President Obama supports legislation banning assault weapons, along with other gun control measures. While I respect the President and our government, I don’t think banning weapons is necessarily the best option.
Timothy McVeigh didn’t use a single firearm in his attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. However, he killed 168 innocent people, and nineteen children under the age of six. On top of those killed, 680 more were injured. Guns are not the problem. Murderers will murder with or without a gun.
Instead of banning guns, what if they were encouraged? In 2007, a school district in Harrold, Texas made a decision which allowed teachers to carry concealed weapons on school grounds to protect students against potential shooters. The superintendent of the school system says that teachers ”need to be here to protect our children. Not four, five minutes or six minutes from now.” He supports the teachers acting as first responders.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, Tennessee is considering training and arming teachers much like the schools in Texas. State Senator Frank Niceley is introducing legislation that would require all schools to have an armed staff member of some kind.
What do y’all think about gun control?
What if these replaced the current “Guns and Knives Prohibited” signs that are currently seen outside of most schools and hospitals?
So, we add First Responder to a teacher’s job description and pay them what? Raise everyone’s salary to the amount they actually deserve for being teachers or just try to fund hazardous duty pay with a bond issue? I think there needs to be discussion and we need to take a second look at what is working, but I suspect politics will mire this issue in the muck without actually DOING a single thing to address the root causes.
True. Oh, of course. That’s what politics is all about.
I don’t agree with guns of any kind, and I think a crackdown should occur. Guns are too easy to have nowadays (in USA anyway) and what is to say a teacher with a gun wouldn’t turn around and be the next murderer, after all, nobody suspected this other chap, anybody could turn? I definitely think guns should be much harder to get instead of easier. Extremely interesting post though! I nominated you for the Liebster Award, and well deserved it is!!
Lorna
I agree with guns completely. We use them for hunting and for recreation. But you do have a point about the teachers being the next possible shooters. Thank you!
I think that adding more guns to the situation will not help anything. In my opinion, schools should be meant for learning, and not for armed protection. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean we shouldn’t protect children (of course we should!), I just mean that we should stop the problem by stopping people with Bad Intentions or Questionable History to get guns. Giving more people guns to stop others with guns won’t solve anything…That would only increase the chaos and potentially cause more deaths.
I respect your opinion, though!
That’s true, but what if it calls for armed protection? Maybe schools are no longer safe. That is true, but gun control is very difficult. There’s a whole underground market for guns, just like for marijuana and meth.
Thank you
I’m always happy when people state their opinions on my blog, especially when they aren’t similar to mine. It gives me something to think about!
Your’re welcome
I love discussing things. What makes me sad is that there is need for us to have armed protection in schools in the first place. No where is safe these days…
I agree. Frankly, if I ever had children, I don’t know where I would even send them to school. I feel like none of the schools in my town are safe, which is a problem.
I live in a rather small tourist town, and we don’t get any of this type of action (thank goodness), but still…If it could happen at an elementary school in a small CT town, then it could happen at my high school.
That’s true.
More guns will not solve the problem, better control is what is needed…I’m in the outback… but will come back to this when I return…
Yes sir, I’d love to hear your opinion.
Gun lobby’s response is always, “How do we use tragedy to sell more guns” and too many people buy it (literally and figuratively).
Sadly, that’s true.