RSSTennessee Considers Training & Arming Schoolteachers with Guns To Protect Against Shootings Like Sandy Hook Elementary School (Virginia as Well)
More is better … especially when it comes to the safety of our children …
It’s time to look at all options. In the wake of the horrendous Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, the Volunteer state of Tennessee is considering training and arming teachers in classrooms to help protect children. In an effort to look at all options to protect innocent school children and not just “banning” guns. Republican State Sen. Frank Niceley will introduce a bill that would allow the state to pay for secretly armed teachers in classrooms. When asked if putting more guns in schools in the wake of Newtown might make them more dangerous, Niceley said the sentiment was naïve. Not only does an unarmed school leave itself unprotected, it also presents a tempting target.
Tennessee has emerged this week as a center of the “the answer is more guns in schools” sentiment following the Newtown, Conn. elementary school shooting.
A member of the Republican-controlled legislature plans during its upcoming session to introduce a bill that would allow the state to pay for secretly armed teachers in classrooms so, the sponsor told TPM, potential shooters don’t know who has a gun and who doesn’t.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) has said the idea will be part of his discussions about how to prevent a shooting like the one in Newtown from happening in the Volunteer State.
As has been seen following other mass shootings, there’s a strong segment of the gun rights lobby that says the answer to events like the one in Newtown is more guns in more places. But they’ve said the recent massacre shows how important it is to put guns into elementary schools, where even gun-friendly states like Tennessee don’t currently allow them.
America needs to get serious about protecting our greatest recourses and the idea that just banning so-called assault weapons is hardly the answer. If that is all that is on the table, then politicians are only concerned about their liberal anti-gun agenda, not children. The first anti-assault weapons ban did little to stop crime. In the case of the tragic shooting in Newtown, CT, we are presented with so many other issues, like mental illness, violent video games, and an individual who as many people described as just off, awkward and out of place. After 911, we did not ban box cutters, the US put armed federal marshals on planes, ramped up screening procedures to get on planes, created no-fly lists, reinforced cockpit doors and many other safety procedures. The same must be done to out school. If we can have armed guards in banks protecting money, its the least we can do to protect something much more valuable than money, our children.
State Sen. Frank Niceley (R) told TPM on Tuesday he believes it’s time for that to change. He plans to introduce legislation in the next session, which begins Jan. 8, that will require all schools to have an armed staff member of some kind. The current language of the bill — which is in its early form — would allow for either a so-called “resource officer” (essentially an armed police officer, the kind which most Tennessee high schools have already) or an armed member of the faculty or staff in every school in the state. The choice would allow schools that can’t afford a resource officer to fulfill the requirement without having to pay for anything beyond the cost of the training and, presumably, the weapon. But Niceley said schools should use the wiggle room to train and keep on hand armed staff not in uniform.
UPDATE I: Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) consider guns for school officials as well.
Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.) said on Tuesday that it’s “time to have a discussion” about arming school officials, in wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn.
“If someone had been armed, there would have been a possibility to stop the person from coming into the school,” McDonnell said on Washington’s WTOP radio’s “Ask the Governor” monthly program responding to a caller’s question. “I know there is a knee-jerk reaction against that, but I think we should have a discussion about it.”
Posted December 19, 2012 by Scared Monkeys Child Welfare, Crime, Criminal Mischief, Government, Mass Murder, Murder, Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre, State Legislatures | 12 comments |
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12 Responses to “Tennessee Considers Training & Arming Schoolteachers with Guns To Protect Against Shootings Like Sandy Hook Elementary School (Virginia as Well)”
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Teachers should not be executioners. I now there are pilots with guns…but pilots do not have to deal with hormonal kids for a living.
As a general rule, if someone forces their way into a cockpit, I have no problem with a pilot killing them.
But when does a teacher need to kill a student? Of course the obvious scenarios…
___________________________
SM: Adam was not a student.
R
Stop school shootings by letting teachers fire back, say Texas officials
December 18, 2012
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/18/stop-school-shootings-by-letting-teachers-fire-back-say-texas-officials/
Rep. Gohmert: I wish Sandy Hook principal had had access to rifle
December 16, 2012
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/dec/16/rep-gohmert-i-wish-sandy-hook-principal-had-had-ac/
Maybe the current massacre would have been deterred IF Adam had thought for one minute that he could possibly be taken down by an armed guard/principal/teacher prior to accomplishing his mission.
Maybe the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre would not have snuffed out so many innocent lives IF an armed guard/principal/teacher had not been denied his/her Constitutional right to protect self … to protect his/her young charges.
A troubled young man filled with rage was fully aware there would be little challenge to his evil intentions.
The faculty and students at Sandy Hook Elementary were sitting ducks.
When asked if putting more guns in schools in the wake of Newtown might make them more dangerous, Niceley said the sentiment was naïve. Not only does an unarmed school leave itself unprotected, it also presents a tempting target.
Posted December 19, 2012 by Scared Monkeys
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I agree.
Why is the President’s security armed. The answer is obvious. The same principle should be applied in the protection of the Nation’s most valuable resource … its children.
Sitting at a high school basketball game last night I was reflecting on why there is not more violence at these games which are so often emotionally charged. Part of the answer may be the presence of one or two armed police officers.
This is a beginning. Every state needs to consider allowing trained teachers to carry a concealed weapon to school. A single armed guard is IMO totally inadequate.
Gun free zones posted on a sign outside a school campus is a direct invitation for a derranged individual to attack the school.
In addition, all schools need to have a safety audit to include physical building security and proceedures.
Somehow I do not believe that Adam Lanza would have pick this Texas School District to carry out his evil mission. Could it be that “peace through strength” is the answer?
Texas School District Teachers Carry Concealed Guns
Dec 19, 2012
http://www.wltx.com/news/national/article/213252/142/Texas-School-District-Teachers-Carry-Concealed-Guns
Peace through strength Tamikosmom is the answer.
If Adam Lanza knew that teachers were armed at the school, he would have picked a different place. These people are sick cowards who always choose place that they know is gun free.
Police response times are normally in minutes. They simply cannot be everywhere at once. Individuals must learn to take responsibility for their own safety. We do not use good sense in declaring a school a gun free zone. That is a utopian idea that no longer works in present society.
Police response times are normally in minutes
8. A Texas Grandfather on December 19th, 2012 7:13 pm
++++++++
Gun Free Zones
At Sandy Hook Elementary 22 children and 4 faculty members were gunned down prior to the ability of police to effectively respond.
Likewise at Virginia Tech, Mt. Hood, Colorado movie theater …
Texas School District Teachers Carry Concealed Guns
Dec 19, 2012
“These people that go in and do these horrible acts, they’re evil. But they’re not that crazy — they always know where they are going to get resistance,” Thweatt said.
http://www.wltx.com/news/national/article/213252/142/Texas-School-District-Teachers-Carry-Concealed-Guns
trigger locks on the weapons would have prevented this disaster. they’re cheap and effective.
dennisintn
Trigger locks can be cut off and are a false security,He had time to cut them off.A good safe is best with your main gun on your person.An ARMED guard behind a safe door would have stopped the nut.The White House is Armed Guarded and Air Ports,not so hard to guard our children,I do mine everyday in their homeschool.