It has been said before that America's political discourse can be compared to a football field.
Most of us have moderate views that place us somewhere in the middle: between the 40-yard-lines.
The problem is that the fringes often hijack the discussion — keeping the ball behind the opposing 20s.
It's why Washington is such a mess and why mainstream Americans get neglected.
When we start talking about guns and violence, it gets even worse.
Instead of seeking common-sense solutions, the fringes dominate — and the ball rarely gets out of the end zone.
Look at what we're talking about now.
Instead of exploring ways to keep guns away from the bad guys and out of the hands of the mentally ill, there are proposals — from Lake County to Tallahassee — to infuse more guns in schools.
This is not a proposal. It's a psychotic break.
Guns and children are a bad mix. Kindergartners are curious. Some high-schoolers are twice the size of their teachers, easily capable of overpowering them.
We've seen highly trained professionals lose control — a DEA agent who shot himself while giving kids a demonstration (on gun safety) near downtown Orlando.
Former state Sen. Carey Baker — a gun-store owner — once shot a customer during a safety demonstration when he said the piece malfunctioned.
And those guys were professionals.
Yet now we're talking about asking English-lit teachers to pack heat every day?
It's foolish to even have such a discussion — just as it was foolish when legislators wanted to imprison pediatricians who talked to parents about guns.
But this is Florida in a nutshell. We spend so much time trying to stave off the ridiculous that we can't even get to the serious.
Shooting down these fringe plans starts to feel like we've moved the ball forward — when, in reality, we're still tied up in nonsense in the end zone.
More than guns
The truth about shootings and violence is that it's far more complicated than guns.
If we really want to talk about why kids shoot their classmates, we have to talk about mental health, video games and the pervasive culture of violence.
