One of the 23 executive orders which President Obama issued today was to "provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers."
"School resource officers" are simply sworn police officers who patrol public schools, and, yes, they are armed as any other law enforcement officer would be, and many schools already employ them.
On December 21, one week after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, National Rifle Association (NRA) vice-president Wayne LaPierre held a Washington D.C. press conference, announcing a proposal for what he dubbed "Operation School Shield," which would put a police officer in every public school across the nation.
LaPierre said:
"It's not just our duty to protect [our children], it's our right to protect them. The NRA knows there are millions of qualified active and reserved police, active and reserve military, security professionals, rescue personnel, an extraordinary corps of qualified trained citizens to join with local school officials and police in devising a protection plan for every single school.
With all the money in the federal budget, can't we afford to put a police officer in every single school."
The NRA was quickly excoriated by those on the left...
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), said: "It is beyond belief that following the Newtown tragedy, the National Rifle Association's leaders want to fill our communities with guns and arm more Americans."
Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said via Twitter: "Walking out of another funeral and was handed the NRA transcript. The most revolting, tone deaf statement I've ever seen."
Mark Kelly, the husband of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, said: "The NRA could have chosen to be a voice for the vast majority of its own members who want common sense, reasonable safeguards on deadly firearms, but instead it chose to defend extreme pro-gun positions that aren't even popular among the law-abiding gun owners it represents."
Of course, the left has thus far, had nothing but praise for Obama on this issue and has not bothered to point out the fact the he has just issued an order calling for the exact same measure the NRA proposed nearly four weeks earlier.
The entire list of executive orders which Obama signed on Wednesday, follows:
1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.
View all of Obama's executive orders...
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