It's hard to make the argument for more guns in a nation already in possession of 310 million. That is nonetheless the argument Executive Vice President of the NRA Wayne LaPierre made about the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary last month. LaPierre urged Congress to act immediately "to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school in this nation." He tried to persuade the nation that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."
The arguments against more guns are legion. They've been made here, by Lawrence O'Donnell on the The Last Word, and from every corner of journalism and the blogosphere. Unfortunately, this defense doesn't need to be made by pundits. Often the sharpest arguments are the real life stories of gun recklessness that happen every day.
Here are three from Friday:
From an NBC affiliate in NYC Friday: "The mother of a 7-year-old boy who was found with a loaded handgun in his book bag at a school in Far Rockaway was arrested early Friday after police say she told authorities she put the weapon in the backpack and took it with her when she went out the night before but forgot to remove it by morning."
In Nashville, Tenn., the State Representative who sponsored the law allowing people to carry concealed guns into alcohol-serving bars, was arrested for driving drunk with a .38-caliber in his car.
Finally, in almost direct refutation of LaPierre's plan to have armed guards in schools, this story came out of Michigan on Friday: "Officials say a security officer reportedly hired in response to the massacre in Newtown left an unloaded handgun unattended in a Michigan charter school bathroom."