Idleman Praise

I'd like to send praise to Sara Idleman for standing against putting retired deputies in Washington County schools. The number of school shootings, I found, for New York State is 2 with 3 injuries and zero deaths since 1990. That was from ballotpedia. Maybe the supervisors have different stats, and 2 in 28 years is too many, though I'm not sure you can assess the odds of an officer stopping either of them. The article mentions unintended consequences. I found instances online of an accidental discharge of a weapon by an SRO and several others who had lost or misplaced weapons. None of these incidents led to injury. There have been cases of officers having sex with students, as well. Not to impugn the character of all officers, but apparently these are things that happen.

On the bright side for the schools, the sheriff is selecting the deputies. That should relieve them of legal liability in the case of "unintended consequences." The NRA and gun manufacturers use a tragedy like Parkland to convince people all schools are in mortal danger and need armed guards. Good job on their part, but a poor one on ours for not resisting their lobbying. Seattle has passed legislation requiring gun owners to safely store their guns. The NRA has brought suit against it. They also prevent, using their congressional lackeys, CDC funding to study gun deaths by keeping the Dickey Amendment in place. I wonder if the supervisors would support trigger locks, gun safes and the renewal of research, as well as armed guards in schools.

Thank you to Mr. Bauberger for his informative letter.