Comments on: What I’d like to write to my child’s teacher about his gun control advocacy in class

By: Theory and Practice. | The Almost Examined Life

Theory and Practice. | The Almost Examined Life — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 03:56:36 +0000

[...] to support a conclusion they’ve already made. As one person said in regards to this (amazing) post, “If a long, well-reasoned article could actually win the debate, the debate would have ended [...]

By: Web Walk | Cornered Cat

Web Walk | Cornered Cat — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:55:52 +0000

[...] had a dilemma: her son came home from school and told her that his English teacher was handing out anti-gun [...]

By: JunkPilot

JunkPilot — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 03:35:09 +0000

Bookworm,
An extremely well thought out response based on facts and reason, however the other side will always base their arguments on emotion not reason.

One item of note I feel will not work is the appeal to the Constitution. It was during last year’s Democratic National Convention I discovered liberals have a fundamental disconnect I don’t believe conservatives can ever overcome with respect to reasonable arguments and discussions. They DO NOT believe our rights come from our creator. Conservatives may or may not believe in a god, but they do believe in “natural law” and that we, as humans already have certain rights and government can only: (a) help keep those rights from being infringed, (b) allow them to be infringed, or (c) actively pursue infringing on those rights. Liberals do not respect the Constitution or other founding documents because they believe rights come from government.

This view was espoused in several side interviews during the convention. One specific interviewee stated words something like “We don’t get our rights from God, ask former slaves about that, ask women who couldn’t vote about that, ask blacks in the 50 and 60′s about that. They didn’t have any rights. The rights they have now came from government granting them those rights.” I may not have the quote exact but what I’ve written conveys the idea. Conservatives (obviously) believe everyone already possesses those rights and it was a misguided government that took those rights away from those particular groups.

I have now reached the conclusion that without overcoming this fundamental understanding which forms the core basis of our entire system of government as espoused in the Declaration and Constitution, it is impossible to reason about many of these topics with a liberal. We assume they have the same view of what a right is that we have. They don’t. We believe we already have rights and we want to prevent the government from infringing upon those rights. They believe we don’t have any rights and government must grant those rights to the individual.

By: Teachers, Gun Control, And One-Sided Debates « The Spent Round

Teachers, Gun Control, And One-Sided Debates « The Spent Round — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 20:50:03 +0000

[...] thrown by the wayside. I dealt with it not so much in high school, but quite a bit in college. Here we have a brilliant letter written by a mom who’s son had experienced such nonsense in high [...]

By: 2nd Amendment Politics in the Classroom | Heels and Handguns

2nd Amendment Politics in the Classroom | Heels and Handguns — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 04:36:25 +0000

[...] Please click HERE to read the letter that she wrote in response, and wanted to send. [...]

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 03:25:41 +0000

“ Just don’t do it accidentally, and pick your battles wisely.”

A good point.

By: Spartacus

Spartacus — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:41:32 +0000

This is a wonderful collation of the many different angles of the debate -- thank you! There's one thing that has been rattling around in my head these past couple months of renewed debate on guns. (Well, more than one, but I think all the others are 0.25" #4-40 screws that have come loose.) I haven't seen this argument recently, but it's worth bringing up: Haynes v. United States. I don't know about the UK and Australia, but in the US, it is explicitly only the law-abiding who are required to register their guns; criminals are specifically exempted. So yes, there is a disparate impact of such efforts, but it is even more lopsided than most people realize.

By: Mike Devx

Mike Devx — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:35:00 +0000

Just as with a cop or a boss, a teacher has the capability, due to the authority position, of making your life miserable. You shouldn’t want to accidentally get on their bad side.

If they choose to, they can “focus on you” and make things extremely difficult for you. I wouldn’t want a cop tailing me on the roads for three hours, just waiting for each mistake I make, to pull me over and write yet another ticket. Or a boss scrutinizing my every move, writing me up in my personnel file at every opportunity. Or a teacher targeting my child because I’ve challenged him.

But still I would challenge, when the risk was worth it to me! Just don’t do it accidentally, and pick your battles wisely. But don’t ever feel cowed or afraid! Instead view it as risk vs reward, and simply make the rational decision to challenge authority based on that. But never let them cow you! You are not their slave!

By: Danny Lemieux

Danny Lemieux — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 23:17:54 +0000

I suspect that none of this will ultimately affect your son’s higher-ed prospects – his overall high school grade point, extracurricular activities and standardized test scores will totally outweigh anything this one dimwit teacher does.

By: Charles Martel

Charles Martel — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 22:12:53 +0000

Nice job, Book. My only concern is that your missive is way too long for a public school teacher to have the patience or mental training to read and understand. A supposedly educated person who can blithely hand out two badly written propaganda pieces from American Pravda and assume that he’s engaged in teaching is not likely to accept being schooled in basic logic or reading comprehension.

Actually, I have another concern, namely your fear that the teacher may turn on your son and ruin his chances of attending a top-flight college. Considering the legions of near morons prestige schools are turning out these days, and the fact that companies are scrambling to find another means of ascertaining the potential of job applicants, why would you care that much whether your son gets into Dimwit U?