Here's an interesting article about a small Texas school district that has voted to allow concealed-carry by teachers in the local school. Small town, not much crime, but the nearest law enforcement is 17 miles away.
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A School that Allows Guns
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Even speaking as someone who is generally pro gun-control, if the officials and people in this town feel that this is the best way to protect their students, then I don't see why they should not proceed with the plan. My one probelm with the districts attempt to arm teachers, however, is not so much with the arming, but with the apparent lack of transparency of the process. The article mentions that many residents did not notice any discussion of the issue. The way it reads, however, it appears that the Superintendent and School Board are coming from positions of concern for the students.
The one substantive issue I have with this plan is whether the risk of teacher's carrying concealed weapons is worth it. By that I mean does the risk of an accident occurring outweigh the benefits of the chance that a teacher can prevent a shooting and the detterence effect. I may be showing some naivete here, but if the process included more parent involvement, the board could have had more input informing both sides of this equation. Nonetheless, it seems the Board did their due dilligence, and again, have the right intent in mind.
The nation is buying into the "one percent doctrine" of Dick Cheney and the neo-militarists. If there's a one percent chance of something bad happening, then "all options are on the table". To the point where we' re going to promote arming elementary school teachers who work with children all day long, every day.
America and Americans can not prosper nor move forward if our society continues to be so hysterically driven by "one percent" fear. We simply cannot live like that.
While it is true that anything can happen at any time, the life of a person driven constantly by that random one percent fear is the life of a madman. So too with a nation.
What applies to liberal fruitcakes living in big cities, does not necessarily apply to people who live in rural areas. I was raised in an extremely secluded, rural farming area. On average, the Sheriff would respond to a call within 2 hours to 2 days, depending on the severity of the call. If it was to take a report for theft, they might make it in a day or so. The Sheriff's office would always advise us to buy a gun if we didn't have one, already. No one was living in fear. We were taking care of our own selves. Something that a certain demographic does not know how to do, and never will. If you want the government to take care of you, then go ahead. I do not, and will not allow it. As the Supreme Court has ruled in MANY instances, the police are NOT responsible for protecting each individual. Remember, when seconds count, the police are only mintues away. As far as I am concerned, it is time to Balkanize this nation. Time to segregate based on ideals. We will never co-exist, idealistically.