Teachers allowed to carry guns in school

[ditchdj]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080815/ts_nm/texas_guns_dc

----I bet the Canadians are gonna be ready to throw us off the whole damn continent for this! :p :D

[Sylvia727]

The article doesn't give enough details. Assuming the teachers take precautions to keep the guns away from the students, it wouldn't bother me. Enough school shootings have happened that I'd like to see folks with guns on the right sides of the lines.

[IDrinkaRum]

I just read this and was going to post.

There are 110 students in the school. Has there been any recent gang activity? Drug activity? Are the kids threatening each other with violence that would lead the school officials/teachers/administration to believe that having armed teachers would be a good idea?

I don't know ... I'm all for the safety of the students, but I do think this is a little over reacting on their part.

[Flyndaran]

How do we keep kids from getting shot?
Why obviously we need more guns in the school.
Yep, makes perfect sense.

[ditchdj]

How about making a PSA appealing to all the nut jobs out there waiting to explode that they not go to the closest school and shoot everyone??? That'll put a stop to it. :D

[Scamper]

Does anyone know what the comparative rates for home invasion while the owner is present are for the U.S and Canada? I've heard that it's higher in Canada, the person attributed it to the much higher probability of the U.S. house having a gun. If that is true, then the teachers having guns and training would prevent/reduce school shootings.

As for students taking the guns from the teachers, there are enough places to hide a gun that the possibility of a teacher being able to hide it somewhere that the students wouldn't grab first would be good. Secondly, when properly strapped in, it would be easy to prevent someone from grabbing it.
As for weapons in general, it is absolutely impossible to prevent all weapons from entering a school. A sharpened pencil, directed with enough force, can seriously hurt someone. I *still* have a bit of pencil lead in my hand from 17 years ago.

[crazylegs]

Personally I'd rather a Police Officer was directed to patrol the school as part of their beat. We have that in the UK although the officer (or PCSO) is spread out over a few schools rather than just the one.

[Sylvia727]

We had cops assigned to my school. Depending on the day, one or two were there from open to close. When fights broke out, the teachers locked the classroom doors and called the cops in; it still took an hour before the doors were unlocked again. I'd like to have a bit of a faster response time in case of a shooter.

However, if this isn't an area at high risk for school shootings, then they could be overreacting. I don't have enough details to make that call.

[ditchdj]

Personally I'd rather a Police Officer was directed to patrol the school as part of their beat. We have that in the UK although the officer (or PCSO) is spread out over a few schools rather than just the one.

That's how I feel about ordinary people taking the law into their own hands and "detaining" someone on their own property that they suspecting of "theft".

[daleduke17]

However, if this isn't an area at high risk for school shootings, then they could be overreacting. I don't have enough details to make that call.

They just had a story on this on the local news. It stated that the district is over 30 minutes away from the county Sheriff's Office. That is a main reason.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

It's a rural school district in Texas, which means that guns are a part of the culture there. Most of the kids probably have guns in their houses and were taught how to use them from the age of ten or so. And most of the teachers are probably also gun owners and hunters.

I do think the districts regulations are excellent for this sort of thing. Mandantory training, licenses, and permission from the district itself. If that's what they want to do, it is their right to do so.

[Flyndaran]

They just had a story on this on the local news. It stated that the district is over 30 minutes away from the county Sheriff's Office. That is a main reason.

That is quite a long way away. But I'ld still prefer a trained officer, or at least security guard, packing heat to Miss Eyester the home ec. teacher.

There are so many teachers that I wouldn't trust with kids alone, so why on earth should we trust them with loaded weapons?
This issue just turns the next shooting from a bring them from home to take it from the teacher. Unless we are supposed to believe that all teachers have razor sharp senses with never a moment's distraction, and could easily overpower any single or homicidal duo to keep them from getting the guns.

[Sylvia727]

Combination safes in the teachers' desks? Quick to open in case of emergency, and hard to open without knowing the combo. A variety of other ways exist to keep the guns away from the students.

Also, I highly doubt the gun-carrying is mandatory for teachers. The article mentioned gun permits and training classes. If Miss Eyester the home ec teacher is too frail or distractable to carry a gun, the gun trainer will catch it and not allow her to carry concealed. Problem solved.

[daleduke17]

Miss Eyester is probably the one you have to worry the most about having the accurate aim and the largest calibur weapon (at least according to the movies).

[crazylegs]

That's how I feel about ordinary people taking the law into their own hands and "detaining" someone on their own property that they suspecting of "theft".


As an aside it's only theft when you can prove that someone has the intention of permanantly depriving you of your property, as a security guard I only ever detained when the person had left the store with the goods and had not paid for them.

[Boozy]

Does anyone know what the comparative rates for home invasion while the owner is present are for the U.S and Canada?

I don't, but I do know that gun crime is 3 times lower in Canada than in the US. 9% of all violent crimes involve guns in the US, and in Canada it's about 2.6%. That's saying nothing about the crime rate in general, mind you. In comparably sized cities, Canada and the US have similar crime rates. Homicide rates, however, are vastly lower in Canada; see those 9% and 2.6% figures. It is infinitely easier to kill someone with a gun than without.

[Flyndaran]

I don't, but I do know that gun crime is 3 times lower in Canada than in the US. 9% of all violent crimes involve guns in the US, and in Canada it's about 2.6%. That's saying nothing about the crime rate in general, mind you. In comparably sized cities, Canada and the US have similar crime rates. Homicide rates, however, are vastly lower in Canada; see those 9% and 2.6% figures. It is infinitely easier to kill someone with a gun than without.
The real difference is that it is FAR easier to kill a dozen people with a gun than with some other type of weapon. How far do knife killing sprees, or as someone mentioned pencil brandishing attacks get?

[miffed]

How do we keep kids from getting shot?
Why obviously we need more guns in the school.
Yep, makes perfect sense.

Yes, it actually does. Since banishing guns from campuses doesn't work, why not give people the means to defend themselves and others? Give guns to the good guys, even out the playing field.

[Sylvia727]

It's the same gun control debate all over again. One crucial difference here, though, is that this is Texas we're talking about. Guns are a fact of life down there. Most high schoolers have shot guns themselves, and are familiar with gun safety. Keeping guns out of school won't protect their innocence.

[crazylegs]

How far do knife killing sprees, or as someone mentioned pencil brandishing attacks get?

Oh, they happen (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/30883.stm) but rarely.

[MystyGlyttyr]

I've been stabbed six times...three knives, two pencils, one ice pick from the science lab. I went to a school of 200 kids, kindergarten through sixth grade. Point being, kids who want them will FIND weapons, and the size of the school is not indicative of the violence levels.

No comment on the teachers having guns, because I'm on the fence. I had some teachers who could have worked miracles with weapons in their possession, and I had some teachers I wouldn't have turned my back on if they were holding a paperclip. It's too hard to make a call just flat out on this one.