Guns Don’t Kill People; Separationists Kill People

The White House held a conference yesterday on school shootings, but

made sure that (almost) nobody uttered the word "guns" or brought up
the taboo topic of gun control. Maybe they thought it was a conference
on documentaries about high schools.

It's stuff like this
that drives me up a wall. The White House held a conference yesterday
on school shootings, but made sure that (almost) nobody uttered the
word "guns" or brought up the taboo topic of gun control. Maybe they
thought it was a conference on documentaries about high schools.
There's no other explanation for ignoring the "shootings" part of the
day's theme.

What I find most despicable, however, is not just the willful avoidance
of a problem that the GOP happens to find politically unhelpful, but
the shameless exploitation of these tragedies to beat up on liberals,
yet again. That's right. Not only do the president and his supporters
refuse to consider that easy access to guns might play some role in
these tragedies, they've chosen to blame the whole thing on idea that
God and morality have been banned from public schools.

As Dana Milbank reported in his Washington Post column on the conference:

"With gun control off the table, the questions and comments became a
bit repetitious, too, as a long line of participants echoed the belief
that school violence would be reduced by values education and religious
belief. "It's illegal to say 'God' in the public schools these days,"
complained one questioner. He was followed by a representative of the
American Association of Christian Schools. Craig Scott, brother of a
girl killed in the Columbine massacre, said she was "killed for her
faith."

We'll leave the debate over whether religion and prayer really have
been wrenched from schools for another day (hint: they have not). I'm
not surprised this argument was raised at a gathering sponsored by this
White House, but I am appalled that it was allowed to dominant the
discussion.

While attending a Christian music festival this summer, I saw t-shirts
for sale that read: "Dear God, Why do you allow violence in our
schools? Dear Student, Why do you allow them to take me out of your
schools?" It's a wing-nutty argument that can't sustain two seconds of
logical thought — why, then, is there so little school violence in
largely-secular European schools? The fact that the country's secretary
of education, attorney general, and president were seriously
entertaining it as the explanation for a rash of school shootings is
enough to make you cry.