Arizona Attorney General proposes arming school employees

Fox News ^ | December 27, 2012 | FoxNews

[Ron C.]

Arizona's Attorney General has proposed a program to train one person at each school in the state to use a firearm in an effort to minimize the risk of a repetition of the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

Tom Horne introduced a proposal Wednesday that would allow a school principal or designated staff member to have access to a secured firearm on school grounds and receive training in the use of firearms and emergency management.

The attorney general said in a press release that at least three Arizona sheriffs have endorsed the proposal and other sheriffs are considering participating in the program.

Horne said the state's budget constraints resulted in the legislature reducing funding for school resource officers assigned to schools throughout the state. The ideal situation, he said, would be to have an armed officer in each school.

[Ron C.]

"a lot of unhinged teachers"

Yes indeed. The teachers of today aren't anywhere near the quality of those I grew up with. "Thorough background check including psychological screening" should be included in places like Los Angeles, that is certain! LOL

[T-Bird45]

Absolutely agree that more than one should be trained as well as dropping the “criminal empowerment zone” around schools. That way, any time a parent drops by there is no need to disarm or park off-property and they become another “sheepdog” that an evil perp cannot account for in his nefarious plan.

[Venturer]

Hey Rube used to work for the Carnies.

[Ron C.]

"School Marshalls or special Sheriff deputies"

The price of that stops it in most city budgets these days - and the liberals cry for total disarming of the public (a stupid idea that will never happen.)

And, yes, I know several teachers who are indeed 'a couple of bricks shy of a load' - frightened to death at even the sight of a gun.

So perhaps in some places volunteering retired police, sheriffs, etc. might be a logical alternative, as mentioned above.

[DoughtyOne]

In this instance, I’m not quite sure who “Rube” is.

[chulaivn66]

In all seriousness there is no need to ‘call out the militia’ in the proper use of the phrase. The ranks of the staff at schools are already populated by knowledgable firearms owners and hunters who are well aware of what they are about and prepared to act in defense of their charges. Overcoming the mindset prevalent in the educational system to afford the presence of defensive arms will be the major hurdle to jump for thinking people. The ‘gun shy’ will be the end of us all if their opinions and ungrounded fears hold sway.

I open carry ninety-nine percent of the time for the express purpose of innoculating as many people as I am able to the disease of hoplophobia. Truly, to know me is to love me.

Cheers.

[Ron C.]

"I know of many fellow teachers who would prefer to be armed."

Proper training should allow that - let's just hope that it happens. The pressure is on right now, so maybe it will.

[HP8753]

"Secured Firearm" ????? The way the nutjob in CT came in and the way he was armed still would have resulted in many dead before some teacher was able to run to the Principals office and open any gun safe.

Any Teachers qualified to carry should be carrying.

Another good idea would be to have good steel doors with bullet proof glass on the classrooms.

[Ron C.]

hoplophobia - I had forgotten that term. Fear of tools, guns, weapons in general - here's a link to the root hoplon

[Ron C.]

Agree completely! A 'secured firearm' is useless.

The only way he could have been stopped was if someone armed saw him enter - and fired first. But, in that and most other schools there is currently almost no chance of that happening, unfortunately.

Auto-lock-down of all classroom doors and an audible alarm sounding if an outside door is breached might help - for a few moments.

In all practicality, future public knowledge that armed personnel are present in all schools might not even help in some cases. But, just the fact that schools are arming teachers and staff will be a far better deterrent than we've had in most places.

[Hardastarboard]

There are a lot of unhinged teachers at the local high schools.

Interesting. I was talking to a teacher I know, and he said the same thing.

I suspect that how this will ultimately play out is that the states that arm their teachers will experience few or no attacks. That will lead liberals, using their fun house mirror logic, to say "See - arming teachers didn't work. There haven't been any attacks. We don't need armed teachers."

[WalterSkinner]

..you’re right on the union thing Doughty

[SandRat]

I agree. At the start of each year the each individual in the team should be introduced, in person, to the parents and to the kids as well.

[pfflier]

Most are already trained by association, being former police officers, some are active deputy sherriffs and some are veterans. They already know the fundamentals of firearms safety and operation.

Training for them is very simple, understanding the ROEs in a school environment. They could be deployed within days.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I would take this a step beyond that. Not only should teachers and administrators be permitted arms on the job, but schools should hire *disabled veterans* as security officers.

The reason I believe this is the way to go is because it was done back in the late 1970s. A high school had student cliques that were showing signs of racial animosity, so the principal hired a disabled Vietnam Veteran (hearing aids) to keep the peace.

This quickly ended the student clique problem, but then it turned out the security guy was soon intercepting adults who were coming onto the open campus to make trouble—a previously unknown problem.

Within a few years, he had an additional three disabled veterans working for him, though he was the only one armed. And they kept very busy stopping all kinds of mischief, at sporting events, preventing car break ins and bicycle thefts in the parking lot, and pinpointing any illegal drug use. And students quickly learned “no fighting” on school property, because these four men did not mess around.

Last but not least as decorated combat vets, they were naturals as role models.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks WalterSkinner.

[DoughtyOne]

You know, I sympathize with the thoughts behind that view, but I will admit to wondering if it wouldn’t be best to let the students think all teachers were carrying especially in troubled high schools.

Let some of the hard cases wonder...

[M-cubed]

and another added benefit is a the perp wouldn’t know which teacher is armed....as opposed to the uniformed guard at the front door that only serves as the 1st victim and gets the adrenalin flowing for the killer...

[Carry_Okie]

From the article, it appears that only Utah has it right... arm school teachers, and any other school employee that wants to be able to defend themselves and their students.

That is correct. The training would do a lot to drive a wedge in the teachers' minds between the lies they've been told and the truth as they are trained, making them better teachers.

Now, to get it REALLY right, the school districts should put a premium on hiring teachers with military combat experience.

[cb]

I haven't seen anyone tumble to the real reason the libs oppose guns in school. It totally goes against the narrative that guns are inherently evil.

If kids thought that guns were being used to protect them they might get the idea that they are a force for good and they need one too. Can't have that. They want to raise kids that don't even want to be in the same room with any gun!