Gun owners: They play, we pay

Proud gun owner passing his gun skills 

to the next generation

Gun people have their ever-expanding rights to own, carry and blaze away in the safety of stand your ground laws. Taxpayers have their ever-expanding costs to try to harden American society into a gigantic fortress that gun owners cannot penetrate to cause mass slaughter of innocents. Seems like something here just isn't quite fair. The New York Times writes:

Schools Are Spending Billions on High-Tech Defense for Mass Shootings

In 2021, schools and colleges in the United States spent an estimated $3.1 billion on security products and services, compared with $2.7 million in 2017, according to Omdia, a market-research company. Security trade groups have lobbied for hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state funding for school safety measures. The gun legislation that Congress passed last week includes an additional $300 million to bolster school security.

Security and technology directors at half a dozen school districts said in interviews that some products were vital. One pointed to security camera systems that had helped his district observe and gauge the severity of school fires. Others mentioned crisis-alert technology that the school staff may use to summon help during an emergency.

The district officials offered more varied opinions on the sophisticated-sounding systems — like high-tech threat detectors — that promise to heighten security through the use of artificial intelligence.

But there is little hard evidence to suggest that safety technologies have prevented or mitigated catastrophic school events like mass shootings, according to a 2016 report on school safety technology by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

Qs: Why don't gun owners pay annual fees to cover the social costs of their playtime with guns? Why do taxpayers who do not own guns have to pay?

A: Because, Republican Party, NRA, gun manufacturers and campaign contributions to politicians to buy opposition to gun regulations and taxes on the individual and social costs of gun ownership.

Q: How much harm and cost do guns inflict on society?

A: By one estimate about 40,000 deaths, 80,000 non-lethal injuries and $280 billion/year, but that is before one adds the costs to turn schools into little fortresses.

Q: Are American taxpayers stupid?

A: Not the ones who own guns, the stupid ones subsidize gun owners, and gun makers get huge profits, with that wealth trickling up to all kinds of elites who profit from gun sales and various damages.

Proud gun owner learning 

safety protocols