Explain how its super-bright editorial staff came up with this idea for an article in the
“New York Times” Sunday Magazine of September 27, 2026.
In my own words, it went something like this: “let’s chat with some parents about what steps they are taking to protect their kids from school shootings. It must be a hot topic; there reportedly have been 400 attacks since Columbine High School made the headlines 27 years ago. And the school security industry is valued at $4 billion.”
To capture the reader’s attention, they used a snappy quote as the title of their article:
“I know it won’t hold up against an AR-15, but maybe it’ll help against a pistol.”
The “it” in question was the “bulletproof” backpack Mommy and Daddy had provided little Susy
so she would feel safer in her second grade classroom. Don’t worry, Susy received complete information on what the backpack could and couldn’t do.
Let’s gloss over mental health concerns among young people, the efficacy of red flag laws, the scarcity of gun reform regulations with teeth in them, and the Supreme Court’s ruling that people convicted of domestic violence can still wander down to Billy Bob’s gun shop and pick up a personal weapon of mass destruction.
Instead let’s make Susy and her backpack the line of defense against those protected by the Second Amendment.
So————there is no way that the USA will lose its world leadership in school shootings.
Kids are seemingly expendable, like Chinese-made backpacks bought from Amazon.