Dewhurst: Texas Should Fund Teacher Firearms Training
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst called Friday for the state to consider funding specialized firearms training for school employees, along with other school safety plans.
The announcement echoed remarks Dewhurst made Friday morning while speaking at a conservative policy summit, where according to the Associated Press he said that under his plan school districts would choose who would receive the training, which would expand on what the state requires for concealed handgun license applicants. The training would include how to react in an active shooter situation like the one that claimed 26 lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in ...
Comments (45)
Bruce Davis via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We need to train and arm the school bus drivers also.
Karl Pallmeyer via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Will they fund teacher salaries while they're at it?
Andrew Brown via Texas Tribune on Facebook
What the heck, just arm everybody. What could possibly go wrong?
Casey Bennett via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I'm all for it. Don't care what the cost ($$$$). Every teacher and staff member should at least have the option to either carry CHG or not. Its a no-brainer,,,,,,if you at least have some kind of protection,,,,that sure the heck beats having no protection at all.
Viviana Huerta-Rodriguez via Texas Tribune on Facebook
What he needs to do is focus on the training and education of our kids.
Jill Meredith Bergene via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It would be funny if it weren't so stupid.
Jill Meredith Bergene via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I would not send my kids to school that had armed teachers. Isn't this what is known as a "knee-jerk" reaction?
Glenda Hawthorne via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Sure! They should make it mandatory and then make it part of their annual appraisal as well...right?? Dewhurst is a dumb shit.
Elizabeth Vernon via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I guess they are going to finally dip into the Rainy Day Fund to pay for this training?
Tom Erickson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
As long as there's still local control. Many districts will want to opt out.
T.paul Joseph via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Next v can start friendly fire everywhere
Cindy Rhoton Cook via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Oh yea, don't fund education but give arms training to teachers instead. ( shaking head back and forth in the NO gesture ) How about talking to the teachers and get their ideas on how to make school grounds safer?
Kim Burkett via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Maybe start with funding the 160,000 students you didn't fund last legislative session. Just sayin...
Bill Eaves via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Don't let this happen to America......https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=fGaDAThOHhA
Steve Perkins
Neat! I have a relative who teaches in the 5th grade. Does he get to carry an AR-15? I am sure nothing bad would ever happen with 158 kids running around in his classes. Sounds like a perfect solution.
Cheryl Cox Brinkman via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I will pull my kids out of school. Ridiculous.
Debbie Mason via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Casey Bennett and are you for having armed guards in neighborhoods where there are kids being shot every day? The answer is not armed anyone. It is teaching that guns kill period and we do not use them to solve problems or because someone makes you mad or their music is to loud or you want their shoes or some guy looked at your girlfriend wrong. So arm teachers, staff, well lets arm the kids also, many can shot better then a adult, this is TX after all. Lets put electric fence up also and sharp shooters on all roof tops. If kids have to go to school with armed anyone we in the USA have a huge GUN problem. I am a gun owner and a ex NRA member and I am tired of gun violence. We do not need any gun that can kill 100 people in seconds. If I was a child and my school had armed teachers or staff or anyone I would be terrified of going to school period. I do not send my kids to school to be treated like they are in a prison nor do I send them to school to be shot by anyone. Cops are speacil trained to shot a gun or take someone down and even then when it is a shooting like in a school or mall they bring in SWAT for a good reason. These highly trained men and women know what to look for and when to shot, not just at anything or anyone. Are you willing to pay for the damages done to a child who may be shot by a teacher or staff member who mistook them for a shooter or if the gun goes off accidentally or a child gets a hold of a gun. I love teachers and have high respect for them but this is asking to much of them and to be honest I dont know how many teachers I know that loose their keys, home work and books everyday and we want them to have a gun. I do not think so. That is way to much pressure to put on any teacher. This is a gun problem and we all know it and we need to own up to it. The majority of gun owners are good people but even good people shot and kill sometimes, not all shooters have mental problems, they just get mad and shot first and think second. Yes lets teach our youth the answer to violence is more violence and killings.
Jennifer White via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Google Diane Sawyer's interview with crisis situation firearms instructors and their experiment with arming college kids. It does not work. You have to have focused, frequent, high intensity training to even come close to successfully preventing carnage. Guns are not some magic wand that automatically protects the person possessing it. And shooting at paper targets isn't enough.
This is a ridiculous and should be off the table.
Kay Wilkinson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
They have lost their minds and the focus on what is good for Texas! Let me get this straight!!!! They have cut education to the bone, but they will pay for Firearms Training for Teachers. WE need to ELECT New Representatives in Austin, Texas. The sooner the Better!
Linda Hunter via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Fishing for votes already?
Kirk Edney via Texas Tribune on Facebook
If administrators won't support teachers on typical discipline issues, can you see them supporting teachers on firearms issues?
Vanne Metzger via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Can't give teachers a raise but you can give them a handgun? No raise next year but extra ammo? That's SOME brand of leadership we've got in Austin...
Rob D'Amico
Are we in a post modern novel?
Rob D'Amico via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Are we in a post modern novel?
poryorick
I hope this means that the Lt. Guv will also be lobbying for guns in the Capitol, since the argument is that more guns mean more safety.
Frank Kenisky via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This is completely foolish, negligent and a waste of time. By putting teachers in classrooms with guns you now impose your right to carry a weapon on those who choose not to. What is wrong with these people. And I agree are these teachers going to be paid more? How many teachers will be per school? Some schools have more than one building and more than one floor and certainly more than one classroom.
Bill Bush via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Is this instead of tax cuts or will it draw from the rainy day fund. It must be nice to live in Political Bubble World.
Bonnie O'Donnell Hauser via Texas Tribune on Facebook
How about just funding schools adequately so teachers can teach, and not just to a test?
Andrew Brown via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Surely you all have learned by now that there is no idea too stupid, wasteful, or dangerous enough for the Texas GOP not to enact into law.
Richard Taylor via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Hello, two years ago the State cut teachers! What are our priorities?
Patty Pinkley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Yes, and just like transvaginal probes, this too NEEDS to be ADDRESSED ASAP!
Jill Meredith Bergene via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Some of the best comments I've ever read on facebook.
Wilkins Micawber
David Dewhurst is a wonder of Nature: the only invertebrate known to have an upright stance.
The so-called leadership in this state makes the most compelling argument that I have heard that humans are descended not from apes, but from vegetable manure.
Lindsay Siriko via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We agree with Lt. Governor David Dewhurst.!
Scott Nicol via Texas Tribune on Facebook
As a teacher, I have absolutely no interest in conducting shoot-outs with heavily armed nutcases in my classroom. They should be disarmed, and I'll take my chances with a fist fight.
Elmcott Lana via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Only in Texas!Although I know that is the stance of the NRA nation wide. That is about the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. I agree with the head of the Teachers Association, they didn't sign up to be security guards. They signed up to teach. Oh yes, what we need is a bunch of teachers firing handguns, or better yet assault rifles, across a crowded classroom or cafeteria while the nut case fires back. Surely no one would get hurt then! What are they thinking? If they all stood in a circle and held hands they couldn't ignite one healthy spark (brain synapse that is). I guess next we can arm our clergy and doctors. How about all the little old grandmothers?
Bill Asher
Dewhurst has now joined the ranks of Perry and Abbott when it comes to problem solving. They pander to the right wing. Problem solved. How were we so lucky to inherit the Three Stooges?
Elmcott Lana via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I wonder how much the NRA has contributed to him. Would be interesting to find out.
Rudy Gonzales
David Dewhurst, since getting thumped severely by the fringe TEA-types in Texas, has taken steps further right to re-brand himself for the next election cycle. The mass murder in Connecticut has brought out the radical extremes of the NRA and the TEA-types along with those fighting against the federal government. Dewhurst, Perry and a multitude of Republican party types with the fringe on top are running scared of this well-organized and funded sect of Libertarians. They call for smaller government, but, would force women to undergo a medical procedure at their own expense. Absolutely no funding from the state's budget should go for arms-training of teachers on gun use in schools. Do not sit on the sidelines and allow the few with the most power and stroke to make decisions that will effect you directly without your input. We must remember that money and power in the hands of fewer and fewer people with stricter less compassion has taken hold in many states and Washington is their next target. Do not sit on the sidelines and allow others to make decisions that will effect you, or your family directly, without your input. Get active in local, state and national politics and keep yourselves informed. We can make a great change in the 2014 Mid-term election!
Kerry Brix via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Insanity.
Alice Taylor
I'm reposting my comment that I had submitted under Michael Williams article where he supported armed teachers in public schools. Along with Williams, I don't think Dewhurst have thought this through, although I do give Dewhurst some credit for acknowledging that two hours of range practice is not enough to quality any teacher to be an "air marshal" in a public school setting. Here is my previous post-
I'm a teacher in public school and I have a few questions. I've also been in the Army and I'm not afraid of guns. What I am is very, very respectful of them.
If a school district allows teachers to carry guns on campus and one accidentally goes off and hurts someone, is the teacher liable for damages or the school district? It seems to me that if a district allows CHG on campus then it is also taking on the liability and risk that having a weapon on campus brings.
If a student is in a classroom and the teacher is carrying a gun and the student (or the parents) object to being placed in a weaponized classroom, will the student be able to transfer? Having a license doesn't make you sane or sensible which have been proven by the current tragedies. If your child in a classroom with a teacher you don't trust with a gun, can you remove your child without negative consequence?
If a teacher fires a gun in the belief that they are in danger and they prove to be wrong about the situation, will the district be liable for medical expenses incurred by the students? The point of allowing teachers to carry guns is to protect students. But what if they get wrong information or make a mistake? A good part of a policeman's training is to recognize threats and this takes a lot more training than 2 day CHG course. What if the teacher makes a good-faith error based on information from a mistaken administrator and shoots the wrong person? Who is liable?
Can a teacher plead a "hostile work environment" if he finds out that a colleague legally has a weapon and he feels that colleague is not safe, mentally sound or otherwise untrustworthy? Frankly, I've worked with people I wouldn't trust with a stapler, much less a concealed handgun.
Who can have a concealed handgun on campus? Everyone? Admin but not teachers? Teachers but not janitors? It seems to me that if you allow teachers to carry, then you should allow every adult on campus to be able to carry and that includes the 18-year-old janitors, cooks and aides (under 21 can carry if they are former military).
Are school districts going to pay for the range time for practice and training of the "air marshal" teachers? If the school districts are going to use teachers as free security guards, then I think that the districts should compensate for this service by paying for the equipment, training, and liability insurance. Somehow I really don't think that is going to happen.
It amazes me that we have regulations where a teacher can't take a kid in her car and drive him home when it's raining or serve kids a cookie in a class party because someone might have a peanut allergy and yet some people don't think it's odd that the same teacher can carry a loaded weapon in to a kindergarten class.
Mary Steele
You are already paying the police department so it wouldn't cost any additional money to train volunteers during the summer and you have plenty of qualified instructors that would volunteer to help protect children. Extensively trained teachers and other staff can and will save lives if a gunman came in their school under the same cirumstances because he would have been stopped by one of them, just like the police would have done if they had gotten there in time to catch him or kill him if they had to.
A woman that was home alone with her infant faced 2 men that broke into her home. She killed one upon entry and the other one ran away. Imagine what could have been done to her had she not defended herself and her baby, and what would have become of her baby if they had killed her or made her incapable of getting to a phone or to her baby! So a well-trained and armed person is far better than no protection, multiply that and you have even more of what you need to do something because by the time the police get there, people can and will die if that is the intention of the gunman! The faster the response, the less victims you will have.
Jack S.
For those of you who believe in calling 911, Friday in L.A., there were some robbers that took 14 people hostage at a Nordstrom's, stabbing one, pistol-whipping one, and sexually assaulting another. It took the SWAT team 4.5 hours to enter the building, and the robbers still managed to get away. Nice to know that you could have a concealed handgun in a situation like that and able to fire back within seconds, but the heavily armed experts with body armor that you are putting all your trust in to 'save you' are only 270 minutes away.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/01/1-nordstrom-hostage-sexually-assaulted-another-stabbed-police-say.html
Even in the Columbine shooting, it took SWAT 110 minutes to enter the building, a full hour after Harris and Klebold had already committed suicide. There could have been easily over 100 killed in that amount of time.
Do people really believe that SWAT can ever make a difference in any situation when all they are ever willing to do is sit in the armored truck outside hour after hour after hour? Court cases have ruled that police are under no obligation to protect you as an individual, but society as a whole.
This means you need to take personal responsibility. There are many teachers who already have CHL's, who already carry guns elsewhere besides school, at church, at restaurants, at the mall.
We are not talking about seeking new recruits from amongst the dainty who would never be
Jack S.
( cont.) able to respond in an emergency. But the alternative is to lay down in your gun-free zone and say goodbye. When the day comes that a madman or madmen burst through the school doors, you will be more happy that there are 2 or 3 teachers who have been shooting guns for years that are able to step up and fight back.
There is no other way to win this battle. Why tie the hands of those who are capable and responsible with firearms? Remember, we are not asking the complainers and whiners to step up.
Utah has had concealed carry in classrooms K-12 since 1995. The teachers' organizations thought that the sky would fall there as a result too. Guess what, no problems for 17 years across an entire state!
Matt Robinson
I came up with this..... Let's get law enforcement training to those willing and able to carry out this important duty. Here's the petition: https://www.change.org/petitions/state-of-texas-legislature-and-governor-of-the-state-of-texas-allow-permitted-guardians-to-carry-concealed-weapons-in-gun-free-zones#