Questioning signs; shooter training

Highlights this week from The Buzz, an online column by Sun Sentinel Editorial Writer Andy Reid, include questioning new school signs and suggesting an addition to mass shooting training.

Schools need more than ‘In God We Trust’ signs

God doesn’t need the Florida Legislature to make signs for him.

A burning bush, rainbows, a potato chip that looks like Jesus – God seems to have sign making covered.

But because of a new state law, Florida children heading back to class are finding signs reading “In God We Trust” posted in schools across the state.

Adding the signs became part of the Legislature’s response to the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland – where a former student used a military-style assault rifle to kill 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

To its credit, the Legislature did much more than just put its trust in new signs to make schools safer.

After Parkland, lawmakers required that all public schools have at least one armed officer. They included $400 million in the state budget to help pay for those officers and to make other security upgrades to schools. That money is also being used to hire more guidance counselors and others who can hopefully help troubled students before they turn violent.

The Legislature also passed Florida’s first significant gun regulations in decades, raising the minimum age to buy a rifle to 21 and extending the waiting period for all gun purchases to three days. In addition, lawmakers outlawed “bump stocks” – a firearms accessory that enables firing an uninterrupted stream of bullets.

While those were welcome, overdue reforms, they fell far short of what’s needed to tackle the gun violence epidemic.

Even after Parkland, too many legislators weren’t willing to go after the kinds of guns that make mass killings so easy. The Legislature refused to outlaw AR-15s, like the one the gunman used to shoot his way through the halls of Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

Lawmakers also weren’t willing to outlaw the high-capacity ammunition magazines that allow mass shooters, like the Las Vegas gunman, to just keep firing.

In addition, the Legislature’s $400 million doesn’t cover the actual cost of the additional armed officers, mental health professionals and facilities upgrades needed to make schools safer.

That’s why requiring the “In God We Trust” signs in schools seemed like such a hollow and misplaced gesture.

Students deserve more action from lawmakers, not religious inspiration, to make schools safer.

Plenty of prayers are following students and teachers into schools each day in communities worried about becoming the next Parkland.

People of faith don’t need the government to post signs reminding them to trust God. And if they do, Florida’s already got that covered by posting the phrase (which is also the state motto) on the state flag, state seal and even license plates. The federal government also makes sure you know who to trust by putting the phrase on our money.

God doesn’t need any more public relations help from Tallahassee or Washington D.C.

But what we all need is more action on gun control, from elected officials in the Legislature and Congress.

School is starting again, six months after the Parkland shooting, and students are still waiting for signs of real action from state and federal leaders.

If lawmakers aren’t willing to step up, even after Parkland, they should at least have the decency to make those “In God We Trust” school signs bulletproof.

Run, hide, fight … and vote

Return emails. File expense report. Attend active shooter training.

Just another day at the office in guncrazed America.

Five people getting gunned down in a newsroom in Maryland prompted a companywide self-defense lesson at the Sun Sentinel.

The training featured a three-word mantra meant to help people react in a mass shooting: Run, hide, fight.

Run if you can, hide if you can’t and fight if you must.

Sadly it’s another safety routine becoming as normal in America as learning CPR or holding a fire drill.

I recommend an amendment to the training: Run, hide, fight … and vote.

Vote for candidates who support banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines – the favorite tools of mass shooters.

Sure, killers use all sorts of guns. But AR-15s and other military-style weapons that can fire a steady, merciless stream of bullets make killing too easy. They should have been outlawed long before an AR-15 was used to kill 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and it’s a national disgrace that they are still legal six months later.

Also, vote for candidates who support universal background checks on all gun purchases.

These aren’t really partisan voting suggestions. Polls show that the majority of Americans already support banning assault weapons and beefing up background checks on gun purchases.

If enough of us started voting only for candidates — Republican or Democrat — who share the country’s stance on gun reform, this could become a bipartisan issue.

It’s time to fight at the polls unless we want to keep running and hiding forever.