NEA's Gun Control Petition Making the Rounds

[Jeff Thomas]

http://hometown.aol.com/educintel/eia/index.html

This Week's Top News:

NEA Gun Control Petition Is Making the Rounds

Last July, the National Education Association Representative Assembly passed New Business Item B, which calls on NEA to create and circulate a petition for "meaningful gun control," defined as support for waiting
periods, mandatory background checks, child safety locks, bullet imprinting, and licensure and registration.

The petition itself cites statistics from Handgun Control, Inc., the Children's Defense Fund, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. NEA state officials have also been provided with talking points and explanations of each of the measures called for in the petition.

EIA expects signature-gathering to be very enthusiastic in some areas of the country and very circumspect in others. New Business Item B passed, but delegates from many Southern and Mountain states were very much opposed. Recognizing the political realities, NEA advised state affiliate presidents and staff to "use their discretion as to how best to utilize the petition in their particular
states." The deadline to turn in the petitions is January 15, and NEA is required to present them to Congress by February 1. Since the signers are required to provide their state of residence, EIA advises members of Congress to "use their discretion" in judging just how widespread support for these gun control measures is among NEA members.

FYI. See some of the NEA's perspective at http://www.nea.org/issues/safescho/ . I'm trying to find the actual petition (I know we've discussed this before on TFL ...), but so far, no cigar.

The NEA is an enemy of freedom, and I certainly no longer see them as even a friend to children, considering their dogged resistence to school choice. For the NEA, it's government schools, or no schools.

Regards from AZ

 

[Bogie]

Well, since I learned that athletic programs are far more dangerous to children than are firearms, I've been letting 'em know that at any opportunity...

 

[Don Gwinn]

I'll try to get us a copy. I'm sure the local people here will be getting one.
I wonder what the response would be if I circulated a petition to call for the NEA to change its position on gun control? I'd probably have to find some friendly NEA leaders at about the state or local level to get anything like that done, but it would be interesting to try. It might be useful if it drew news attention to the fact that the NEA can't speak for more than about half its members. I'm a teacher, not a robot.

 

[Apple a Day]

Yet another reason

Yet another reason why I refuse to join the NEA despite all of the arm-twisting I get from the politicos. I refuse to pay for those useless pieces of sh#t PC Nazis to send themselves to conferences like that. The only reason I joined the first year of teaching was for the legal insurance. Now I get the insurance somewhere else ( and much cheaper) and my dues aren't going for this sort of crap.

 

[gjwandkids]

For those teachers among you that don't buy into this garbage-I salute you.

That said, I have been home schooling my children since my oldest was in third grade for this very type of thing. He was coming home and telling me things he was taught in school and didn't understand how his teacher could be so misinformed. (Thank God he felt that his teacher was the one that was wrong) The final straw was when I refused to fill out a form that asked some very personal questions and the teacher failed HIM for it. One of the questions was whether or not he was breastfed.

I feel for all of you teachers trying to beat the odds and educate the children that you can reach. But as long as the liberals set the agenda-my children will not be attending government schools. Keep fighting though, maybe you can reach enough children to turn this around eventually.

 

[Aaron Larson]

I am an educator in Idaho, and there is no way in hell I would ever join the NEA.

Why give them dues money when I could spend it on more guns and ammo. <grin>

Aaron

 

[Jeff Thomas]

Thanks to the teachers ...

I too want to add my thanks to the public school teachers who are such decent, giving people. We know there are many of you out there, and it is a shame that the NEA represents your profession so poorly.

The NEA has created a distrustful climate of concern because of their liberal, activist policies, and their resistance against school choice and standards. It is always telling when someone or some organization resists competition and performance standards.

It has been during the NEA's 'reign' of power that government schools have continued to decline both in performance and in respect among Americans. You would think that more members of the public and the NEA would recognize the damage the NEA has done.

Regards from AZ

 

[Don Gwinn]

Apple a Day, I'm a first year teacher, and just as you say, I joined only for the legal coverage. Where do you purchase yours privately?
Does your state have the "fair coverqge law," or whatever it's called, which forces you to pay the dues whether you join or not?

In Illinois, you can refuse to join but if you're employed as a teacher you still have to pay all but something like $30 of the dues anyway. Obviously very few people decide not to join under this system. If you have to fund their activities anyway, you might as well be able to attend meetings and vote.
Let me repeat that--if you don't join the IEA, you cannot attend meetings and you have NO vote or say in even the local organization, nor are you admitted to bargaining sessions--but you DO have to pay nearly full price (about 10 days' wages) to the union to do with as they please, since it's assumed that you benefit from their bargaining power whether you join or not.