Effectiveness of Gun Control Laws

I am so glad Illinois has some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation. Consider this article: What It Takes to Obtain a Gun License in Illinois.

As you can see from this article: Chicago Appeals for Help After Dozens Shot Over the Weekend. Tough gun laws really have helped Chicago, Illinois gun violence issues... <sarcasm>

My solution:

1. Get rid of violent video games and movies- require an ID to purchase and if the content is shared with children under 18, enforce the same legal penalties as if the adult shared alcohol with children.
2. Get rid of violent television shows (and news) viewed on public stations between 7 AM and 10 PM.
3. Create a government regulated "KinderNet" that parents can set up as the sole source of Internet for their children with no PG-13 or higher content. 
4. Encourage monogamous relationships where raising children is the most important thing and encourage one parent to stay home with children while raising them.
5. Offer more government aid,including healthcare, to families with at least one working parent. 

• Numerous studies have shown that children who are raised in preschools are more violent than those raised by their parents. It is impossible for a child to develop a long term relationship with an adult when that adult is constantly changing from year-to-year or month-to-month as they do in preschool environments.
• Numerous studies have shown that children who view violent or sexually explicit material at young ages (under 13) are more violent. 
• Numerous studies have shown that money is one of the major things couples argue about. Take away that stress and provide better access to healthcare so parents can seek therapy and improve communication without having to find thousands of dollars to do so.

I recognize that single parenting is sometimes necessary. There are also people out there who should NOT be parents. But for the most part, making it easier for families to raise children and making it more difficult for children to view violent explicit content will lower gun violence. That is what the research shows- the problem is, media is a big lobbyist. People who hate "welfare" and "government handouts" don't seem to recognize that the people who truly need it are not jobless scam artists. People with low paying jobs need government help for their families and the government should encourage people to work instead of cutting off all services once families do work. Still the government takes their payoffs from big Media and makes promises about squelching "free-handouts" while in actuality they cut-off working families from needed aid. Restricting guns does nothing to reduce gun violence as anyone in Chicago should know. It is time for America to wake up and address the real problem instead of trying to stick a cheap bandage over it.

How Colleges and Universities are Misusing FERPA

FERPA or the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act was never meant to block parents from viewing their children's academic record- even at the college level. In fact, it was set in place so both parents and their children (once they reached college) could view their academic record and amend it. Prior to its creation, schools at all levels were collecting huge amounts of information, sometimes insults and non-educational items, such as if the parents were married and what they did for a living. The schools would then give this information away at will to whomever asked for it- even without knowing anything about the person asking. However, if a parent or student when into the school and asked to see the record, the school would claim it is closed and the parent or child could not view it.

Welcome to the 21st century where schools of higher education have returned to deny parents access. Usually, the school will show a parent the clause that says once a child is 18 or enters an institute of higher education, he or she is given FERPA rights. The school will tell the parent that means the child has to sign a waiver before they can see anything! But checking the government website on the matter, you find that all that means is the child is now eligible to request to see the record and to file a request to have the record amended. Further down, the FERPA documentation states that parents for whom the child is a dependent do not have to have the child's permission to look at the record even if the child is over 18.

If you, as a parent, are filling out your child's FAFSA with your information because you are required to do so, that means the child qualifies as an IRS dependent. If you are paying at least half that child's support (and the child is in college), you can claim him or her on your taxes even if he or she is not living with you because that child is at college. Further, student scholarships and grants are not counted as the student's "earned" income. That means if your child doesn't have a good paying job while he or she is in school, you are probably supporting him or her. Now, I make no claims to being an accountant, a lawyer, or an IRS customer service person, so before you claim your son or daughter check with them to make sure the ever changing tax code hasn't done just that on this matter, but if you are able to claim your child as a dependent on your taxes, you can still have access to his or her academic record. The FERPA law does not say you have to claim your child for him or her to be a dependent. It simply says it uses the IRS definition of dependent.

Guess what? So does the FAFSA. In fact, when a college gets you child's SAR (the document sent to them by FAFSA), it says right on it whether or not your child is a dependent or independent child. This should be the end of the story- you fill out the FAFSA then you have access to your child's records. But sadly, denying parents access to their college student's records has become such a problem-higher education facilities denying parents rights- that the government website made a special page for them: here.

The only way to change this policy is to begin reporting these colleges to the government. If your child is considered a dependent by the IRS (until age 24 for students), then you have the right to view his or her record without the student's written consent. Make a request in writing to see your child's record and keep a copy for yourself. And file a complaint if they refuse or require you to provide any further documentation than what they already have.