Thomas Morton travels to Albuquerque to see the new face of school safety, while Shane Smith travels to old battlefields in Iraq to see the ongoing cost of the war when shootings finally stop will be how much.
The debate over gun control in the United States has reached a fever pitch following the Newtown, Connecticut massacre. Both sides think they are infallible, and no one wants to see a middle ground.
Since one of the hottest debates was whether arming teachers made schools safer, Thomas went to a school where they actually did. Lillie Allen is the principal of New Life Baptist Academy, a parochial school in Albuquerque with 250 students, 20 teachers and at least five loaded pistol.
At New Life, all students, from the youngest to the oldest, participate in active rifleman training. It’s mostly an easy exercise, not a preparation for disaster; they’re preparing for an armed lunatic to walk through their door.
The problem with armed conflicts is that they are always much worse than we think. It’s not masculine scrapes and bruises; rather, it’s permanent disability and death. Sometimes the effects of war are even worse.
One of the first ways Iraqis learned about their country’s postwar environmental catastrophe was when many radiation-exposed people came to the hospital. At first, doctors didn’t know why, but quickly concluded they were all shaved. They collect parts from trucks and tanks and helicopters and all the discarded junk that was blown up during the war, and then they discover that all of that junk is actually radioactive.
Now, of course, we all know war is scary. But we don’t know how bad it is until it’s over. Because the weapons used in modern armed conflicts have terrible and long-lasting effects long after the bloodshed has stopped.
