North Fork Locals Mixed on NRA Call for Armed Guards in Schools

North Fork locals are reacting to statements made Friday by the National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre on the Sandy Hook school shooting, breaking a weeklong silence by the gun organization.

LaPierre blasted the media and entertainment industry for promoting and glorifying violence in what he called a “dirty little truth.” He called it “a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people.”

Among his ideas on how to prevent another unspeakably murderous act like the one Adam Lanza brought to Newtown, was to post armed guards or policemen in every school in America. The money, he said, could come from a variety of sources including the U.S. budget for foreign aid. His idea is to use qualified police, retired or active and reserve military personnel to fill those posts.

Related: You can read a full transcript of the NRA press conference here on the Washington Post website.

We asked Patch readers on Facebook what they thought, and here are some of the responses:

“A totally gun free society, except for those carried by the government ...is called a communist dictatorship. The second amendment is there for a reason. What we need is a culture change in which we have less sensationalized sex and violence glorified in the media on a daily basis. What we have now are reality shows are the new norm and we have lowered the bar on acceptable and accountable behavior. The tragedy in Connecticut was a result of how far down the rabbit hole we have gone in this country in regards to not being attentive enough to what is going on around us. Restricting more of our freedoms in this country is not the answer. Anyone who thinks it is are welcome to speak to friends I have who have lived in Russia before it became a "democratic" state. Check the history books on the steps that Hitler took while in power...one of the first things he did was to disarm the people.” — Theresa M. Meyer

“Totally Insane!! Maybe the NRA would like to fund this! Because I don't see our school districts having to add this to their budgets! Nor should the public at large have to pay for it, so the few idiots that think they are entitled under the law to have assault weapons can do so! If you want a licensed hand gun or hunting rifle ok, but You Do Not Need a Semi-Automatic Weapon on Long Island or any other city or suburb, unless you live in a war zone or the wilds of Alaska!” — Ellen McCarry Hopps

“Sure...let's make it easy for gun violence by PUTTING guns in the schools!!!! :((“ — Carol Horowitz Taddonio

“Timing is so important, why shouldn't we have professionals in charge of protecting the most vulnerable, a gun free zone sign isn't going to stop a murderer, obviously. Left unarmed teachers and children are helpless, but is to put that responsibility on teachers too much? We want their attention on teaching not constantly being on guard duty. Hire cops, guards, professionals to do the job or they better train those teachers damn well how to use a gun for self defense. But don't take away the ability to protect ourselves, that's the worst thing we could do.” — Schmoupy Juntunen

What do you think? Should we post armed guards in our schools to protect our children from another tragedy like at Newtown?