Philip Kennicott
The Washington Post To appease “Second Amendment absolutists,” said Philip Kennicott, we are being told that we must “harden” schools, churches and synagogues, hospitals, and every public space against an armed assault. This means all schoolchildren will need to pass through military-style checkpoints every morning, eyed by armed cops or guards. Many public spaces, like the Capitol building and statehouses, would become permanently off limits, while others would be equipped with “surveillance cameras, robust security databases, facial-recognition technology, artificial-intelligence systems, and, of course, ‘hardened’ entrances.” Buildings will be designed or redesigned to promote not beauty or civic pride, but security. We’ll all live under constant “authoritarian oversight.” Is this really the future we want? “Schools, libraries, houses of worship, and places of entertainment used to greet us…