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By teal_dx
#322440 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,404721,00.html
A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to pass a law specifically allowing teachers and staff to pack heat when classes begin later this month.

Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements.

Superintendent David Thweatt told FOXNews.com the policy was initiated because of safety concerns.

"We have had employees assaulted before by people in the last several years," Thweatt said. "I think that safety is big concern. We are seeing a lot of anger in society."

He wouldn't comment further on the nature of the assaults.
The Texas superintendent linked gun-free zones with the uprising of school shootings in recent years.

"When you make schools gun-free zones, it's like inviting people to come in and take advantage," Thweatt told FOXNews.com.

In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations and must use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls.

Thweatt said the small community is a 30-minute drive from the sheriff's office, leaving students and teachers without protection. He said the district's lone campus sits 500 feet from heavily trafficked U.S. 287, which could make it a target.

The kindergarten through 12th grade school district is home to 110 students.
Thweatt said officials researched the policy and considered other options for about a year before approving the policy change. He said the district also has various other security measures in place to prevent a school shooting.

"The naysayers think [a shooting] won't happen here," Thweatt said. "If something were to happen here, I'd much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them."

He told FOXNews.com he doesn't think students will think twice about the new policy.

"I hope they forget all about it," he said. "We want them to pay attention [to their school work]."

Texas law outlaws firearms on school campuses "unless pursuant to the written regulations or written authorization of the institution."
While the district's plan shot them into the national spotlight, carrying guns to school is nothing new some states. In Utah, the law allows anyone with a permit to carry a gun in public schools and state institutions of higher education.

It was unclear how many of the 50 or so teachers and staff members will be armed this fall because Thweatt did not disclose that information, to keep it from students or potential attackers.

Wilbarger County Sheriff Larry Lee did not immediately return a call placed to his office by FOXNews.com.

Barbara Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of School Boards, said her organization did not know of another district with such a policy. Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based school security expert who advises districts nationwide, including in Texas, said Harrold is the first district with such a policy.
The district is 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth on the eastern end of Wilbarger County, near the Oklahoma border.

FOXNews.com's Michelle Maskaly and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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By Apexracing
#322496 This just seems like a bad idea.
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By teal_dx
#322497 I agree... I don't have a solution but this is not it. What happens if a kid gets hit by a stray bullet when an attacker is being shot? Now who is going to decide if the teachers are mentally stable enough to carry a gun in class? A holster on a teacher's hip would be somewhat distracting while learning IMO.

BTW, this article is a few years old... someone decided to do this BEFORE the latest school shooting.

I'm glad I was in HS in the 90's, before shit went out of control.
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By Apexracing
#322498
teal_dx wrote:I agree... I don't have a solution but this is not it. What happens if a kid gets hit by a stray bullet when an attacker is being shot? Now who is going to decide if the teachers are mentally stable enough to carry a gun in class? A holster on a teacher's hip would be somewhat distracting while learning IMO.

BTW, this article is a few years old... someone decided to do this BEFORE the latest school shooting.

I'm glad I was in HS in the 90's, before shit went out of control.


It would just be safer to put an officer in every school. They do in most high schools now. It offers an officer a full time job protecting children, and also educating students at the same time. In my state where local towns and villages are cutting back on law enforcement it only makes sense to have 1-2 good officers in a public school.
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By Apexracing
#322501 If the school super's wernt paid 250,000$ a year they could afford officers :thumb:
By HeikDiesel
#322502 And even at 1 officer isn't going to do much if a incident happens at a school with multiple buildings/1000+ students
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By Chance
#322839
HeikDiesel wrote:And even at 1 officer isn't going to do much if a incident happens at a school with multiple buildings/1000+ students


This!^


an officer in every school wont do shit. Plus which officers would be placed at schools? would it be a downgrade from normal patrol? a punishement for fawking up on patrol? Glorified security guard?

We can put more security in place and change gun laws but you canNOT stop crazy.
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By Apexracing
#322844 Officers in schools will go along way to help making schools safer. The kid has assburgers, a form of autism. That doesnt make you shoot up a school. The media is just painting an uglier picture to help get those gun laws passed.
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By teal_dx
#322850 I would say schools in higher crime areas or more students would have more officers but that would not have mattered in the small town of Sandy Brook.

Chance got it right - there's no way of being ready for something like that.
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By JDMD15B
#323346 the guy in conneticut walked into class rooms and exicuted about 20 young children because they had no way to be protected. i would much rather send my child to a school where the teachers and staff are able to protect my children then have no form of protection at all. if some one walks in to kill children and a teacher starts shooting at the gunman than at least he will be useing bullet on the teacher and not an innocent child.

for example my family and i are out to eat dinner at a local resturant and you and your family are at the same resturant. a man comes in with and ar-15 and starts shooting. i find concealment and draw my side arm and return fire. then the man will be trying to kill me and not you and your family. which gives the rest of the innocent people in said resturant time to leave the situation.

its a lot harder to kill some one who is trying to kill you back. the people who do these things are losers and dont want a challenge. thats why they go to gun free zones.
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By FG2_Andrew
#323352 you guys are all missing the bigger picture here.

1. officers in the schools, would have to be paid by the tax payers. most schools anymore cannot afford to keep a part time music or art teacher employed.. so how are they going to afford at LEAST one full time officer?

2. the two recent shootings, Colorado and CT, were executed by the government! they are trying to disarm the people and make everyone scared of guns for a bigger plan they have. you can call me a conspiracy theorist, whatever. it's the truth. no one thinks it's odd that we had 2 MASS shootings so close together, performed by two "mentally ill" men, with assault weapons, and body armour? WAYYYY too many similarities.

3. and as far as protection goes, does that mean that at work, we need an armed officer? every walmart needs its own army?
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By brandoff88
#323356 hehe walmart army...just what we need, a bunch of backwoods rednecks with rifles marching in the name of walmart....this made me lol so much.....thanks for the laugh dude, although this is a series of serious debates, our family owns lots of guns, and the government is just trying to fuck us anyway they can, they are losing control of a country they should NOT be running in the first place...and are trying to trample our god given rights...fuck them, their laws, and the assholes who get paid 100's of 1000's of dollars a year to pick their nose and be stupid...end of my rant...
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By nicksdelslow
#329266 I'm from a small town that had a school officer and he was completely useless in matters if safety. If a fight broke out it took minutes to get from his location to the fight. What's to stop a student or any other individual from having students and teachers trapped in a class room or any other area. If they know they can kill multiple people before help arrives. Even when help arrives the officer has to assess the situation before he can handle it. By then multiple are injured or dead.

If teachers who has proper training and the sense to know when to act is armed and can protect students and save one innocent life. I would rather see one life's spared and a disturbed shooter of any age taken Down then large groups of Children murdered because there was no means of stopping the shooter and just praying he runs out of ammo.
By DarbyGloss
#336270 I don't think it is a good idea. If there are some crazy teacher, what gonna happen? We've heard so many shooting incidents and measures needed to be taken. Maybe install metal detecting door at the entrance and have security guards.
Last edited by DarbyGloss on Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:21 am, edited 1 time in total.