Donald Trump and Schrödinger’s Mass Shooter
Following the recent deadly school shooting in Florida, Donald Trump has repeatedly spouted ideas that contradict each other in an attempt to advance his asinine plan to arm teachers with handguns to defend students from attackers using assault weapons. Teachers around the country have spoken out, with sound reasoning, on why this would simply not be feasible or smart.
Yet Trump claims he believes a few teachers with pistols could subdue, stop, and defeat someone using a weapon of war. Having listened to Trump’s incessant, nonsensical word-vomit advocating for such ideas, I can’t help but think of Schrödinger’s cat – a thought experiment used in theoretical discussions of quantum mechanics, in which a cat may be simultaneously BOTH dead and alive.
Trump says those that have committed mass shootings are scared cowards who will only target gun-free zones and will always avoid schools if a few teachers might have a pistol locked in their desk. Trump also claims that mass shooters are “savage sickos” with bad intentions, claiming that they are crazy and mentally ill. Because of this, he says it would be foolish to implement any new laws, especially those prohibiting assault weapons, because a “sicko shooter” would find a way to commit these murders regardless of what laws were enforced at the state or local level.
So which is it, Donald Trump? Are mass shooters cowards, who will do their diligent research and determine exactly which schools might have teachers with hand guns in order to avoid them? Or are mass shooters simply mentally deranged monsters that will inflict pain and death on as many students as possible without the slightest hesitation? Unlike Schrödinger’s cat, you can’t have it both ways.
I’m a ceramic engineer living in Central New York, avid sports fan but find myself more interested in politics lately.