The “good guy with a gun” argument got another real world test during the Parkland, Florida school shooting — and it failed. An armed school deputy on the scene failed to engage the shooter, instead hiding outside with others escaping the violence.
This week in OtherWords, Mitchell Zimmerman says that’s not surprising. Expecting school security guards to die in the line of duty is no real answer for school shootings — and neither is expecting teachers or coaches to engage students in deadly shootouts. Khalil Bendib satirizes that idea, too.
The real answer, he says, is to get serious about restricting these weapons of war.
Also this week, Josh Hoxie reports on the effort to scam working Americans into supporting the Trump tax cuts. Jill Richardson explains what’s wrong with those nasty complaints about “chain migration.” And Jim Hightower argues there’s a deeper agenda behind the administration’s push to substitute “food boxes” for real food aid.
Khalil Bendib / OtherWords.org
- The Tax Scam Is Starting to Sink In / Josh Hoxie
While billionaires fund a PR push for the tax law, most ordinary workers report seeing no increase in their take-home pay. - A ‘Good Guy With a Gun’ Isn’t Enough / Mitchell Zimmerman
More people need to treat gun control as the “do or die” issue it is — not make teachers engage in shoot-outs with students. - ‘Chain Migration’ Is a Nasty Canard / Jill Richardson
Family reunification is the best immigrant support system there is — and it doesn’t even increase overall migration, - A Food Stamp Indignity Worthy of Dickens / Jim Hightower
Behind the White House’s demeaning “food box” idea is a plan to eliminate food aid for poor people completely. - Arm the Teachers / Khalil Bendib
