High School and the Anti-Gun Agenda

[9mm+]

My son had a student teacher one day this week to teach his high school Civics class. As for the Second Amendment, the student teacher's comment was (paraphrasing but very close to verbatim), "When the Constitution was written, guns were necessary to fight the British, but in today's society, the Second Amendment is no longer needed." As soon as the student teacher said this, half of the class raised their hands (apparently to challenge this statement), but sadly the teacher was out of time and couldn't take any questions.

My son is an excellent shot and a strong believer in RKBA so he was completely unfazed by this, and the good news is that a good number of friends also felt that this 2A comment was spawned from pure ignorance and political indoctrination. I am not sure what these college students are being taught nowadays, but rest assured that the anti-gun agenda is alive and well in America's universities.

I took my son to the range that night and we fired 100 40S&W rounds to help even the scales. It was a fun way to laugh off this silly crap.

 

[oneounceload]

I am not sure what these college students are being taught nowadays

They are being taught by the members of Johnson's "Great Society" from the 60's and their offspring; folks who have lived in the Ivory Towers too long and who have certain left-ward leaning beliefs. As someone who was an Elementary Teacher for a while, I did what I could to counter it, but the majority of other teachers had been very thoroughly indoctrinated into the typical mantra. Just the way it is........One reason the statement "Education begins at home" is more important today than ever before

 

[Carter]

I had one prof. like that. Except he ga e us time to debate the issue at hand. He was a firm believer in debate, but was also a hardcore socialist.

My two favorite and memorable instructors were both libertarians. One of them had a saying, "give all the inmates all the heroin they want to fix prison overcrowding."

There are some good ones in academia.

 

[9mm+]

As much as I resented the attempt by the student teacher (from NC State, btw) to politically indoctrinate the class to be anti-gun, I was very heartened to hear my son say that many of the students were bothered by the statement. Maybe there is hope for his generation, after all...

In addition to teaching CCH classes, I teach a lot of new shooters, too. I can't tell you how many times adult students have come up to me and asked, "Can you teach my son/daughter to shoot, too?" It seems like there are more young shooters in the Triangle area than I originally thought. Again, this is all very heartening.

 

[LawScholar]

After four years at college, I am not even slightly surprised. I have spent the last four years defending 2A tooth and nail.

 

[exavid]

The attitude in today's schools is depressing. When I was in high school we had Junior ROTC, drilled with '03 Springfields and went to rifle competitions and practices with .22s much like any other high school sport. This in California no less. That was 1957-1960. Luckily in this area it's not as bad because hunting and gun sports are popular among a lot of our population. But having a rifle in your car trunk in a school parking lot will get a student expelled. I'm exceedingly glad that my two daughters grew up in Ketchikan, AK where this attitude didn't exist. They both learned to shoot rifle, shotgun and handguns and enjoyed it. I never had to worry about them goofing off with any of the many guns we had in the house. I don't know what will happen to my grandchildren but I think they may lead lives with a lot more restrictions than any of us had to endure.

 

[jmr40]

While there are very liberal educators please don't use a broad brush to paint all of us. I taught for 30 years, never worked for a principal who was not a gun owner and hunter. The principal who I was working for when I retired is a member at the same range where I shoot and we see each other there on occasion.

 

[mikerault]

In Monroeville, Pa I was on the schools rifle team (no ROTC) we had a rifle range under the gym. This was in the early 70's. I imagine it is used to store proaganda...eh...school books now.

 

[henschman]

The history of the 20th Century, and all the attrocities that were committed by all those governments in all those countries, with the full support or acquiescence of most of the population, is all the reason I need to own guns.

Some people naievely believe that our country is somehow special and different, and stuff like that could never happen here. Or they think that something like that couldn't happen in a country with representative government. They fail to realize that the tyranny of the majority can be as bad as that of a single dictator. History also shows that countries may start out with representative government, but they can quickly devolve into autocratic rule, especially when citizens have no effective means of resistance.

 

[9mm+]

The attitude in today's schools is depressing. When I was in high school we had Junior ROTC, drilled with '03 Springfields and went to rifle competitions and practices with .22s much like any other high school sport. This in California no less. That was 1957-1960. Luckily in this area it's not as bad because hunting and gun sports are popular among a lot of our population. But having a rifle in your car trunk in a school parking lot will get a student expelled. I'm exceedingly glad that my two daughters grew up in Ketchikan, AK where this attitude didn't exist. They both learned to shoot rifle, shotgun and handguns and enjoyed it. I never had to worry about them goofing off with any of the many guns we had in the house. I don't know what will happen to my grandchildren but I think they may lead lives with a lot more restrictions than any of us had to endure.

Great commentary, thanks! I agree with you 100%. I grew up in the 70's and guns were far more accepted socially among the high school crowd than they are today. We used to go plinking regularly with our 22LR's and 410's. It was a blast!

The problem today is that we want the government to solve all problems and prevent all tragedies all of the time, hence the Nanny State. Of course, this is a completely unrealistic expectation, but that hasn't stopped the liberal progressives from pushing it on everyone anyway. Of course, as soon as one person shoots another, we get a knee-jerk reaction from the politicians whose liberal constituents want them to "do something to fix it". It drives me up the #*%@ wall!

 

[Geckgo]

In Louisiana a gun in the trunk of a HS student's car would cause quite a razzle. Castle law, so unless the parking lots require special access, technically the state can't say anything to them for having a rifle in their trunk, though I'm sure the media and the school boards believe differently. In response to post #6.

9mm+, it's good to hear that your son and his classmates handled the situation with a degree of candor. So many people scream and shout when they get upset about something. Part of the first amendment is letting the anti's have their misguided beliefs as well. Who knows, maybe they will be able to educate us about something one day. Everyone gets an argument right sooner or later. Also nice that you let him "play" after school. I have no kids of my own yet so I don't fully know that joy.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

The Students need to respectfully counter this Student Teacher ideas about the 2nd. As a Parent I would make a visit to the Principal.

 

[spartan00054]

I can attest to how alive and well the anti-gun agenda is. I just graduated with a degree in Political Science from a Cal State school, and I let slip the fact that I am a shooter/reloader once and spent the next couple of semesters at school being ostracized by many people in my major. I was treated as if I was Columbine waiting to happen for quite some time, until people saw that I was sane, responsible person who just happened to be fascinated by various types of lead projection devices.

 

[SSN Vet]

If public educators and liberal politicians don't have guns to blame for all of societies woes, they'll experience an uncomfortable confrontation with the logical conclusion that their social policies and years of influence have all failed.

Now who wants to consider that?

By contrast, I went to a public school system in which multiple teachers had wooden paddles hanging on their walls, and every one knew that disrespect and clowning around was a risky proposition.

Even in Jr. High, all tghe eighth grade boys could tell you that it was not wise to mess with Mr. Johnson.

 

[XD Fan]

There is too much indoctrination of this sort in many areas of our society, but this is not complete picture of our public schools. I am a librarian in a public high school. I regularly have conversations with students regarding firearms including one recently about a student's favorite AR. My library's collection includes books on hunting, shooting, and the second amendment. I have taken several students to the range after they graduate (I do not do one on one social activities with current students.) My principal told me this year that he is thinking about getting his CCW. One of our female math teachers shoots competitively. And last but not least, our drama teacher (who has never shot a gun before) ask me to take him to the range and teach him to shoot.

Around here there are a lot of us in education that are pro RKBA.

 

[TexasBill]

Blaming everything on Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society runs into one fatal flaw: it was too long ago. In 2005, the average age of teachers in American public schools was 42 which would make the average birth year 1963. But these teachers wouldn't have entered the public school system until the fall of 1968 at the earliest and Johnson left office in January 1969. They would have entered college during the Reagan years.

Yes, there are older teachers, but fewer than 10% of public school teachers are older than 55 (birth year 1954, college entry year 1972 during the Nixon Administration).

A question for you: I went through elementary school in the 1950s. I went to schools in Austin, Texas and the Detroit area of Michigan. I don't remember guns being a subject of discussion at all. We didn't have kids bringing guns to school on the first day of hunting season or any other day. I honestly couldn't tell you if my teachers were pro-gun or anti-gun. We learned about firearms, if we learned about them at all, from parents, Scouts and similar sources.

When I was in junior high, we moved to Southwestern Connecticut. I took government, civics and history. Again, no big deal. There was a bit of a flap in the town when the chief of the volunteer fire department got in trouble over a concealed handgun in his car, but that was because it was concealed; Connecticut was an open carry state back then, as was Michigan.

When the heck did guns become such a big deal? People blame the liberals and hippies, but most of the hippies I knew owned guns, mostly .22 rifles. When Kennedy was assassinated with a mail-order rifle, there are some call for curtailing mail-order sales but nothing happened. Then, five years later, in rapid order, we had the killings of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King and gun control was a hot topic. But it wasn't a left vs. right issue: Charlton Heston (yes, that Charlton Heston) went on TV calling for gun control. Richard Nixon wanted all guns abolished while Abbie Hoffman, one of the leaders of the left-wing Yippie movement, advised young radicals to arm themselves. The 1967 legislation that banned open carry of loaded weapons in California was sponsored by a Republican and signed into law by Ronald Reagan. BTW: I am not trying to start any arguments; I am just trying to point out that gun control has never been a one-party or one-ideology movement.

I don't know whether your son's student teacher was teaching his class on a regular basis but, if so, I would have recommended he talk to the other students that raised their hand and asked either the student teacher or the regular teacher to reopen the topic.

 

[Tim the student]

but rest assured that the anti-gun agenda is alive and well in America's universities.

Some, not all. I've never heard anything like what that student teacher said at my university. Not to say it hasn't happened here, but it hasn't happened in any class I've been in, and I'm a political science major with an IA minor. I haven't even heard anything like that in conversation after the murders in Arizona.

Then again, we do have a trap and skeet team, and it is common to see camo, and shooting related shirts, and to hear people talking about hunting and shooting.

 

[LawScholar]

My favorite incident was a few weeks ago in class. A teacher I particularly dislike (her class is essentially a soapbox against capitalism, America, white people, etc.), said "I would be afraid to state my views fully in this state. It is a concealed-carry state after all."

I smiled thinly, ground my teeth, and focused extra hard on my notes, while sitting on the CCW in my wallet.

I need my magna cum laude, and I'm not ruining it to try to change such a narrow-minded person's mind. It pains me to sit there every single day, though, while she rails against all I believe and hold dear.

God help my grade if she ever disparages the troops. Some things I will not stand for, no matter what the cost.

 

[laguna0seca]

I had a professor last semester in an argument class that was especially left leaning. We had to formulate an argument to present to the class, which would then be debated and we would have to defend our position. Naturally I chose something CCW related. My topic was "why gun free zones are dangerous." Not only am I passionate about it, but I teach CCW, so I jumped at the opportunity for a free plug.

I researched this argument extremely well, provided events that backed my stance, included stories (as they are powerful in argument) and facts compiled by credible sources and non biased organizations.

When we presented the arguments, every argument before my was met with harsh criticism and debate, it came to mine, I gave my argument, closed and waited for comments, rebuttals etc. And nothing, the only question I had was whether or not I thought Utah should require a shoot to get a CCW. Nobody argued, and in the peer feedback sheets, I had comments like: "I am anti-gun, but your argument was irrefutable."

I got a C!......I had the top score in the class until that presentation. Stupid liberal professors and their bs claims of neutrality.

 

[TexasBill]

I had a professor last semester in an argument class that was especially left leaning. We had to formulate an argument to present to the class, which would then be debated and we would have to defend our position. Naturally I chose something CCW related. My topic was "why gun free zones are dangerous." Not only am I passionate about it, but I teach CCW, so I jumped at the opportunity for a free plug.

I researched this argument extremely well, provided events that backed my stance, included stories (as they are powerful in argument) and facts compiled by credible sources and non biased organizations.

When we presented the arguments, every argument before my was met with harsh criticism and debate, it came to mine, I gave my argument, closed and waited for comments, rebuttals etc. And nothing, the only question I had was whether or not I thought Utah should require a shoot to get a CCW. Nobody argued, and in the peer feedback sheets, I had comments like: "I am anti-gun, but your argument was irrefutable."

I got a C!......I had the top score in the class until that presentation. Stupid liberal professors and their bs claims of neutrality.

You should have questioned the grade. It's a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

 

[armoredman]

He got a C in Argument because he left no room for argument.

 

[arjppj]

We had demilled 1903s and M1 garands in our ROTC class. Now, they use broomsticks and flashlights....not really, they just do the drills without guns. Sad.

 

[Neverwinter]

If the quotation from the student teacher is accurate, at what point between the ratification of the BoR and now could the 2nd amendment have become unneeded?

When we presented the arguments, every argument before my was met with harsh criticism and debate, it came to mine, I gave my argument, closed and waited for comments, rebuttals etc. And nothing, the only question I had was whether or not I thought Utah should require a shoot to get a CCW. Nobody argued, and in the peer feedback sheets, I had comments like: "I am anti-gun, but your argument was irrefutable."

I got a C!......I had the top score in the class until that presentation. Stupid liberal professors and their bs claims of neutrality.

Go to your Ombudsman now, especially if that C affected your GPA. Their job is to mediate issues like this.

 

[VT Deer Hunter]

9MM THANK YOU! Lots of anti gun people and anti hunters say "When the Constitution was written, guns were necessary to fight the British, but in today's society, the Second Amendment is no longer needed." AND IT MAKE ME GO NUTS! They think we dont need them to get food for familes and protect us. Us hunters and gun owners hunt and shoot gun and own them because its in our blood and heritage.

 

[geekWithA.45]

I went to an elite high school in New England. The general expectation was that you were expected to argue (in the sense of presenting a connected series of logical statements that support a proposition) with your teachers.

When our US History teacher, with his shiny new diploma whose ink wasn't even dry parroted what he'd been taught, that 2A was about States arming militias, we let him have it.

I understand he never tried *that* again.

I gave my argument, closed and waited for comments, rebuttals etc. And nothing...

They were afraid to get shot.

"I am anti-gun, but your argument was irrefutable."

Well, at least that guy was honest. The anti-gunners are just simply wrong across the board, history, the law, and just plain reality stand against them. The rare honest one will admit it.