Non-fiction Draft #3

Response: Should teachers be allowed to carry firearms? 

Texas school district to train teachers carry guns

By TERRY WALLACE Associated Press

DALLAS—A small, mostly rural school district in East Texas will allow some teachers and administrators with training to carry concealed weapons, making it at least the second school system in the state to implement such a policy.

The seven-member board of the Union Grove Independent School District voted unanimously Thursday evening to enact the policy, Superintendent Brian Gray said Friday. Residents asked that faculty and staff be allowed to carry guns after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 dead, including 20 young children.

Would armed staff at Sandy Hook have prevented the shooting?

"We wanted it, our community supported it, and it's a local decision," Gray said.

The district has about 750 students at its two adjoining campuses near Gladewater, about 110 miles east of Dallas.

Officials haven't decided how many faculty and staff members will be trained to carry weapons or whether the district will provide them with guns, Gray said.

Texas law bans guns in schools unless the school has given written authorization.

The Harrold school district, about 160 miles northwest of Dallas, implemented such a policy in 2007. The school board decides which teachers and staff members can carry guns on campus. Those teachers must take additional training on shooting accuracy, hostage situations and how to clear a classroom.

Does Texas law allow people to carry guns in schools?

Since the Newtown shootings, dozens of school superintendents, board members, even state lawmakers from around and outside Texas have been calling David Thweatt, superintendent of the single-campus, 110-student Harrold district.

"We spent a lot of time problem-solving and looking at some of the various situations that have come up" in school settings, he said.  As for the need for incorporating teachers and staff into the security structure of the school, Thweatt said, "it would seem pretty obvious to me."

Opponents insist that having more people armed at a school, especially teachers or administrators who aren't trained to deal with crime on a daily basis, could lead to more injuries and deaths.

Do you agree with the opponents or the proponents of staff members of a school carrying concealed weapons?

The idea of having guns on campus has been gaining momentum in other states. A rural school district in Ohio plans to arm some of its non-teaching employees with handguns this year—perhaps even janitors. Teachers in a northeastern Indiana county may soon be carrying guns in school if officials accept a proposal from the county sheriff. In Texas, the Plano school district has backed a proposal to hire armed security guards to patrol all 71 campuses in suburban Dallas.

Arizona Senate votes to let teachers carry guns

Senate Bill 1325, giving school boards the power to let employees bear concealed weapons on rural school campuses, now moves to the state House.

By Cindy Carcamo, Los Angeles Times

TUCSON — Arizona is advancing legislation that would allow schoolteachers to arm themselves in class.

The proposal cleared the state Senate this week and now heads to the state House.

Several other states have introduced measures to let teachers carry guns. The movement came after the National Rifle Assn. called for such legislation in light of the mass shooting last year in Newtown, Conn., where 20 first-graders were killed.

This month, South Dakota became the first state since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre to pass a law that specifically allows teachers and school employees to carry weapons on campus. Measures in other states have stalled.

What other kinds of laws could be passed in response to Sandy Hook?

In Arizona, SB 1325 would give school boards the ability to allow any employee to bear a concealed handgun, pistol or revolver on campus at rural schools. There are some caveats, however. The school would have to have fewer than 600 students, be more than 20 miles and 30 minutes away from the closest law enforcement facility and not have a school resource officer.

Sen. Rich Crandall, a Republican from Mesa, sponsored the bill, which passed the GOP-dominated Senate on a 17-11 vote Monday. Crandall did not return a call for comment.

It's unclear whether Gov. Jan Brewer, also a Republican, will support the bill. It's been her practice to wait until legislation passes both houses of the Legislature before she indicates whether she'll sign or veto it.

State Senate Minority Leader Leah Landrum Taylor, a Democrat from Phoenix, called the measure irresponsible.

"I think it's a knee-jerk reaction to something that could get us in a lot of trouble — that could further endanger the lives of children — because we don't know the level of responsibility or training that individual would have," Taylor said of the teachers and staff carrying handguns. "For instance, if they misplace it or, God forbid, have to take out the gun and use it for any reason, what is the tactical training? Will they accidentally kill a child in the crossfire?"

Do you side more with the opinions of Republicans or Democrats on SB 1325?

Taylor advocated arming trained school resource officers instead of teachers and other staff.

The bill does set a list of conditions for arming a school employee.

The person would need to possess a valid fingerprint clearance card, have a valid permit to own a gun and attend annual firearm training approved by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. The firearm would need to remain concealed on the employee or stored in a gun locker maintained by the school.

In addition, the school board would have to consider the employee's temperament, personality and — if applicable — reactions to previous crises before giving that person clearance to carry a gun on campus.

Still, Taylor questioned whether a school board would be qualified to make such a determination.

"We're putting a school board in a precarious situation," Taylor said.

Would like you feel less safe or more safe is unknown teachers/school employees were able to carry concealed weapons?  What other measures can be put into effect to make you feel completely safe in schools?