I am curious what insurance companies that cover school districts think about this policy. Do they think this increases liability risk or decreases it?
In gonzomax’s defense, he may be unaware that his “mutually assured destruction” scenario in which every man, woman, and child is armed to the teeth is, in the minds of some, not an absurdly foolish recipe for disaster, but rather a damned sensible idea.
As a teacher in the UK, I don’t think you have a choice. 
Sorry but a campus having one or two cops isn’t going to do squat in a situation like a mass shooting… Virginia Tech had a police force (much more than compared to a typical middle or high school that may have one or two cops) and we all know how that turned out. Furthermore, this is Texas, a state where people have to pass a fairly lengthy training session and competency test before getting a concealed handgun permit. If they can pass the test and legally carry a concealed firearm in other businesses in their day-to-day life, I fail to see the difference if they carry while teaching a class. If anything, they’re going to be *more *careful when in the classroom. I’m also willing to bet those scary colleagues didn’t carry firearms before a law would be passed, nor would they carry one after.
Why does everyone think that a law permitting people to carry a weapon will cause everyone to immediately go out and purchase a gun to carry? It’s like saying legalizing drugs will turn everyone into a junkie. Uhm, no. :dubious:
I imagine that liability rates would go through the frickin’ roof. Firearms, carried by people who are not trained professionals in their use, in a building full of minors? The insurance companies would just love that.
What do you consider a “trained professional”? I know plenty of concealed firearm permit owners who are much more trained and knowledgeable about firearms than many police officers. In Texas, in order to carry a concealed firearm, you must take a 6-8 hour (don’t remember the exact time) training class and shooting test. Granted, it’s not going to make anyone a professional, but I doubt anyone who truly doesn’t know anything about guns is going to rush out and buy one just because a law says they can now.
Ooh, six to eight hours. That’s not enough training for me to trust you with a gun around my kid. When I say trained professional, I’m talking about law enforcement officers and the military–not accountants, software engineers or teachers who happen to have taken a six to eight hour class. Plenty of those folks may have more experience on the gun range than police officers. But plenty more of those probably do not, and there’s no way of telling who with a concealed carry permit fits into which category.
I was under the impression you didn’t care about the expense. After all, the safety of our children is at stake.
Well, not my children…
How is a superintendent going to be any more skilled at preventing something bad from happening than a random teacher with a gun?
Given that nobody can establish with any certainty what makes someone a “trained professional”, I am forced to assume that “trained professional” has now achieved the level of a code word meaning “anybody but you”. Seriously. I have to qualify with my weapons for the Air Force on a set schedule. Between the training and the shooting it takes all of 5 hours every few years. By any objective criteria I am a “trained professional”, yet with my own guns I get in about 10 hours a month. But that doesn’t count because nobody is there to see me shoot? I have the Use of Force Matrix memorized, I get tested on it up to 3 times yearly, and I can state unequivocally that we overkill it. Is that enough to make me a “trained professional”?
The standard of training that people want to see is impossible, even for police officers. The Police Academy is no more or less than a Technical School, the people who wear badges are no more or less professional than anybody else, and just like any other job it is unreasonable to train for everything.
I said nothing about the expense. I want to know if the free market thinks it is good for business. Should we let the free market decide?
How are kids in a school with armed teachers any more at risk than kids out in any place in public where there are hundreds of people carrying licensed concealed handguns? Isn’t a shooting statistically far more likely to happen at a Burger King or a mall or a parking lot or something, than in a school? There are a lot of people with CC permits among the general population so why are your children less safe in a school with armed teachers than in that general population when they’re outside of school?
Again - so much of this is just “guns+children=mental paradox” thinking. Your children are going to be lots of places besides just school.
A school is just another building with people inside it.
Because a teacher works in a school. If you’re wandering around in a public place, you’re probably not going to leave your gun lying around anywhere or get an opportunity to do so. But a teacher works at school all day. The temptation to leave a gun somewhere whilst you go out of the room for a moment, or to stash it in a desk at the front of the class, or to honestly forget about it while dealing with whatever problems a student might have, is significantly stronger.
And i’m impressed once again at your firm belief that anti-gun people in this thread aren’t just wrong, they’re not even thinking properly. Thanks for that.
Indeed you didn’t; just helpfully suggested “securing the campus” but neglected any notions of how exactly to go about this.
Well, keep in mind, colleges and universities are a different scenario. In those cases, the students are adults and should have the right to be armed themselves if they so choose.
I’m not going to go to great lengths to defend primary or secondary school teachers carrying guns; I don’t think it’s very likely to cause any problems (despite the hysteria the very thought seems to invoke in some people), but given that the threat it purports to defend against is pretty damn unlikely in the first place, I can see how some people feel it wouldn’t be necessary.
Making schools into locked down prison-type compounds is not an option anybody should consider seriously, though.
You’d trust a police officer with a gun around your child more than other individuals? I think you overestimate the training police officers undergo. In my experience, police officers are no more responsible with firearms than anybody else. Some of the worst examples of dangerous handling I’ve seen were at the hands of police officers. And not just small incompetent local departments, either; I once had the experience of a sworn officer of a very large city’s police force casually sweeping a loaded handgun across a crowded storefront while he was examining it, with his finger on the goddamn trigger. :eek:
Guns aren’t complicated devices. There is no great amount of knowledge you need in order to handle one safely. What it takes is common sense and responsibility, and police officers are just as human as the rest of us in that category.
OK, then how is a school different from any other place of work? There are lots of places that have desks, and other areas where a gun might be “lying around.” Why is that worse than a school? Because kids aren’t there? Why are kids’ lives more valuable than anyone elses’?
Or now are you going to just say that concealed carry should be banned in ALL workplaces?
They aren’t. But there’s a reason kids aren’t allowed to buy guns themselves. They’re presumed to not be responsible or wise enough to handle looking after one with due care. A place of work is worse than a school because adults are more trustworthy if left in the position of having found a gun. Likewise, since an adult can elect to already get a gun if they want one, they’re less likely to simply take or sneak a gun from another person - a kid has no such means of getting one legitimately.
Nope.
Nice try. Let’s get back to what you commented on; do you think insurance companies will find this a good risk or a bad risk?
Not too long ago, during hunting season, kids used to bring their rifles to school, lock 'em up till end of day, then go shooting. Some places it might still happen. Say, Wyoming or something.
This is why I’m not too upset about something like this in Texas. In a city, not such a good idea. Small town? Meh, maybe it’s a good idea. Cheaper than a cop, teacher is probably someone who knows how to handle a gun. I’m not going to say better than nothing, but different than nothing, and maybe better.
Again, if these schools are the kinds of places where people FEEL the need to bring a gun, then there’s something wrong with these schools to begin with.