stops good people with kids’ best interests in mind from being able to protect them.

At home, parents don’t have to worry about jumping through bureaucratic hoops to shield their kids from a bullet, the trauma of seeing their classmates slaughtered, or even terrifying shooting drills. They live and teach in a controlled environment where guns can be safely carried for self-defense or locked away when not in use.

You can’t protect your kids from everything. There’s no telling when a crazy gunman might open fire in a movie theater or a grocery store. You can, however, do your best to prevent them from being sitting ducks at frequently targeted locations such as schools by keeping them by your side.

“Sitting ducks.”

As sick as this sounds, if we simply banned the ownership of AR-15s and got rid of them (somehow), it would, at the very very least, mean that our “mass shootings” go from 56, 49, 10, 21, 19, dead and no word of “wounded,” to 4-6 dead and maybe “10 wounded.” It sounds ridiculous, “a mass shooting is a mass shooting…” True, but there are 15 families out there that might otherwise not be planning funerals right now.

Of course, we should also do “cool down” periods where a person buying a gun buys it and receives it 30-60 days later. If someone needs a gun “today” or “within 72 hours,” there is something wrong. That and very thorough background checks.

Fcking sick. Not just sick of “this.” But just “sick.” And “sick of them,” and sick of the assault rifle proudly displayed in dozens of stores near you.

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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman