With the fifth anniversary of the Columbine shootings being tomorrow, we're going to hear a lot about gun control, school shootings, ad nauseam, etc. While I don't need to preach to the choir here about why the gun control aspect is wrong, I do want to address something that has become a mantra among those of us in the RKBA movement.
Many of us believe that allowing teachers to carry guns at school would stop a school shooting. But would it?
Given the following:
Number of students enrolled in grades K-12: 45,000,000
Number of teachrs: 2,600,000
Number of schools: 87,000
Number of school districts: 14,883
source: National Association of State Boards of Education at http://www.nasbe.org/Educational_Issues/State_Stats/usa.html
The numbers are a few years old, but that's not important right now.
Even in states with "shall-issue" concealed carry permit laws, less than 5% of the population actually gets a CCW permit.
source: Clayton Cramer and David Kopel
"Shall Issue": The New Wave of Concealed Handgun Permit Laws
Tennessee Law Review, Spring 1995
http://www.claytoncramer.com/shall-issue.html
http://www.davekopel.com/2A/LawRev/ShallIssue.htm
"The fact the permits are available does not mean that everyone will carry a gun. Usually only about 1% to 4% of a state's population will choose to obtain a permit."
1% of 2.6 million = 26,000
2% of 2.6 million = 52,000
3% of 2.6 million = 78,000
3.3% of 2.6 million = 87,000 (average 1 per school)
4% of 2.6 million = 104,000
5% of 2.6 million = 130,000
I'm going to speculate that teachers tend to be more politically liberal and anti-gun than the general population. If so, the number of CCW permits among teachers would be fewer than the general population.
If 3.3% of the teachers get a permit (and actually carry), there would be an average of 1 armed teacher per school. However, the teachers with guns wouldn't be evenly distributed among the nation's 87,000 schools. They would probably be more concentrated in "conservative" areas. Thus, one school with 5 armed teachers would mean that 4 schools wouldn't have any.
Even if teachers with CCW permits were allowed to carry their guns at work, and they actually did, the chances of one being present during a school shooting are probably less than we like to admit.
If one considers that some spree-killers are also suicidal, and therefore wouldn't be deterred by the threat of an armed teacher (or police officer), the picture looks even more dismal.
For information purposes, I'll point out that there are about 670,000 full-time law enforcement officers in the United States.
source:Crime in the United States 2002.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Section VI - Law Enforcement Personnel
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_02/html/web/lawenforcement/lawenforcement.html
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_02/html/web/lawenforcement/06-NC.html
Divided equally among 3 shifts per day, there are about 223,000 LEOs on duty at any given time.
Assigning one LEO per school would require 40% of the available LEOs ( 87,000 / 223,000 = 39% ), leaving 136,000 LEOs available for other duties.
Many of us believe that allowing teachers to carry guns at school would stop a school shooting. But would it?
Given the following:
Number of students enrolled in grades K-12: 45,000,000
Number of teachrs: 2,600,000
Number of schools: 87,000
Number of school districts: 14,883
source: National Association of State Boards of Education at http://www.nasbe.org/Educational_Issues/State_Stats/usa.html
The numbers are a few years old, but that's not important right now.
Even in states with "shall-issue" concealed carry permit laws, less than 5% of the population actually gets a CCW permit.
source: Clayton Cramer and David Kopel
"Shall Issue": The New Wave of Concealed Handgun Permit Laws
Tennessee Law Review, Spring 1995
http://www.claytoncramer.com/shall-issue.html
http://www.davekopel.com/2A/LawRev/ShallIssue.htm
"The fact the permits are available does not mean that everyone will carry a gun. Usually only about 1% to 4% of a state's population will choose to obtain a permit."
1% of 2.6 million = 26,000
2% of 2.6 million = 52,000
3% of 2.6 million = 78,000
3.3% of 2.6 million = 87,000 (average 1 per school)
4% of 2.6 million = 104,000
5% of 2.6 million = 130,000
I'm going to speculate that teachers tend to be more politically liberal and anti-gun than the general population. If so, the number of CCW permits among teachers would be fewer than the general population.
If 3.3% of the teachers get a permit (and actually carry), there would be an average of 1 armed teacher per school. However, the teachers with guns wouldn't be evenly distributed among the nation's 87,000 schools. They would probably be more concentrated in "conservative" areas. Thus, one school with 5 armed teachers would mean that 4 schools wouldn't have any.
Even if teachers with CCW permits were allowed to carry their guns at work, and they actually did, the chances of one being present during a school shooting are probably less than we like to admit.
If one considers that some spree-killers are also suicidal, and therefore wouldn't be deterred by the threat of an armed teacher (or police officer), the picture looks even more dismal.
For information purposes, I'll point out that there are about 670,000 full-time law enforcement officers in the United States.
source:Crime in the United States 2002.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Section VI - Law Enforcement Personnel
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_02/html/web/lawenforcement/lawenforcement.html
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_02/html/web/lawenforcement/06-NC.html
Divided equally among 3 shifts per day, there are about 223,000 LEOs on duty at any given time.
Assigning one LEO per school would require 40% of the available LEOs ( 87,000 / 223,000 = 39% ), leaving 136,000 LEOs available for other duties.