I am a teacher, and I say yes. The principal at my school was recently (April 5th) interviewed on this topic. The video report was on KSTP-tv, Minneapolis. Here is the video link:
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S7495.html?cat=1
I would encourage all of you that feel the same way, to send a note to the Education Minnesota President (she that said the concept is ridiculous). Her e-mail is:
[email protected]
Here is the letter I sent:
--
I am a teacher at Norman County East High School, and also a firearms safety instructor. Your comment on KSTP that it would be "ridiculous" to have some type of an armed presence in schools was indicitive of your naive belief that stern words are all that is needed.
You might not be aware that since the Columbine incident, law enforcement authorities have completely changed their response tactics to such events.
At Columbine there was an officer that arrived on the scene, but he waited for back-up while the rampage continued. Since then, a study has been conducted on the numerous shootings at public locations, whether restaurants, post offices, churches, or other office buildings. The common event that stopped the assaults was the introduction of firearms in the hands of trained people that wanted to stop the assaults.
Clearly, in many instances that meant the police; however, that is not always the case; many times events have stopped due to the intervention of a law abiding concealed weapons permit holder.
In small communities, where an official police response might take many many minutes, the killing time simply continues unabated until someone arrives. Certainly, having some presence in a building to meet the threat earlier would be preferred.
Had the security guards in Red Lake been armed, it is easy to speculate that at most there would have been four deaths (the grandparents, the shooter and perhaps the first security guard); the other six lives could have been saved.
Mr. Lund is not suggesting that all teachers be carrying guns, as there are issues involving training, concealability, retention that that must be considered. However, having some type of armed presence to intervene makes a great deal of sense and should not be summarily dismissed.
To say that the thought is per se ridiculous is not just naive, but I suggest dangerous as well. Safe plans can be created to meet your concerns as well as those that wish to actively protect the students.
I know that in my specific case, if I was in my locked room and an assailant was breaking down the door and entering, I would want to have some means (other than a stern "DON'T DO THAT") at hand to protect the students.
Paul Horvick
NCE Math
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http://kstp.com/article/stories/S7495.html?cat=1
I would encourage all of you that feel the same way, to send a note to the Education Minnesota President (she that said the concept is ridiculous). Her e-mail is:
[email protected]
Here is the letter I sent:
--
I am a teacher at Norman County East High School, and also a firearms safety instructor. Your comment on KSTP that it would be "ridiculous" to have some type of an armed presence in schools was indicitive of your naive belief that stern words are all that is needed.
You might not be aware that since the Columbine incident, law enforcement authorities have completely changed their response tactics to such events.
At Columbine there was an officer that arrived on the scene, but he waited for back-up while the rampage continued. Since then, a study has been conducted on the numerous shootings at public locations, whether restaurants, post offices, churches, or other office buildings. The common event that stopped the assaults was the introduction of firearms in the hands of trained people that wanted to stop the assaults.
Clearly, in many instances that meant the police; however, that is not always the case; many times events have stopped due to the intervention of a law abiding concealed weapons permit holder.
In small communities, where an official police response might take many many minutes, the killing time simply continues unabated until someone arrives. Certainly, having some presence in a building to meet the threat earlier would be preferred.
Had the security guards in Red Lake been armed, it is easy to speculate that at most there would have been four deaths (the grandparents, the shooter and perhaps the first security guard); the other six lives could have been saved.
Mr. Lund is not suggesting that all teachers be carrying guns, as there are issues involving training, concealability, retention that that must be considered. However, having some type of armed presence to intervene makes a great deal of sense and should not be summarily dismissed.
To say that the thought is per se ridiculous is not just naive, but I suggest dangerous as well. Safe plans can be created to meet your concerns as well as those that wish to actively protect the students.
I know that in my specific case, if I was in my locked room and an assailant was breaking down the door and entering, I would want to have some means (other than a stern "DON'T DO THAT") at hand to protect the students.
Paul Horvick
NCE Math
---
state). Here's what I think should happen. Find out who would feel comfortable carrying, and send those people off for weapon retention training for certain, plus anything else to make the socialists feel as warm and fuzzy as they can. Once they return, those folks can now carry in a school, with the caveat that they not become involved in breaking up physical altercations like fistfights, especially at the high school level. Since I'm at an elementary school now, should I need to break up a fight, I can pull the two kids apart with no problems. At a high school, the particpants are near adult levels of strength, and a great deal of force would be needed to restrain them. Now, if the staff member restraining is armed, a firearm has been introduced into a situation where tempers are running hot and the armed person has both hands busy, which sounds horribly unsafe to me. Even though it's my idea, I would disqualify myself from carrying since I have a pretty physical job and it wouldn't be safe for me to carry at work. I would also think that HP ammunition would be mandated since overpenetration in a school is, of course, Bad. The staff should know who is armed without the students knowing, and I think a different color ID tag would suffice. At my school, all staff have to wear an ID tag with our picture. With a few colors to choose from, if a few people have purple(or whatever), it won't stand out and become a "Shoot me First!" sign. Have I forgotten anything? What do you think the greater danger would be, armed students or psychos off the street? At my level, I fear guys off the street way more than armed 4th graders, but that changes as the kids become older, obviously.
but like at Red Lake, they will be the first ones killed. It would be a lot better if you didn't know who was armed and who was not.