Blaming NRA doesn't make schools safer

The recent March for Our Lives protests were emotional and prolific. A sentiment expressed by many protesters and their sympathizers is that the NRA is to blame. Some stated outright that the NRA is complicit in the school shootings.

That hyperbolic rubbish is equivalent to blaming the entire gay community for the spread of AIDS in the 80s and 90s, as some tried to do. Or, blaming all Muslims for the terrorist attacks of 9/11, as a number of people suggested. Fortunately, responsible leaders corrected these misattributions.

Where are the sensible voices now? If you blame the NRA for school shootings, then you necessarily blame everyone who belongs to the organization, some of whom are your neighbors, the folks you worship with and the parents of the kids your kids go to school with.

Our kids are precious valuables. Chances are you own various valuable commodities that you make difficult for thieves to steal. For a long time, Fort Knox has been associated with being an impregnable place for valuables. It isn't regarded as such because it is a gun-free zone - quite the opposite.

Many Second Amendment supporters believe schools should not be open invitations to take our kids from us, any more than Fort Knox should keep its doors open. The principle is this: "The more valuable the commodity, the greater the security needs to be." So, how much security do your kids deserve? Yes, we can tighten loopholes in laws. However, recent events have shone a focus on multiple lapses in government responses to opportunities to have prevented tragedy, at every level. Inevitably some threats will fall through the cracks. We need a backup plan, "on site," at schools. The NRA wants this, they've said so, because they have kids in schools, too.

Brian Van Dine

Glendale Heights