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Hoplophobia

A never ending campaign to instill a fear of guns, from Christopher Flavelle. Bloomberg [1]:

One of the report’s more distressing findings centered on the effect mass shootings have on Americans’ ability to cast a ballot. The commission noted that schools are the best venue for polling places: “They have the needed and desirable space, are inexpensive, widespread, conveniently located, and accessible for people with disabilities.”

But the December 2012 Newtown shooting has led some states to look at limiting access to schools for voting.

Reax, from Eduwonk [2]:

This Bloomberg editorial about how the fear of gun violence is complicating efforts to use schools as polling places is unconvincing. You could identify any of a host of social ills and make the same claim. In practice, interest groups, notably the teachers unions, like schools closed on election day because it’s easier to engage in political activity – especially get-out-the-vote work. Meanwhile, unfortunately, if you’re going to have a bunch of people you don’t know in and out of a school you can understand why school officials would rather not have students around, and it’s not because of guns.

It is not fear of gun violence. It is hoplophobia. Students are more apt to be raped by his teacher than to threatened or injured by a law abiding adult, from Robert Stacy McCain [3]:

All seven of these cases made headlines in the past month, and if we were to extrapolate this figure over the course of a year, we could estimate that at least 80 female teachers are charged with sex crimes annually in the United States. Perversion is rampant and we may be in the midst of a complete societal breakdown.

Remember this, the next time you see a poll asking whether the country is “on the right track” or heading in “the wrong direction.”

Maybe having the possibility of having an armed adult on campus might make our students safe for one day?