Readers debate Arming Teachers as a Solution to Protect Children
maybe….
I like this in principle…in practice, I hope not ALL teachers have this privilege and that there is a thorough vetting process beforehand. All it takes is for a teacher with a gun to lose control and all bets are off!
But to this guys point, as long as a potential shooter knows that someone might be armed but not know who…might be a deterrent. In the case (as in Newtown) where someone has gone off the rails and shoots his way INTO a school, lives might still be lost but not nearly as many helpless children.
Something has to change. I have a 2 year old and if this shit is still happening when she is 5, I will simply leave the country. Nobody in Hong Kong or Singapore is shooting up kindergarten classes.
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Rob, it seems that we agree there should be someone at school who has the ability to act immediately as a first line of defense. However, I am concerned about the idea of arming teachers because:
(1) How do we train people, who are not police officers, to act like police officers when a gunman enters the school creating an extreme pressure situation that even police officers have difficulty handling? We can’t just send teachers to a weekend training course and expect that they will be up to the challenge of dealing with an armed intruder, let alone being able to kill that intruder if necessary.
(2) Teachers are in too close contact with the students, and thus having them carry a gun may lead to unfortunate accidents or offer a student with bad intentions easier access to a weapon.
If the cost of hiring a new police officer for each school is too much, then perhaps we hire a few additional officers. The current police force and those few additional officers could cover each school (it’s not like there is a lot of crime that takes place during school hours that would be neglected if a few of our current officers were diverted to the schools).
Anyway, the point of my original post is that our government wastes so much money on nonesense that perhaps we should insist that some of the money be used instead to protect our children while they are at school.
According to a new Gallup poll the majority of Americans believe armed police stationed at schools would be the most effective way to prevent and stop school shootings. “Americans are most likely to say that an increased police presence at schools, increased government spending on mental health screening and treatment, and decreased depiction of gun violence in entertainment venues would be effective in preventing mass shootings at schools.”
https://www.gallup.com/poll/159422/stop-shootings-americans-focus-police-mental-health.aspx
Good points. As I mentioned, I don’t suggest arming ALL teachers, but you figure in a school where there are say 20 teachers, maybe 2 or 3 have guns already. Some might be ex Military. There has to be a vetting process, and only those who pass should know who they are, and who the other armed staff are. Assuming the threat is from an attending student, you don’t want these people marked.
I commute through Penn Station, and on any random day there are National Guardspeople standing around with what appear to be M4s and semi auto pistols. Some of these folks look like they’re 19 years old. Yes, they’ve been trained. Basic training for a few weeks and then a weekend a month. It is not unrealistic to add that to a teacher’s summer regimen if they want to do it, and are compensated for it.
The alternative of hiring more police officers might look good on paper, but it’s still not 100% dedicated. Routine patrols are fine, but it took Lanza all of 5 minutes of work to kill all those poor kids.
Arm all children.
Today I dropped off my paperwork for a firearms license at the RWPD and the officer mentioned that they have already received 20 applications in the past week. It has been the most in quite some time according the person I was talking with. Glad to see some folks exercising their 2nd amendment rights.
buy guns . but get the right training.
after 9-11 airline pilots have been allowed to carry firearms. teachers should be allowed to carry, after proper training. Having a cop @ the other end of a school building would not prevent the tragedy. Only someone such as a teacher, willing to act on the immediate threat.
Allow teachers who wish to carry to bring their gun to work, but we also need trained and armed security in the schools, as well as better containment procedures.