An Unholy Alliance

I received a press release on May 31st from the American Federation of Teachers. They are the smaller of the two major teachers’ unions in the United States. The release announced that the teachers’ union was preparing to have a series of event “to demand action on gun violence (sic) prevention.” They planned vigils outside of the offices of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA).

It really isn’t news when a lefty union holds an event outside a politician’s office. Whether it is higher pay, gun control, or opposition to school innovation and/or charter schools, it is the same old same old.

However, what really caught my eye in this press release is that they are announcing a new partnership.

Educators, parents and students will send the message that “enough is enough” and that students, parents, educators and communities deserve commonsense gun safety laws now. The union also will be partnering with Parkland, Fla., school shooting survivor and activist David Hogg in the lead up to the March for Our Lives on June 11.

So David “Camera” Hogg and the AFT will be partners.

It really isn’t that surprising. Both are engaged in indoctrinating the youth of our country that “guns are bad”, “only the police should have guns”, and “Republicans are evil”. While it may be a good match for each of them, it is an unholy alliance for our schools and our children.

UPDATE: Going through my email, I found a second press release from the American Federation of Teachers issued on June 1st. It included additional comments by AFT President Randi Weingarten and “Camera” Hogg.

From Weingarten:

Our No. 1 priority is keeping our children, our members, our families and our communities safe, and that requires a commitment from every single one of us: educators, parents, students, faith leaders and legislators alike. We are teachers, nurses and public employees who have been on the front lines of the gun violence epidemic, and we’re standing side by side with the country’s students to demand action on gun safety before one more life is lost, whether it’s a mass shooting on school grounds or one of the countless instances of gun violence that take lives in our neighborhoods every day. Enough is enough. The vast majority of Americans have found common ground on preventing gun violence and want action on gun safety now.”

Gun control is not gun safety and never has been. I also take issue with “the vast majority of Americans” finding common ground on gun control. Perhaps if you use a push poll worded to get the answers you desire but that would be it.

From Hogg:

“Our teachers are everything to America’s children. They’re counselors, mentors, they’re there for our highs and for our lows. In this moment of crisis, as gun violence has soared to become the leading cause of death in our children, our teachers are there with us shielding us with their care and sometimes even their own bodies. The threat to our lives from gun violence is unacceptable, and once again our teachers are here to fight for us. We’re organizing across the country with teachers, teacher aides, and our entire school communities to say: Enough is enough. This will be the beginning of the end of gun violence, and the American Federation of Teachers is there with us to make it happen.” 

I think Hogg confuses the role of teachers with that of parents. We all have had teachers we admired and even loved. That said, they rarely were our everything.

If you really wanted to empower teachers to shield students, you would offer training such as the FASTER program along with “stop the bleed”.