N(ot) R(eally) A(ppropriate)

The NRA has created an ad that, among other things, suggests that President Obama is being hypocritical by rejecting the idea of armed guards in schools all the while having Secret Service protection for his daughters.

If this weren't so infuriating it would be laughable. 

There is no parallel between the two cases.  The President's children are, by their very nature, potential targets of assassination.  They are the highest profile children in the world with the possible exception of the British royal family.

Average kids in average situations are, normally, not in anyone's crosshairs.  They get up, ride the bus and spend uneventful days in schoolhouses all over the country.

It is the regular children that we are talking about in this national debate about gun violence.  The kids of Littleton and Newtown and Taft who, because they were in the wrong place one day, ended up a statistic at the FBI.

Some of the children of the wealthy and powerful spend their days in gated enclaves patrolled by private security companies and are sometimes chauffeured to and from school on a daily basis by drivers trained in the art of evasive maneuvering.

The children of Sandy Hook were ordinary kids in an ordinary school in a small town in Norman Rockwell's America.  Wrong place, wrong time.

Malia and Malika Obama may be ordinary children but they live in the most un-ordinary environment possible.

Their parents are constantly concerned with their own welfare as well as the welfare of their children.  They are surrounded by highly trained and lethally equipped members of an elite force of bodyguards responsible for protecting a head of state and his family.

For the NRA to suggest that there is a link between President Obama's children's protectors and his lack of confidence in the "armed guards in schools" solution obscures the greater point.

Military style assault weapons are appropriate for the military and putting guns in school creates the possibility of more carnage rather than less.

And what kind of message is that to send to our young children?  Do we live in a police state where violence, or the threat of violence, is met with the potential for more of the same?

The proper message our leaders, whether lobbyists or legislators, could send is one of tolerance and patience and a willingness to listen.  Problems can be solved by looking at all options and then choosing the one that fits the situation.  Radical thinking only serves to marginalize rational perspective and, in turn, creates polarization and discord.

Put more love in school not more fear.