Parkland students criticise NRA for gun ban at Pence event

[Igel]

22. Absolutely.

And the NRA's views (at least its president's view) is mangled.

He called for armed guns in schools.

He called for schools to be gun-free zones.

You can make those two sentences into a contradiction if you strip out the context. That's a typical debate/rhetorical device. It has no place in sound logical argumentation.

I work in precisely such a place. It's weapon free. Period. Not only guns, but knives and various other kinds of weapons are banned. Even if a kid brings one to school and turns himself in, he's got out-of-school suspension and a disciplinary hearing that might result in days of in-school suspension, 6 or 9 weeks at alternative school, and possible criminal charges. One of those three options will happen--even the threat triggers one of those three punishments.

But no restriction is absolute.

If a police officer openly carries his gun on school property while on duty, it's perfectly legal. That includes school cops, which wear police uniforms and are licensed or certified (or whatever the term is) police officers. But the way the law defines 'on duty' for this purpose all police are on duty 24/7. In fact, I've been told it's against state law for him to leave his weapon on school property and unattended. So last year a cop with a daughter on campus came in for a parent meeting during his lunch break; he couldn't leave the gun locked in the trunk in his police car because that would have been illegal. So he had no choice but to do the legal thing and wear his service revolver.

I wonder if the 'survivor' in this case really wanted all the police that showed up at the Parkland shooting to leave all their weapons in lockers at the police station. That's what a gun-free school would look like, wouldn't it? (No, that's probably not what was meant. But the likely answer to that rhetorical question would lead to the exact same contradiction. Which is why the sentence's meaning, in context, is what's required here. Not what it could mean when decontextualized or recontextualized.)