The Schools in America Are Re-opening ⎯ with Metal Detectors

“The nation heads back to school with new worries about safety” was how The New York Times described the atmosphere of this Monday morning, (12/17) the first day back to school after the Newtown shootings. And the paper went on to provide detail of all the extraordinary measures (metal detectors, doors with bullet-proof glass, surveillance cameras including those mounted at their primary doors) that many campuses already have installed.

But the school in Newtown had controls at its entrance: Adam Lanza “avoided” them by shooting a volley at the glass door and shattering it. Another service recalls how Newtown has a strong weapons culture and in the past has resisted the introduction of restrictions on them.

The first page of the Washington Post featured a stubborn defense of “citizens in arms” that reacted to the accusations and defended even semi-automatic combat rifles (like the one used in the massacre) because “they are so powerful and precise that it’s like owning a Ferrari.”

The Bishop of the National Cathedral in Washington proposes the “creation of a lobby of the cross against the arms lobby,” calling for the mobilization of all religious communities in America to have the rules changed.

The more optimistic USA Today defines this massacre as “a tipping point, because never have so many kids been the victims.”

The most common prediction: Obama attempts to reintroduce the ban on automatic weapons that was in force until 2004, when it was left to expire by Bush.

Meanwhile, a parallel debate has been opened on the subject of mental illness: The left is emphasizing that cuts to the welfare state have also weakened the prevention-protection network for those suffering from mental illness.