lets examine this a bit more closely.
For as long as I been on Free Republic I have heard the mantra that "ALL" public school employees are money grubbing, gun hating liberal, union thugs, too stupid to hold real jobs, that engage in serial child abuse. (Let me know if I left any thing off)
There have been threads recently comparing public schools to prisons and now it is suddenly okay to arm these miscreant dregs of society to save the lives of children!
In early March of 1999, right after Columbine several other teachers and myself were approached about being armed at our school during the day. Each of us had CCW permits, either military and /or security training. We met with the building principal, Asst. Superintendent and Superintendent.
The very first question we asked was "What about liability, and how will we be covered?"
Now keep this in mind: I AM NOT OPPOSED TO THIS IDEA, I JUST THINK SOME QUESTIONS NEED TO BE ANSWERED FIRST.
1) Liability insurance: Will this be provided by the district, union (if there is one), employee?
2) Training: Who will provide it? Who will pay for it (See #1)? Who will be required to attend? What constitutes successful completion of training? How often will they be required to re certify and who will pay for the re certification (see#1)? What about the building official that just can't bear the idea of carrying a weapon, much less in school? Should that person be fired, demoted, replaced, transferred, lose their credentials?
3) Weapons: What will they carry? Who decides what they will carry? Will they carry concealed or open? Will the have the option of long arms? What capacity magazine? Who pays for the weapon and ammunition (see #1)? Where will the weapons be stored? How will they be stored? Who will have access to them?
These are jsut a few question right off the top of my head.
Remember: I AM NOT OPPOSED TO THIS IDEA, I JUST THINK SOME QUESTIONS NEED TO BE ANSWERED FIRST.
Metmom you might want to put this on your ARTH ping list.
Regarding insurance the issue of indemnification is just as important.
Insurance has limits, exclusions and all sorts of subrogation issues. Whose insurance is primary and will you have to sue your district to be defended by their carrier?
Stopping a killer is primary but governmental bodies don’t like to share their protections.
I was only referring to the issue of guns.
Principals and teachers, etc, have the right to defend themselves and be armed. That is my only point.
The idea of putting POLICE there instead of allowing individuals their constitutional rights is the wrong message for those kids.
Overall, I’d like to abolish government schools, of course.
I respectfully request that you not ping me or send private mail to me. Please feel free to comment as you like on my posts or threads, even using my name, but, please, no contact.
Politely and respectfully,
wintertime