Texas Gov. Rick Perry is a genius = Arm school teachers (West: schools, university)

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Most of the people who think teachers should have guns probably have never been a classroom teacher. There are a lot of pressures on teachers already and they mostly relate to something called teaching and something called classroom discipline.

Now some of you are asking teachers to be police officers too? Learn how to shoot guns? Maintain self control --when you have a gun-- every time some kid in your classroom threatens to kill you? It would be too tempting to just get your gun out!

You don't know what teaching is like today. Kids haven't learned discipline in the home and they say and do anything they want to the teachers. Teachers aren't allowed to discipline the kids, in most cases. Teachers just have to grin and bear it. You think one of them wouldn't just go off on a badmouthing kid if they had access to a gun? Most teachers are good people but they can't be expected to be police officers and teachers at the same time.

I don't think anyone is asking teachers to become police officers as well as teachers. Common sense tells you this will be a voluntary decision if it is even allowed to occur. Many people carry concealed weapons, it doesn't make them think they are 'playing policemen' because of it. They carry them for self-protection, although the the occasion arose whereby they could protect another person's life, I'm quite sure they would do so.

It must be a damn rough place you are describing as to kids threatening to kill the teachers and teachers being the sort of people "who would go off on a badmouthing kid if they had access to a gun".

Furthermore, this has to do with Texas, NE needs to stay out of it and tend to their own business. I will say one thing though, if the schools in NE are anything like what you describe (kids threatening to kill teachers and teachers who would go off on kids who badmouth them if they had access to a gun), then there is a huge problem in your NE schools.

Heaven help me, but I agree with Gov. Perry on this one.

So yes, I think it is a good idea to allow teachers and administrators to carry a concealed weapon into the classrooms.

Originally Posted by tofurkey

I would agree with ETex2, that screening and training would be appropriate. I doubt a teacher would be any more likely to snap in a classroom situation than a police officer might in an arrest.

Consider that schools might open their cafeterias to Police offices to take breaks during their day. This would give a police presence as well as socialize kids to the idea of being around cops as a not unusual condition. As a public outreach.

I also agree with ETex2 on this.

Consider that schools might open their cafeterias to Police offices to take breaks during their day. This would give a police presence as well as socialize kids to the idea of being around cops as a not unusual condition. As a public outreach.

Not a bad idea, tofurkey. Send an open invitation to the police department that they are welcome to drop in anytime during the day and let them know the cafeteria will keep plenty of hot coffee and donuts on hand for them.

[HouTXmetro]

This is the dumbest idea EVER. Gun's should not be around children. Too much can go wrong. WTF is wrong with that nut bag.

[losttechnician]

Originally Posted by TerryDactyls

What good would it do for a teacher to have a concealed weapon in his desk (or even strapped to his hip for that matter) if someone opens the door and open fires with a military grade assault weapon?

Kindly teach us the difference between a "military grade" and a non "military grade" assault rifle.

The teacher wouldn't have a chance to even get to the gun. Banning assault weapons is a good first step, followed by background checks on all sales (including gun shows, internet sales, and two-party sales).

Internet sales are illegal, unless the firearm is shipped to a FFL holder, and then a background check is required to be done. While there are private party gun sales at gun shows, in my personal experience they are a tiny fraction of the total number of guns available at the show from licensed FFL holders, who are required to do background checks before the gun is sold. It is a fallacy to believe that all gun sales at gun shows do not require a background check.

Nearly half the guns sold are done without background checks because of these glaring loopholes.

I will call you out on this one. Show statistics, or I will continue to believe you are wrong.

[Lee W.]

The way this country is going, schools of the future will be high-security, with high fences and one entrance through the fence. The entrance and any exits will be locked during school hours and cameras and moniters will be used. There will be at least one armed guard. I think it's an extremely bad idea to arm teachers. Where would the guns be kept? In the classrooms? Most teachers haven't had the training and experience necessary to handle the guns and not accidentally shoot our children and probably wouldn't want guns in the classroom. Ideally, off-duty cops or at least security guards could be used if anyone is to be armed. What occurred to me during all this was that it would be nice to have panic rooms in schools. At least one for every two classes. But WHO would be willing to pay for all this in taxes??? Any volunteers want to pay high taxes?

[texasdiver]

As a HS teacher I gotta say this is about the most stupid idea I have ever heard.

First, the great majority of teachers are women who are not going to carry concealed weapons on their person. They will carry them in their purses. Stuff can and does get stolen at schools, even from locked classrooms and locked desks. Remember, every single gang member, inmate in a Texas prison or on death row, or criminal on the street, is or was a HS student in Texas once. If female teachers all over the school are carrying weapons, what will the school procedure be the first time one gets her purse stolen or pilfered? Going to lock down the school? Evacuate the school? Search every student, every locker, and every corner of the school? The average HS has a bazillion hiding places for something as small as a handgun. Every week some teacher in my school loses her keys or some such. Lost/stolen/misplaced firearms are going to occur 100-times more frequently than school shootings. Maybe 1000-times more frequently. That sort of thing is going to cause chaos at schools. Even most male teachers are not going to want to wear a sidearm while teaching. Squeezing between desks, working in labs, coaching on the field. People are going to want to take them off and stash them. But frankly most desks and cabinets in classrooms are far from secure. Kids can break into them with little effort. The locking desks in my classroom just have a cheap metal lock that engages in a wooden slot on the cabinet frame. Kids have learned that one good hard yank will bend the lock mechanism and break the cabinet door open. You'd really need an actual safe in each classroom for firearm storage.

Second, most Texas school districts already have their own police forces or work with local police forces to keep cops in and around schools. My own HS has two city cops permanently stationed at the school with their own office. They patrol the school and school events in their regular uniforms and carry both sidearms and tasers. I expect most other high schools around the state are similar. They are properly trained and have the correct gear such that a student or other assailant cannot easily snatch and grab their sidearm. That is not going to be the case for any random teacher with a concealed sidearm. Schools do face daily law enforcement challenges. Drugs, assault, theft, car accidents, etc. etc. School shootings are a law enforcement problem and require trained law enforcement personnel to respond, not random teachers with a random firearm locked away in a desk someplace.

Third, existing firearm licensing is a joke. Just because someone has a license to carry doesn't mean they are remotely qualified to deal with something like a shooter in a school wearing body armor and carrying an assault rifle. What kind of training are we actually talking about? Actual law enforcement weapons training is very comprehensive and includes all sorts of things such as close quarter combat, team training, etc. Law enforcement officers also have to continually re-qualify. And law enforcement agencies are very selective about the firearms and ammunition they chose and issue. Are schools now going to get into the business of firearms training and issuing weapons and ammunition? Or do you want teachers around your kids with any random training (or lack of it) bringing in any random firearm with any random ammunition carried and stored in any random manner? I sure don't.

[ETex2]

Originally Posted by HouTXmetro

This is the dumbest idea EVER. Gun's should not be around children. Too much can go wrong. WTF is wrong with that nut bag.

The alternative is to just allow shootings like the CT tragedy to continue. THAT is the dumbest idea ever IMHO.

If a school has no teachers who are willing and able to take on the task, then I think having them hire an armed security guard or off-duty officer to be on hand during school hours is reasonable.

The likelihood of a teacher actually having to use their weapon is probably about one in a billion. But why just leave the children unprotected just in case another nutcase shows up?

Just the thought that some teachers MIGHT be armed, or an officer MIGHT be or definitely IS present, will deter lots of shooters, even if they are insane and hellbent on dying after their carnage.

[RedJacket]

Armed teachers. Schools implementing evacuation plans just in case. A principle patrolling the halls with an AK-47.

Sounds like nirvana. Certainly something kids would enjoy while in school as opposed to saying enough is enough and doing something logical to make schools and kids safer.

[augiedogie]

Allowing teachers with a CHL makes perfect sense. Making a school a "gun free zone", only means that no one has a gun, until someone ignores the law and the sign, walks in with a deadly weapon and starts attacking people. Criminals are not that dumb. They know where people might be armed and will pick on easy targets, like a school.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Westerner92

Hell, why stop at the teachers? I think the students should be allowed to carry provided they go through a proper safety course. Imagine how much quicker a shooter would be stopped if he had 10 or so guns pointed at him.

LOL, Westerner...I like your style...

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by etex2

the alternative is to just allow shootings like the ct tragedy to continue. That is the dumbest idea ever imho.

If a school has no teachers who are willing and able to take on the task, then i think having them hire an armed security guard or off-duty officer to be on hand during school hours is reasonable.

The likelihood of a teacher actually having to use their weapon is probably about one in a billion. But why just leave the children unprotected just in case another nutcase shows up?

Just the thought that some teachers might be armed, or an officer might be or definitely is present, will deter lots of shooters, even if they are insane and hellbent on dying after their carnage.

perfectly put!