Tennessee GOP Candidate Gonna ‘Harden’ Schools Like Post-9/11 Airports But With More Guns, No Upgrade Options
Monica Irvine should stick with her ‘etiquette’ business.
After the Covenant School shooting in April, Republican Gov. Bill Lee urged the Tennessee legislature to expand existing red flag protections for mental health.
“We all agree that dangerous, unstable individuals who intend to harm themselves or others should not have access to weapons,” Lee said. “And that should be done in a way that requires due process and a high burden of proof, supports law enforcement and punishes false reporting, enhances mental health support, and preserves the Second Amendment for law-abiding citizens.”
The red flag law should’ve been called a “cleaning up your own mess” bill considering that in 2021, Lee signed a “constitutional carry” law that let any fool carry a gun without a permit.
Unfortunately, Lee was only one of a few Republicans to experience a brief period of lucidity after yet another preventable mass shooting. Most have continued regurgitating absurd pro-gun rhetoric. For instance, Republican state Senate candidate Monica Irvine is so fully committed to protecting guns from the gunless she won’t even consider red flag laws. Instead, she has more bonehead ideas for condemning our kids to a hyper-secure police state, hardly the best environment to learn their multiplication tables.
An author and motivational speaker, Irvine is the creator and president of The Etiquette Factory, which is something that exists. During her recent campaign launch event, she insisted that red flag flaws violate potential mass shooters’ due process rights. (How “see a judge about your guns” isn’t due process, we have no idea.)
“However, there are many things … we can do to help increase safety of our citizens and our schools,” she rambled. “If you live in Tennessee, we all have an obligation to be part of the solution to keep Tennessee children more safe in their classrooms. My grandchildren, just like your grandchildren and just like your children, have a right to feel safe at school.”
She urged parents to attend school board meetings, city council meetings, and “voice your opinions and become part of the solution.” OK, fine, but what is her genius, non-gun-grabbing solution?
“I do support hardening our schools in Tennessee.”
Oh, there it is — more “door control” nonsense.
“We hardened every airport in our nation in the days and weeks that followed 9/11.”
Airline travel is significantly less pleasant than it was prior to 9/11, but we mostly agreed that ritualized TSA torture was a worthwhile exchange for not dying. Although, data suggests we might have just cast ourselves in a similarly superstitious, high-tech version of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery.
Also, airports and airplanes are gun-free zones. We don’t encourage “good guys with guns” shooting it out with terrorists at 30,000 feet, whereas Republicans have suggested arming teachers.
Irvine’s 9/11 comparison is highly flawed, particularly because prior to the deadly terrorist attack, “the FAA allowed knives of up to four inches in length on board an aircraft,” aviation expert Jeff Price told NPR. “So even if the hijackers would have been caught with their knives prior to boarding the plane, the screeners would have handed it right back to them.”
We didn’t just “harden” airports. We outright banned knives, box cutters, razors and other types of blades. Serious people didn’t suggest that everyone start flying with knives and box cutters so terrorists wouldn’t have the edge.
Increased security measures after 9/11 came at a tremendous personal cost to travelers. Once you could arrive at the airport minutes before your flight. Now you can spend up to an hour in the TSA line. There’s also the literal cost — the current annual TSA budget is around $10 billion. Teachers are still paying for school supplies out of pocket.
Irvine is eager to defend the “due process” of gun owners, but what about schoolchildren and teachers, who have committed no crime to my knowledge and shouldn’t have to live under permanent lockdown simply to enable people’s Red Dawn fantasies? They deserve more freedom than a gun.
[NPR / Heartland Signal]
Follow Stephen Robinson on Bluesky and Threads.
Subscribe to his YouTube channel for more fun content.
Catch SER on his podcast, The Play Typer Guy.
"We have to harden schools!"
"Okay, are you going to pay for that? Because it's gonna cost money."
"Are you nuts? NO NEW TAXES!"
Children should not have to walk through detectors while their bags are searched in order to enter their schools.
They should not have to walk past dogs, be subjected to pat downs, or have their tchotchkes confiscated and thrown away in front of them.
They should not be surrounded by people in tactical gear as they start their school day.
I’m snatching her grandmother card.