Bulletproof school uniforms

Apparently the newest solution to school shootings is not bullying prevention, peaceful conflict resolution or even gun reform. No, we’ve pretty much written off the possibility of being civilized human beings. Skip the preventative measures; all we can do now is a bit of damage control by way of bulletproof school uniforms.

Does anyone else not see the horrible irony in this situation?

Some are dubbing this measure “no different than seatbelts in cars.” You have got to be freaking kidding me. When you get in a car, there’s going to be a possibility of risk. When you go to school, there are not supposed to be guns anywhere—yet this line of thinking would normalize the experience.

There is a huge problem when manufacturers of bulletproof uniforms and accessories are becoming popular with parents. For starters, how could any parent feel that their children are this unsafe and NOT pull them out of school? If you feel like your child needs a bulletproof vest to survive kindergarten (as some of the parents in this article do), then shouldn’t you remove him or her from the dangerous situation?

But the bigger issue here is that legislators are not doing their jobs and preventing more guns from entering schools, so parents and teachers are pretty much bubble wrapping their kids to protect them. I remember when my mom could come to school and visit anytime she wanted when I was a kid; now there are a whole series of locks, metal detectors, guest passes and other protocol to follow just to get into a school.

But not to buy a gun.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia