Lessons learned from Sandy Hook

Almost immediately after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School took place, even before most of the horrible details became known, a spokesman from the gun lobby jumped in to declare the obvious. Namely, it's the fault of gun control advocates that caused this incident.

If the teachers were carrying firearms and fully capable of defending themselves from the armed intruder, they could have resisted and not get shot in cold blood.

Obviously from now on, part of the requirement to become qualified teachers must include training to handle firearms competently and that such training is incorporated as part of their certification process.

Every teachers' college and other universities that train teachers needs to establish a coordinating office with the National Rifle Association to ensure getting qualified instructors on campus and make sure the student teachers know how to shoot straight before they graduate.

Of course just knowing how to fire a handgun won't be sufficient against bad guys (and I am not being sexist because the shooters have been guys) using automatic assault weapons. The teachers must be comparably equipped and competent with automatic machine guns as well.

The only way to a safe American and safe schools is for teachers to wear bulletproof vests and carry assault weapons. That's the only way the bad guys will know that if they show up in our schools, we will shoot back.

The freedom to bear arms shouldn't be limited to bad guys and teachers. It's never too early to teach our young ones of the virtues of having a gun in their backpack. Child molesters will think twice if they might face a child with a gun in his/her pocket.

Just think how different it would have been if the Sandy Hook teachers and the children were properly armed and ready to defend themselves against the intruder.

While we are arming our schools, let's also stop buying all them foreign made guns and rifles. Americans tamed the West with the gun and America can do it again. Let's use America's world renown ingenuity to now design a gun just for teachers, with a sensor that instantly identifies bad guys and shoots them dead on sight.

Let's buy America and create jobs here. Let the American love for the gun renew our industry and rejuvenate the economy. Amen. God Bless America.

Xi Jinping's first press conference as leader of China

Immediately after being elected general secretary of China Communist Party's Central Committee, Xi Jinping spoke at a brief press conference. Video record of his entire address including bilingual English translation can be seen here.

Xi made virtually no reference to foreign policy in his speech. Only his concluding paragraph touched near the subject: Just as China needs to learn more about the world, so does the world need to learn more about China. I hope that you [referring to the media] will continue your efforts to deepen mutual understanding between China and the world. 

There was no mention of external threats and adversaries and reference of global instability. Instead, Xi made it very clear where the priority and responsibilities lie and best summarized by his remarks in the body of his speech:

Our people have an ardent love for life. They wish to have better education, more stable jobs, more income, greater social security, better medical and health care, improved housing conditions, and a better environment.

They want their children to have sound growth, have good jobs and lead a more enjoyable life. To meet their desire for a happy life is our mission. It is only hard work that creates all happiness in the world.

Let the world, especially the U.S., take note. Xi is not rolling up his sleeves to duke it out with the West. He is going to have his hands full on China's many domestic issues. Not least, he said,

Under the new conditions, our Party faces many severe challenges, and there are also many pressing problems within the Party that need to be resolved, particularly corruption, being divorced from the people, going through formalities and bureaucratism caused by some Party officials.