Villalba: Allow Teachers to Carry Concealed Guns
In response to last week's Connecticut school shooting, state Rep.-elect Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, says he will file legislation to allow public school teachers to carry concealed weapons while on campus.
The bill, which Villalba is calling the Protection of Texas Children Act, would permit Texas schools to appoint a member of their faculty as a "school marshal." The marshal, with training and certification, would be able to "use lethal force upon the occurrence of an attack in the classroom or elsewhere on campus," according to a press release from Villalba, a newly elected state representative.
“Unfortunately, law enforcement ...
Comments (222)
Beverly Carlson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Both
Jane Yesberg via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This will be a good idea until on the of kids gets a hold of it. I just read this morning that his mother was a doomsday prepper. That she would never let anyone into her home. She was stockpiling food, water and guns. Her son was an isolationist, too. His maternal brother hadn't seen his nephew in 8 yrs. and even his best friends hadn't seen him in years. It sounds like she was a gun-toting, paranoid nut that tried to instill her fear into her boy.
Jane Yesberg via Texas Tribune on Facebook
No, Derrick he used the assault rifle on his victims and used the hand gun to kill himself according to a new report released to media CNN.
Kimberlee Reist via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I think this utterly insane.
Rodney Macias via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Sorry, but that would be absolute insanity! Schools should be places of sanctuary for our children. Combating violence with more violence is not the solution. Arming our educators is certainly not the answer. I am so tired of people taking their stand behind that rock called the 2nd Amendment. Come out from behind that rock and let's talk about sensible solutions in dealing with mental health, gratuitous/glamorous violence, and guns. This is not about anyone's right to bear arms. This is about the right to go to school, the mall, the movies, etc. without feeling threatened.
Jo Beth Jimerson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I'd much rather he introduced a bill to restore funding so that every campus could have a school resource officer--a trained officer linked with local law enforcement. When I've worked with these folks in the past, they provided a level of TRAINED security, unfettered by the concern of having 22-40 kids in a classroom, and they did a lot of proactive work too, with kids and the community. It was nice for kids to experience positive role models from law enforcement, and they headed off a lot of smaller issues as well. Give me a trained person any day--there's a world of difference between a good, responsible gun owner who target shoots at the range and someone who has dedicated his/her life to getting the intense training needed to respond appropriately in a crisis situation.
John C. Sauceda Sr. via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It would be an accident waiting to happen.
Ben Rollman via Texas Tribune on Facebook
No sir, I don't like it.
Mike Moeller via Texas Tribune on Facebook
@Rodney, " I am so tired of people taking their stand behind that rock called the 2nd Amendment." Yes it is that pesky little thing called bill of rights. God forbid this country's leaders should actually respect the Bill of Rights.
Barbara Peyton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This is a BIG accident waiting to happen... a teacher will feel threatened; a student will gets his/her hands on the gun....
Andy Myers via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Why can't we allow teachers, who have training, to carry a weapon and ALSO ban assault rifles, body armor and armor piercing bullets. Why must everything in this country be all or nothing?
Ed Mayfield via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The better scenario is for children to be fish in a barrel? There are over 600 million registered guns in America, you will never get rid of them. I hope my child's teacher would have the chance to use a firearm, not have to be a human shield. With an educated, trained teacher with a firearm your child has a chance, without it, none given the same scenario.
Larry Lemon via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Bad/mentally ill people are not going to listen to gun laws any better than they do the happy little "gun free zone" sign.
There's a reason wolves hunt sheep and not other wolves.
At lest if there's a chance of resistance it may not be lambs led to slaughter if there's a chance there may be a wolf guarding them.
Lauro Garza via Texas Tribune on Facebook
As an expert in school security, I declare that is a terrible idea. What we need now and always have needed is much more police in and around schools, shopping malls and theaters. All places that have lots of people in confined areas and are all poorly protected. They are clear targets for terrorism as several madmen have easily proved in the past few years.
Ed Mayfield via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Teachers are already getting a paycheck to be in the school, police forces would have to hire additional officers, more strain on budgets, added expense and raise in taxes. Could you have a few teachers "certified" with some extra training? Maybe a slight pay raise? Might be more cost effective than a full time peace officer. Plus, you could train multiple for bigger facilities for the same cost or less. A cop is a regular person too, just with extra training and a badge.
Jenny Hohmann Harris via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Bad idea. Any way you slice it.
Stephen Ruszkowski via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Would be against that but understand why they do not feel safe.
Richard Stone via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Why can't our conversation be about how to make ours a safer society? Instead, it seems to revolve around how more guns will make us safe. Really? In order to be safe, most (if not all) of us must be armed?
Dorothy Johnston via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Oh, Texas! What a terrible idea.
David Spratt
1. You could possibly remove all firearms from the country,,, from law abiding citizens after a time. The criminals will never give them up and there will always be a black market and smuggling of firearms,, the same we see in drugs.
2. After removing these firearms criminal activity will not stop. In fact it probably would increase as there would be a greater certainty on the part of the criminal that his victim would not be armed.
3. There is a myth firearms are bad and the presence of them is the causal effect of what is happening. If this is true then one would expect places that have the greatest concentrations of firearms to have the most violence.. When has a mass shooting ever happened at a gun show ?
One would expect that the great concentration of crazed gun owners at gun shows would erupt in gun battles on a regular basis. To my knowledge this has never happened.
4. Disarm the general public and they will be safer.. MYTH Firearms won the west and Samuel Colt made all men equal. Consider the 100 lb female walking at night and a rapist assaults her. Having a handgun AND being trained makes her equal to any 240lb attacker. Would the people that oppose personal gun ownership and concealed carry laws rather have her go at it in hand to hand combat with a Bowie knife?
All Citizens who value their lives and those of the people around them would have to arm themselves in other ways if firearms were made illegal. Crime would not go away and criminals would not stop committing crimes for lack of a gun. Some of you chose to go around unarmed and rely on law enforcement to protect you and just rely on the odds that you will never need a firearm. Most people never will, but a great many will need one at some time in their lives and many more will wish they would have had one. Nobody counts on having to defend themselves everyday when they leave their homes or are in their homes thinking they are safe. But the reality is it could happen .
I would say that many people killed by criminals in their last moments on earth wished they had a gun,,, and they never considered it could happen to them. Better to have one and never need it than need it and not have it. There are evil people in the world and they will not go away if guns go away. These people target places they know people are unlikely to be armed. Putting up signs saying that the area is a gun free zone invites them to commit their crimes . Put a sign on a bank saying there are no alarms, no armed guards, and no security and you would see that bank targeted over the others . This is common sense.
The same argument was used to try and keep airline pilots from carrying firearms as is being made to keep them out of schools and other places. You are trusting a pilot to fly you in an airplane and not crash into the ground but not to carry a handgun to possibly defend the plane ??? People with CHL's are trained and anyone not having the wherewithal to use that weapon properly should the situation call for it should not carry one. Problems from properly trained people are rare.
Bottom line is had the principle been able to have a handgun the possibility of these children being killed would have been reduced and could have been stopped. Guns are around and not going anywhere anytime soon. Wishing them to go away and wishing all people were kindhearted , everyone was sane , and criminal thought never happens is not realistic The world is not a perfect world and will never be one.
Another fact. This latest shooter was smart enough to have constructed a bomb and put it in the school. He was intent on killing and would not have been stopped simply for the lack of a firearm. Many people are killed in the middle east and in these types of situations firearms are not the weapon of choice. Explosives are the weapon of choice for reasons of the fear it instills in people ,, never knowing when it will happen or where and secondly if you pull out a weapon and start shooting in say Israel for example you probably will not get off very many shots before someone who is armed will take you out.
Again guns are not evil in themselves and can be used for good or bad depending on who is holding them. In every mass shooting case these are soft targets where guns are not permitted,, so the lack of guns being at those locations seems to be the primary reason these targets were chosen.
Karen Mendoza via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Teachers should absolutely NOT be put in a situation where they need to carry a concealed weapon. They should be able to work in a secure environment knowing that they are safe. Just as the shooter in Connecticut stole his mom's weapons I can only imagine what would happen in the school room with the many distractions that teachers face.
Reda Cavender
I am a retired elementary school teacher and I shudder to think of anyone in our faculty that I would trust with a firearm. I can, however, imagine the chaos if for example the "gun" was lost. Someone forgot to buy bullets. Who would pay for the ammo? Shouldn't happen. No You would find more parents refusing to send their children to a school that had armed guards.
Carroll Hearring via Texas Tribune on Facebook
You are talking about Texas you know.
Billy Goffi via Texas Tribune on Facebook
LET THEM GO.
Carol Clinch via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Bad idea..... Why don't we tighten up the regulations concerning ownership - and not license Military type guns.
Ed Caffrey via Texas Tribune on Facebook
A freshman legislator pandering to his leadership and his benefactors.
Toan Phan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I think the goal is prevention. Take care of the mental abilities of individuals that one day could possibly bring harm to others. You give a spoon to a mentally unstable person and that spoon might be used to kill you. No different then any other weapon. All this type about gun control is fine and dandy however teaching/allowing teachers to carry guns wont take away from the possibility that more people will get caught in the crossfire. Or even accidental deaths from someone stealing or mishandling it. But like I said. Prevention. People kill people. People use weapons to kill people. Duh. The focus should be on people.
Jon Miller via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Seems like it would have been positive if just one teacher had been armed & trained how to use it last week. The same at the Aurora theater & elsewhere where defenseless unarmed people are at the mercy of nut-cases!
Jeanne Felfe via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Sorry, but allowing loaded guns anywhere near children is asking for a disaster. There is simply no good way to 100% eliminate the possibiliity that a child wouldn't accidentally get the gun - if it's so secure a child can't get it accidentally, then it's of little use in a situation like newtown
Carlitos Way via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Texas Republicans are a joke and embarrassment.
Honor Kirk
In the last 30 years there have been 61 mass shootings. There has never been a SINGLE instance in which an armed civilian stopped the shooter. Everyone advocating for arming our teachers is an idiot with a deficient IQ who watched too much television.
Lauro Garza via Texas Tribune on Facebook
My "extra training and a badge," Mr. Mayfield, cost me years of education, dedication, sleepless nights, hours of pavement pounding in the cold and rain, exasperation, frustration, humiliation and the loss of a marriage. So, there's just a little bit more difference between a teacher and a police professional beyond a little "extra training and a badge."
Ellie Hanley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I pray earnestly that sometime soon we remember that school was at one time an oasis of peace valuing rational thought and problem solving without violence. Please, God, no guns in school.
Chuck Bloom via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Idiots making idiotic proposals. Led by the Governor, who thinks such stupidity is good policy. Until ... the first teacher packing heat gets frustrated at a student and BAM! You've got a whole new problem. What in the hell has the world, and this state, come to? It's why I've stopped voting! The choice is only between polarizing schmucks.
Pam Mullins via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I often wonder about some Texans' mentality
Pat Ritter Ritchie via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Hummm teacher gets stressed out one day and blows it!
Tim Foster via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Arming teachers is like putting seat belts and airbags in automobiles. The are there if you need it. No possible drawback to it once they have been trained properly.
Tim Foster via Texas Tribune on Facebook
@ Pat, then they have no business being a teacher in the first place if they are mentally unstable.
Brian Normoyle via Texas Tribune on Facebook
No, Tim. No possible drawback whatsoever. Except that you have loaded weapons in the vicinity of 4-12 year olds.
This redneck mentality that "more guns is the answer" is untenable and absurd.
Larronda Lusk via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I'm ready,,, I was gonna take mine anyway,,, rather be safe than sorry
Jeff Scroggin via Texas Tribune on Facebook
"No possible drawback to it once they have been trained properly."
Yes, more guns around our children. No drawback there. How about we work on solving the problem without more violence. Violence is why we're here in the first place.
I highly doubt most teachers want to carry guns. I highly doubt police want them carrying guns in schools.
Andrew Brown via Texas Tribune on Facebook
You can always count on Texas politicians to come up with the worst possible non-solutions to any social problem.
Jakob Willmann via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Having a badge does not make someone more trustworthy or responsible.
Jakob Willmann via Texas Tribune on Facebook
If we taught gun safety at schools then it wouldn't be so dangerous.
Kathy Willmann via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I agree. Once again, guns don't kill people, people kill people and I believe if guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns. Guess I may become an outlaw someday.
Kathy Willmann via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Oh! and by the way , I caught another raccoon last night.
Chris Thornton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Good idea. If someone was armed at that elementary school more children would be alive today.
Jon Miller via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Problem is they're not hollow-point.....
Rebecca Powers via Texas Tribune on Facebook
As always "stupid is as stupid does"
Cynthia Casper Robertson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Very bad idea. I think the right to own a gun is trumped by the right not to be shot by one. Even considering having a loaded gun in a classroom of children is just asinine. For those of you who are of the ridiculous mindset that more school children would be alive today if the teachers had been armed, an assault weapon fires 3X faster than a handgun. I think that it's highly unlikely that they would provide assault weapons to teachers.
Think about this -- One man tries to detonate a shoe bomb on an airplane and millions of airline passengers are forced to remove their shoes and submit to sexual assault and porn scans at the airport. But let kids get murdered in school - Jonesboro, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Chardon, the Amish School and now this... and we do absolutely nothing and, in fact, are discussing even more guns.
And, we have decided, as a society, that the second amendment is more important than any one single American life. According to some people, the loss of thousands of lives cannot be compared to the importance of the loss of access to thousands of deadly weapons.
In closing, for those of you who use the ridiculous argument that people kill people, guns don't -- last I knew, it's the person that pulls the trigger. So, yes, guns do kill people. Sheesh.
Abril Davila via Texas Tribune on Facebook
He's not even in office yet. He's a Rep-Elect, and trust me, if his policies are so inflammatory, thoughtless, unreasonable, and clearly the product of poor judgment, his stint in the capitol shouldn't last more than a couple of years. Who is this guy anyway? Who are his supporters? Is he a Perry crony?
Samdavis
Unfortunately, our legislators care more about TEA Party wishes than those of the more sane people in our state.
Chaz Rodgers via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I don't think this is the answer. How about limiting who can care deadly weapons;and teacher are not the one's. Teachers are their to teach and police on campus are there to serve and protect. The thought you will allow teacher to carry weapons in the class room is out rageous. I don't have all the answers but I am sure glad you post this message because the community need to know what our representative are doing on constituents behalf! What you are doing is putting fuel on fire and it will go boom!
Gloria Rose via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We have plenty of teachers who are ex-military and experienced hunters. If people know there will be resistance, they won't try to attack in a school. Israeli teachers are armed, and they handle it just fine. It's better than being sitting ducks. Criminals ignore "gun free zone" signs. That's just an invitation.
Bill Asher
Before the gunfight on campus they can play the theme from "High Noon". "Oh don't forsake me oh my darling...".
WearechangeMiami Florida via Texas Tribune on Facebook
America has 30% of the worlds firearms tell me again how your going to stop crime by banning weapons? Remember the illegals drugs you get so easily?? right... think about it..
Clark Humphrey via Texas Tribune on Facebook
There is a YouTube video on this very subject. (Wish I had the link on this computer) Anyways, one of the news agencies conducted this experiment using college kids. They trained them, they spent time at a gun range firing the weapons. (9mm with basically paint ball rounds)
They then put them in class with the gun. In every instance they were shot more than once before they could even get off shot. Some couldn't even get the gun out of the holster. What most don't think about is the situation and what is taking place. It is mass chaos, then there is the body's automatic reaction to these types of situations. It is why police and the military have to train constantly to overcome the body's reaction. If you don't train constantly your body will revert back to to its flight reflex. You expect teachers to teach all day then go spend hours each week training to react with calmness and precision that this type of situation calls for? Anyone who thinks this is a good idea is as crazy as a loon.
BTW, the school district Perry brought up, is a one school district. 103 kids in the entire district, housed in one school. You also need to go take a look at their employee handbook and read page 41.
Milton Bell via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Thinking back to the middle of the last century, having one of my teachers packin' heat would have scared the crap out of me! They would have been a greater danger to themselves than to any would-be adversary, not to mention to my classmates. No, this is a knee-jerk reaction that may garner a few votes for the politicos, temporarily. Guns in the classroom is just another tragedy waiting to happen.
Clark Humphrey via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Found it.
http://m.youtube.com/?reload=9&rdm=mf8tbz47#/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=8QjZY3WiO9s&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D8QjZY3WiO9s%26feature%3Dyoutube_gdata_player
Rudyg43
Jason Villalba, TEA party fanatic joins the ranks of the other Texas fringe movement, Rick Perry, Louie Gohmert, Jerry Patterson, Dick Armey and of course the national puppeteers in siding with the Arms Industry. On the national level these purveyors of hate stir the masses with placing guns in schools to exact cross fire zones to take out as many of the students as possible. After all they don't want to fully fund these schools any way. When will Texans get the message that these pseudo-types are making Texas the "Laughing Stock" of America. We all remember Rick Perry's "Deer in the head lights look" as he struggled to gain audience in the TEA-Republican primary. Most Texans are sick and tired of career politicians. Every one of these blow-hard's cry out "states rights" as support for their actions without regard for the safety of students. Texas is not the "Wild, wild west" and school safety is tantamount as is school funding. These men are a total discredit to Texas and Texans as their actions and demeanor alienates the rest of the nation. Ethnic diversity will change the demographics of Texas and that cannot come soon enough. And the 2014 Mid-term election is a-coming!
Jaye Ramsey Sutter via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Sure the Israelis handle it. They are all required to be in the IDF. We don't have that kind of training. I shot skeet at Baylor.I was an excellent shot. I do not have a license. I do not own a gun I will not carry one in class. I am there to teach ideas, not provide security. You cannot do both. I wouldn't notice someone until they opened fire and they are going to shoot me first. Not going to work. Guns are the antithesis of a classroom.
Blair Kellner via Texas Tribune on Facebook
An accident, many accidents, waiting to happen!
Linda Meo via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Oh for cryin' out loud!
Tomme Marie Trikosko via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Good going, have a gun on campus along with the troubled children! Too much trouble to keep them secure from students---and I'm a teacher in a HS, BTW.
Kristine Aragon via Texas Tribune on Facebook
REALLY REALLY STUPID!!!
We're supposed to be examples for these kids and teach them that violence is not the answer
Eric Mills via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Bad idea!
Ya Tu Sabes via Texas Tribune on Facebook
You trust these men and women to teach and watch your children 6 hours a day 5 days a week, but you don't trust them to be armed? Do you not want these men and women to be able to protect your children? I think this is the most logical choice (Arming the people who watch our children i mean).
Bill Bush via Texas Tribune on Facebook
A really stupid idea, which means it will become law this spring.
Tim Spotswood via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Harrold Independent School District in north Texas has allowed their teachers to carry since Oct 2007. The superintendent of the district was on the radio the other day defending their position. The teacher must be licensed by the state for concealed carry, and go through crises training with the district to get authorization.
I work in the public school system and think it is a good idea.
Travis Niemeyer via Texas Tribune on Facebook
A loaded weapon around children? What could go wrong?
Wes Baumguardner via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I actually think it would be a good idea. Of course, the teachers would have to be well trained and take full responsibility for their weapons. If you cannot trust a teacher with a weapon around your child, you should not trust the teacher in the first place.
Don Martin via Texas Tribune on Facebook
How stupid can you get? Must be in the Tea Party. Geeze.
Jennifer Spicer Black via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Rep Chafftez said it well today on the news... guns are not for everyone but IF you are comfortable and have the training etc etc... I agree there should be MORE training, testing, approvals etc required for someone that would have a firearm in the school - but I don't immediately think it is a horrible idea. I don't know if anything could have prevented what happened - but I have wondered what would have happened if the principle would have been able to wound him - would it have made a difference. I am not a teacher but I am a parent and while the thought of one my kids teacher having a gun in the classroom gives me pause... so does someone coming into one of their classrooms with full intent to kill them and the teacher with no way to defend themselves or my children... they both make me a bit sick to my stomach...
Alan Nicholas via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Ought to take it a step further and provide incentive for a teacher to go through the process. Teachers are horribly underpaid in Texas. A 2.5-5k yearly increase in salary for those willing to take the time and spend the money to become licensed and go through the proper crisis training, etc would be a good idea in my book.
Travis Niemeyer via Texas Tribune on Facebook
If we think of this rationally, The odds of a gunman coming into a school, and specifically, your child's classroom, is incredibly small. A gun in the classroom though poses a potential hazard every day.
Wes Baumguardner via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Don, do you have any logic to your argument? Do you believe all people are murderous bastards? Let's face it... in relativity to a child's strength, the average adult can easily overwhelm 2 or 3 kids if not more, at one time. Yet, you willingly trust the children of america to millions of fully grown teachers every day.
Todd Foster via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Bad idea.
Sandi Simpton Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I don't know man, I had some crazy-ass, way stressed-out teachers...just sayin'...
Brian Morrison via Texas Tribune on Facebook
no i dont just have pat down for vister an more popo
Myr Iam via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I totally disagree with that idea. Weapons are responsible for that massacre !!!! I think that others countries are living without wearing weapons. It's forbidden by the law. Why America Can't do the same?!
Janet Thomas
I am absolutely in agreement with this. These crazies only target places they know don't allow guns. If there had been a gun in the front office at Sandy Hooks, someone would have had plenty of time to grab a weapon after the gunman blew out the window and there would only have been one dead instead of 26, or perhaps he wouldn't have even gone there. In Aurora, the gunman targeted the one theater that didn't allow guns (it was not the closest theater to his apartment). The teachers/principals, etc. would be properly trained and the gun would be concealed. Gun control laws are not the answer. The criminals will still be able to obtain weapons and the populace will be the victims.
Montserrat Eda VP Certified via Texas Tribune on Facebook
As a teacher and citizen of this country, I totally oppose to carry guns in schools. Mental help and counseling is highly needed in our schools. Guns will only be a bandaid in the wound. What a shame Rick Perry!!
David Lee Schnepp via Texas Tribune on Facebook
When President L B J was in office , America had 160,000,000 guns . Now , over 200 million. Who needs 'assault weapons with clips of thirty rounds or more. ?
Jennifer Pitts via Texas Tribune on Facebook
i think every one should should have a lic. to carry a hand gun,
Paul Navejar via Texas Tribune on Facebook
40,000 people died this year in car accidents many if them children... Lets ban cars, they have no use on the road killing all those people...
Esmeralda Gonzalez via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Our teachers are charged with so much responsibility (with so little pay) as it is. They are educators NOT security guards. Let them do the job they were hired to do.
Sherrie Matula via Texas Tribune on Facebook
As a 32 year educator I am appalled that there has been a call from our governor, a US Rep from Texas, and now a state rep to arm teachers. I am more than appalled, I am angry and I denounce the idiots who said this, including our governor.
John Roach via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Negative. Teachers teach.
Brian Robinson
Yes!! I'm a teacher and I have a CHL and I have training.
Margaret Meyer Simpson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Arming morer people does not defeat violence. We need to teach our children at a young age that kindness is good and violence is bad.
Robert Langston via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Teachers have way too much going on in the classroom to deal with the additional responsibility of carrying a gun. A gun does not stop being a lethal weapon just because its not in use. Gun owners who forget that can wind up dead or killing others. Teachers need to focus on teaching and can best help by attending to students who might be a threat before something tragic happens. Plus, ask what is being taught when the teacher is seen as an lethally armed enforcer first and a teacher second ? Have these politicians been in consultation with educational professionals about this? I doubt it.
Jorge Rosales via Texas Tribune on Facebook
maybe not the teachers since its still scary having a gun that close to your kid at all times but im sure that the principal , v. principal and a few other staff members would be better ....
LeeAnna Steubing via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We expect too much of our educators now.
How can we expect them to teach and be armed guards, too?
We don't pay them enough or support them properly in the classroom.
We cannot imagine the same skills that make a teacher will necessarily make a soldier.
David Spratt
Emotion still is overruling rational thought. One comment mentioned that of 61 mass shootings not one single time has an armed citizens stopped this. This is supposed to be " evidence" that private gun ownership does not prevent crime. The evidence is that almost all incidents take place in gun free zones. It is rare that stories of people defending themselves or someone else with a firearm makes the national news,, but it happens all the time.
Recently it has been reported , marginally so,,, that one person did have a handgun at the mall shooting. The gunman did see this CHL holder and only one shot was fired after he saw him. It would seem that the gunman knew his reign of terror was over and he was not the only one in the mall with a gun,, and he killed himself. If this is actually true then the presence of this person ,, legally carrying a handgun,,, may have been the single thing that prevented more people from being killed.
It has also been reported that the theater shooter visited several other theaters before choosing the one he went on a rampage in. The determining factor may have been that the others did not advertise they were gun free. There are many instances where legally registered handguns have been used to protect other people than the person who had the gun. Most trained persons carrying a handgun would take action to protect another person who they saw were in danger.
Demonizing these responsible gun owners is wrong. The deterrent effect of criminals knowing there are people in the general populace who have concealed weapons is a lot greater than those calling for bans on guns will admit. I am quite sure that if confronted by an armed attacker,, and not being armed themselves ,,, they would appreciate someone else coming to their defense and protecting them regardless of whether they were an authorized law enforcement official or just a concerned citizen. I know I would be very grateful.
Just a thought to those people who think all guns are evil and people who have concealed carry permits are crazed trigger happy nutcases just itching to draw down and shoot someone. The majority are just sensible people who know the world is not as safe as most would like it to be and you never know when you will be the victim of a violent criminal. The police can never be everywhere all the time,, and when seconds count the police can be minutes away.
You probably walk past many people every single day who are carrying a firearm and you never even know it. You may not believe it but should the need arise the majority of them would protect you and possibly save your life.
The United States is not Britain , Japan or any other country. We are unique for better or worse. The world is a dangerous place and it is not dangerous just because guns exist. It is dangerous because there are dangerous people in the world and getting rid of or restricting guns will not make these people disappear. Legal responsible gun owners are a benefit to society not a danger. The criminals are the problem.
Tom Zanone via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We will lose some of our best educators. Most are women. Ask the teachers.
Eufrocina Navos via Texas Tribune on Facebook
crazy idea...just put military on the school entrance
Marsia Reese via Texas Tribune on Facebook
O. M. G. omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg.
Karl Heinrich via Texas Tribune on Facebook
What a bunch of spineless idiots. No one is saying you have to be a prison guard or Dirty Harry. Just if some psychopath comes in with guns a blazing, MAYBE, just maybe, you can save a life or two. Maybe even your own. I am ashamed of what my country has become. Guns are here. Psychopaths are here becuase YOU teachers don't want a difficult child in your classroom you push the SSRI drugs on them. Now we have to deal with it. "Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither" ~ Ben Franklin
Tom Zanone via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The funding for mental health was cut under Bush. I dont mind if my tax dollars work on the front end of this problem. But arming teachers, speak up teachers. Tell us just what you think..
Leftcoastghost Yirba via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Actually it goes back to Reagan. He cut as much assistance to the mentally disabled (including veterans) as he could. I've been hearing that it is already legal to carry a gun on the UT campus so long as its registered. Is this true? If you read the Charles Whitman story you will learn that a whole lot more lives would have been lost except for the fact that once news of a "sniper on the tower" hit the media, everyone and his brother in Sam Austin grabbed a gun and went on campus and the "return fire" on campus was so extreme (open season basically) that Whitman could no longer get clean shots at victims.