Good Thursday evening. This is Daniel Allott with The Hill’s Top Opinions.
This week’s school shooting in Nashville has prompted the usual political response, writes longtime political consultant B.J. Rudell, with Democrats and Republicans retreating to their usual talking points in the gun rights versus gun safety debate. The default Republican position is to call for armed guards at every school.
This sounds nice in theory, Rudell argues. But when you look at it closely, it doesn’t make much sense, or cents. Rudell examines the logistics and economics of such a proposal, concluding that it could ultimately cost $40 billion or $50 billion a year.
“Hiring one armed guard for a school is like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole,” Rudell says. “It’s a knee-jerk reaction to a clear-as-day problem that requires a far more thoughtful solution.”
Rudell compares the armed-guard policy idea now fashionable among many Republicans to the pre-programmed “thoughts and prayers” dropped casually into communities torn apart by gun violence. Saying ‘I’m for armed officers’ is like saying, ‘I’m anti-crime.’”
Ultimately, he writes, this “well-meaning-yet-empty proposal reminds us that policy making is serious business, while politicking often isn’t.”
Read Rudell’s op-ed here.
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