So the NRA wants basically 100,000 full time salaried employees to MAYBE prevent mass shootings???

[Logical]

So the cost would be, at $40,000 a year (salary and benefits), (and many police officers make more than that) about $4 Billion dollars a year.

The ATF has about 5,000 employees and a $1.2 Billion budget!
The DEA has about 11,000 employees and a $2.4 Billion budget!

So this NRA plan would contain more employees and cost more than the DEA and ATF combined!

So why not spend the same money fixing the lack of background checks on private sales? And spend the money updating the mental health databases for all 50 states. And a better screening for people with mental health issues. And also start a undercover program to acquire illegal guns and visit gun shows. And do spot checks on gun stores records.

I think the $4 billion would be better spent on addressing long term gun issues than stopping, maybe, 30 shootings a year.

It was a stupid idea that they spent maybe 30 minutes thinking about.

[Bucky]

1. Try quadrupling that $4b (at least)

4 billion is a ridiculous estimate. You have to figure on average salary, plus administrative support costs, training costs, facility costs, not to mention the goddamned equipment costs.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

5. My guess

When you include a full-time salary (at a level that will attract something better than your average rent-a-cop), benefits, training, and other costs to maintain the officer in the school (including "coverage" personnel for when the regular guard is ill of unable to come to work), you're really talking about $100k per year.

Times 130,000 public and private schools in America.

[yardwork]

14. Doing the math in another thread led me to an approximate $10 billion per year cost.

And I doubt that we have the capacity to field the millions of hours of armed guard protection this would require. We'd have to start another branch of the military to train all the elementary school guards we would need.

Stupid idea on all levels.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

25. We talking well more than 100,000 armed personnel.

By way of comparison, a typical army division has somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 personnel. So it would be like create 6-7 new army divisions. Nearly double what we have in Afghanistan.

[Rosco T.]

2. Just you wait, the Reich-Wing will claim this is a 'jobs program' n/m

[RomneyLies]

3. They're basically saying, expand the TSA to schools

[Mojorabbit]

28. Teach them young to capitulate to armed authority figures.

I am a gun owner and I cannot believe that he even floated the idea. The man is warped. He is the type of person who would facilitate a police state.

[cbrer]

4. With a bunch of brand new weapons sales...

And body armor. And it won't fucking work. Too many ways to defeat guards. They might even try to slip in a new bureaucracy on us. New division of the DHS. It's bullshit. Anyone who thinks that the answer to our gun problem is more guns has their head up their ass.

[raquel69]

6. Strange how people are shooting this idea down (pun unintended)

yet we have armed security and other security measures at airports, courts, Congress, and many other gov't and private places. Not to mention many schools at high risk for violence have security guards already (Mayor Giuliani said on radio today that he did that with many NYC schools). If armed security doesn't work as a deterrence then why have it in all these public places like Congress or courts? Are kids not our most precious treasures?

There will probably be more of these incidents at schools (as the next killer(s) try to top Adam Lanza as he tried to copy Columbine it seems) but I think it's worth exploring all options. I don't have the answers but all of these killers seem to have had mental problems. That's one area we should focus on.

We need to make changes just like we did at airports and other public places post 9-11. We can't pretend and hide our heads in the sand anymore.

[BainsBane]

9. it's not strange

It's sanity. The proposal is completely insane, and all about selling more guns.

[raquel69]

16. Yeah could be but you haven't answered my question.

Has armed security at airports, courts, Congress etc. decreased the potential for violence/killings at those places? All I'm saying is we need to look at all options. I know airline passengers and employees are more vigilant and alert post 9-11. There are even armed marshalls on flight now. We learned a hard lesson that day.

[BainsBane]

21. armed guards don't stop terrorism

I have no idea what their effect is. The most significant changes have been in screening the public for weapons and other dangerous devices, which already is in place at some schools.

[Logical]

19. Airport security is a joke. Terrorists don't want to do anything or they could. It is an act to...

make us feel safe.

[raquel69]

20. You gotta admit

we've had a few close calls, like with the underwear bomber, but no more box cutter incidents where planes are flown into buildings. I'm not a fan of the PATRIOT Act (I believe it's unconstitutional for the most part) but we have had no more 9-11s. So it's had some positive effect although I hate to admit it.

[Logical]

22. Well.......

Why has a terrorist not blown themselves up right before the Xray machine? 100s of people around them. They would kill dozens and shut down the airport? Nothing would stop them. If they really wanted to disrupt this country they could. They just do not really want to.

[graham4anything]

7. There should be 100 federal cops at each gun show & at every gun dealer's store

and the cops should parade around like the teaparty did at townhalls in 2010.
stroking their guns and acting menacing.

AND THERE SHOULD BE ZERO TOLERANCE TO ANY INFRACTION THERE by anyone having or wanting to have a gun who looks like the majority of mass shooting killers

wink wink

[WillyT]

8. And Unionized Public Sector Workers !!! - For SHAME !!!

I wonder how their conservative brothers-in-arms feel about that?

[ThoughtCriminal]

10. I figure $11.5 billion per year

The cost is not just salaries.

here's my breakdown:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022051306

An $821/gun tax on new gun sales could cover that. or maybe a $2/bullet tax.

[quaker bill]

11. You aren't putting 100,000 trained and armed officers

on the ground for $4 Billion. Think something closer to $10 Billion perhaps $20 B. What does that get you? One armed dude per school?

Hint, he/she becomes the first target, so you better put them in body armor. #2, schools are big so you need to restrict access to one point or a lot of damage will get done before he/she gets there. Finally, it would appear that the end game for most of these shooters is their own death. So how is threatening them with death a deterrant? It could be an attractant.

[raquel69]

13. Great points.

I don't know how we stop this. All of these attacks were planned. I was talking to a friend about this and she said it was like Columbine opened up an evil portal for these killers.

[DollarBillHines]

17. Correct. Show me one Urban/Suburban HS which can be monitored by one person.

And your first target point is spot on. That was the first thought I had, as well.

[Coyotl]

12. No, they just want to sell more guns.

The employees are just the vehicle for more guns sales.

[yardwork]

15. That's what I think, too.

[Incitatus]

18. nm

[flying rabbit]

23. They could do this on the

cheap by having wal mart take over school security. Minimum wage with no benefits (except food stamps) employees would gladly pack heat to save our nations kids. A 30 minute video on gun handling, followed by a 60 minute video on the evils of unionization would be all the training needed.

[HereSince1628]

24. My guess would be 150000 part time jobs with no benefits

security is expected to provide their own weapon, body armor, and liability insurance.

[kestrel91316]

26. The NRA wants those jobs to go to NRA members -

red-blooded, Constitution-protectin', bible-believin' Amurkins. They have proposed a HUGE jobs program for teabaggers.

[AllyCat]

27. The NRA can pay for them then.

If they think this is such a great frickin' idea, they can pay it.

[dballance]

29. They Know it will Never Happen

They knew that even as LaPew said it. But now they can say they made suggestions to help correct the problem.

Completely ignoring the wise posts made by others here that the armed police DID engage the Columbine shooters but were ineffective due to being out-gunned. Also, the fact that schools are big buildings or even campuses of buildings and those armed guards can't be everywhere all the time. Since it takes less than a minute to empty a 30-round magazine and re-load it's unlikely if the armed guard is at the other end of campus or the building they'll be able to stop much.

[global1]

30. I Could Go Along With This Idea Only If It Is Entirely Funded By Guns And Ammo Sales.....

Large tax levies on the sale and use of guns and on the sales and use of ammunition.

If this is what the NRA wants - let this program of placing an armed guard in every school in America be paid for by the people that own and want to shoot their guns.

100% tax on each gun purchased.
$10.00 tax on every bullet purchased. f
Yearly license renewal for gun owners at the cost of $125.00 per gun.
$1000.00 penalties to any gun owner that gets caught with out a license.
$25.00 user fee to be paid to this guard fund every time a gun owner uses a shooting range.
All gun shops in the country need to be licensed at a $1000.00 per year.

I'm sure we could come up with more fees and taxes for gun owners and users.
Let them foot the bill to place an armed guard in every school in the country.

Bigger schools would probably need more than one armed guard. I'm thinking about the high school that I went to. It sprawled out over 4 to 5 blocks. One guard would not be enough.

Are there any publicly traded companies out there on any stock exchange that has anything to do with 'home schooling'. If so - I think the time is ripe to invest in them.











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