I heard a story this morning that I was immediately objected to from the beginning. Then the callers who called in, just reaffirmed my belief. So, apparently in Harrold, Texas, along the northern Texas border, the superintendent thought it would be a good idea to allow teacher’s carry guns to school for this upcoming school term that is about to start in less than a month. At first this sounds like a good idea right? Prevent another Columbine, put down a shooter before they can go on a killing spree…sure, there are positives, but I think the negaives outweigh them. Feel free to disagree with me, but at least hear me out.
The way it is right now, there are tons of public schools that have guards, metal detectors, 24/7 security and still kids are able to get guns into school easily. They will drive by the edge of the practice field, and throw a gun under a ragged part of the fence, then retrieve it later during a free period or phys ed, so guns still do get into the schools, regardless of security measures. In high security schools, guns are found/taken away from students on a weekly basis. So, now that the students know the teachers are armed, it is a fair fight now, right? Whereas before, a student too gutless to shoot someone outright, now has a reason to shoot their teacher that makes them feel justified. They have a gun, why can’t I? Yes, that is an immature attitude, but we’re talking about 12-18year olds here, so immaturity is a big factor. Kids these days are always looking for the easy out. Giving teacher’s guns is not only an easy excuse, “Well, he threatened me with it” (lawsuit over a threat)…great, just one more thing teachers need to have thrown in their face and made to look bad or discredit them. Ok, onto point #2…who is more physically agile, and capable? A 40yr old teacher or a 16year old punk kid? I mean, police officers go through rigorous training on how to protect their firearm and not let a suspect get hold of it, but then you have a partner to back you up, radio to call for help, mace if you need to use it, baton if you need to use it…but in a classroom, there’s one popular kid that the other kids look up to, he goes for the gun, gets it, and now the teacher has no form of retaliation, communication or weapon otherwise. Do you think the other kids are gonna stop him? No, it’s the teacher’s job to control the classroom, but this teacher just offered an easy way for one kid to gain control. Think about it…are we going to eliminate chalk and dry erase boards? Because when the teacher would never be able to have their back turned. A kid in the front row could get their firearm from a holster in less than two seconds. By giving teacher’s firearms, we are not scaring the students into submission, but rather giving them amunition for excuses, easier confrontation and more courage to stand-up to authority.
Point number three: Imagine a shooter is on the loose in the school. Now you have one kid with a pistol, and 50 teachers with pistols walking around…each concrete corners of the hallway is blind, so you gotta do one of those quick wrap around moves with your gun pointing straight as soon as you come around the corner…and in that instant, you see someone at the end of the hall doing the same thing you are doing, pointing a gun at you, so you fire in that instant thinking you got the shooter…but it was just another teacher. Great.
Finally, who is reponsible if something like that happens? The school’s superintendent ok’d this new policy, should he be thrown in jail? Does the ISD get fine and a slap on the wrist? Is that what someone’s life is going to be worth? Because you know, it’s “policy”, there’s “nothing we can do about it”. That is what we are going to hear when something tragic happens because you have a lot of vigilantes running around a school with loaded weapons. I don’t know about you, but I can’t be the one to tell some kid’s parents that I shot him because I “thought” he was the shooter. “Well, he was running away from me down a hall, and wouldn’t stop when I yelled ‘STOP’, so I took the shot”…well of course… he thought YOU were the shooter. I don’t think people realize how much confusion there is in one of these situations. I mean in columbine it wasn’t until 30 or 40 were already dead that we actually knew who the shooters were. You think inside a big school, with bling corners everywhere, that when 50 teachers are walking around with guns one of them isn’t going to shoot another teacher?
I believe we instill more trust, and incite less violence when we ourselves who that we do not need to suit up with armor and arms for daily activites. How much more can we separate ourselves from children? Is this really a good thing like so many of the callers yelled that it was right off the bat, before they even thought about it? Of course, every caller had a thick Texan accent and used stupid sayings like, “I believe ‘gun control’ means holding the gun with two hands”…like, come on.
Tags: gun, gun control, gun in schools, guns, teachers, teachers with guns, texas public schools