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)
Michelle Michon via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Jason Villalba is an idiot to do so.
William Harris via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Teachers are educators. If you want guns on campus hire a police officer(s) for each campus.
Russell Harvey via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Actually, when citizens are allowed to have weapons, interestingly enough, more lives are saved then if they had been confiscated. Not every teacher would carry one, but the school principal would have to know which teachers had the weapons ahead of time, (like when they bought the gun and intended to use it for defense at a school). If it is passed, it isn't like the school leadership isn't going to know who does and des not have one.
Russell Harvey via Texas Tribune on Facebook
However I can see this turning into a distopian ray bradbury story. Again, the merits of homeschooling. lol.
Tod Peddie via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I would think that few if any teachers are prepared to arm themselves in the classroom. Cops train long hours to prepare themselves to encounter an armed shooter, it's not an easy thing to do properly. Don't we ask our teachers to do enough already? A single armed guard is more than enough to thwart this kind of threat. We will never stop the first couple of shots from a determined intruder but a guard who can get to them in less than a minute is the best we can hope for without having an army brigade on each campus.
Barbara Muszynski Graham via Texas Tribune on Facebook
If you qualify to have a CHL, you should be able to carry a handgun anywhere.
Drake Peddie via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It is not that horrible of an idea. For sure, not all teachers should be armed as they are in Israel, but having a select few who are CHL holders, who are properly trained (and re-certified every other year) cannot be a bad thing. And would give a little more security to the schools. Armed guards in schools would be great, but they would be the first target when a shoot got into the school. Trained CHL holders would even the odds.
This Texas town is doing it out of necessity and has put some thought into how to set it up. In all recent cases, these lunatics stop the mayhem and kill themselves as soon as there is any sign of another weapon or opposing force. As long as they have helpless victims, they keep going. There is no way that evening the odds with trained people can be construed as worse. In Connecticut, if there is one gun in the school besides the shooters, then he probably does not get to the second classroom without some confrontation. Again, leave it to the states, the communities and the schools to decide what is best for them and they have to live with the consequences either way. You simply cannot make a one-size fits all decision that will satisfy the citizens everywhere.
http://news.yahoo.com/texas-town-allows-teachers-carry-concealed-guns-081017416.html
Tod Peddie via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Harrold ISD also installed more cameras and magnetic locks to lock down all classrooms instantly. They are serious up there..
Cindy Gorena via Texas Tribune on Facebook
David that's a sticky situation.
Rod Melotte via Texas Tribune on Facebook
That is the stupidest idea I have ever heard. What a complete moron. Maybe we should just have the National Guard on all street corners. What a fool.
Ken Novak via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I wish God would of brought me into this world in the animal kingdom, I can't stand listening to how stupid people have become
Jay Sargent via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Accident waiting to happen
Leftcoastghost Yirba via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This isn't the old West anymore. (Perhaps its worse.) As the USA became more civilized we dispensed with the need to carry arms except for police needs (Bobbies in England are NOT armed.) Now that being civilized is dying out, we revert back to violence and carrying guns. We also have too many children to educate properly and the richer we are the less we are involved in raising them ourselves. My Dad died when I was 12 but he had already taught me how to shoot, to never point a gun (even unloaded) at anyone and that there were times when carrying a gun was dangerous to both carrier and the public. Education and being civilized should be favored over everyone toting a gun. Otherwise 100's of years of human development are flushed down the toilet and we reside in the sewer of violence and stupidity. Dig?
Leftcoastghost Yirba via Texas Tribune on Facebook
What we do with mentally deranged individuals is a question I cannot answer but we need to work on it and not sweep it under the rug like the Bushes and Reagan did. I have personally known people who were on drugs that did not work uniformly and these persons were still a threat to both themselves and others. We definitely need a lot more screening of who gets easy access to guns. The mentally challenged are telling us this by these horrific killing sprees.
Russell Linehan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This is hard to read due to all the ignorance filling this thread.
1st- Guns are not the problem, sick people are the problem.
2nd- Teachers aren't going to be required to carry. The law is changing to allow the possibility of a teacher/principal with their CHL to carry in a school.
Lastly- This if this is what Texas feels like it should do, let Texas decide what Texas does with Texas. These issues are all state issues, the federal government needs to back off and allow the states to govern themselves.
God bless Texas and America.
Joe Blake via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Phil, even in Texas I can't imagine people think this is a good idea (at least I hope not).... if regular people didn't have access to automatic rifles with huge magazines then we wouldn't have to worry about what "sick" people would do if they got their hands on one.
Carol Clinch via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I am not in favor..../
Jonathan Wilkerson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Wait wait wait...so ur telling the same republicans who just a year ago declared war on Teachers, tried to destroy their unions and cut their benefits all while calling them overpaid and greedy, are now wanting to give them the responsibility of keeping a fire arm safe from hormone crazy kids who some have their own anger issues and may get a hold of a teachers gun and go on a rampage. And not to mention the possibility of a teacher having a breakdown and shooting a kid themselves.
Paxton Parker via Texas Tribune on Facebook
There's a school district that already has this. And you'll need to do a background check on teachers to see if they would even be mentally stable enough to carry one
Mitzi Hood via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I am amazed how quick people forget horrific events!! My great aunt and uncle died in the Oklahoma bombing! He didn't need a gun to kill mass amounts...9/11...guns are not the problem! It is the moral decline...everyone does what is right in his own mind...however he feels!
Michael Hull
Horrible idea....
Jack S.
Many of you sound just like when it was being debated whether concealed carry should be allowed in Texas in the first place back in the 90's. They were always saying there would be gunfights in the streets...hilarious. So far, so good.
Utah has had concealed carry in classrooms K-12 since 1995 with no problems across an entire state for 17 years. So lay your irrational fears aside.
Michael Williams has it right. There are already MANY teachers with CHL's who carry on a daily basis away from school. They are sitting right next to you in church with a pistol and everywhere else. (I know a few.) If you knew how many people come in and out of Wal-Mart every single day with pistols right next to you, all you "sky is falling" people would never go out of your houses again.
The only way to win this fight is to allow those who are already experienced, capable, comfortable and responsible with firearms to step up.
If you are thinking the SWAT team is the way to deal with it, you would be completely wrong. Friday in L.A., there was a hostage situation in Nordstrom's where robbers took 14 people hostage, stabbing one, sexually assaulting one, and pistol-whipping one. The SWAT team was only 4.5 hours from entering the building at 3:30 A.M. The ordeal began at 11:00 p.m., and the robbers still got away. In the Columbine shooting, it took SWAT a full 110 minutes to enter the building after the shooting began.
Have it your way, but I would rather have a pistol within seconds than wait for SWAT hour after hour after hour while madmen are having their way with defenseless victims in our gun-free zones.