{"id":321,"date":"2013-01-05T10:00:41","date_gmt":"2013-01-05T15:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.townehouse.net\/phoenix\/?p=321"},"modified":"2015-10-05T14:47:02","modified_gmt":"2015-10-05T18:47:02","slug":"teachers-with-guns-the-sequel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=321","title":{"rendered":"Teachers With Guns – The Sequel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Keep<\/a>School should be a safe place. \u00a0Children should not be afraid to go to school, and we\u00a0should\u00a0not be afraid to send our children to school. \u00a0Last week’s Blog Post, Teachers With Guns<\/a> seems to have stirred a few emotions.\u00a0 The point of the article was to comment on our need for improved security in our schools.\u00a0 Several items were offered as a method of improving security but it seems what most saw was the idea of teachers carrying guns.\u00a0 Of course, the title of the article may have drawn their focus to this concept but the other ideas were mostly ignored.\u00a0 Although the idea of teachers with guns was debated in the comments section, I feel further\u00a0\u00a0 discussion is warranted.\u00a0 The debate centered on whether is was better to arm the teachers or better to outlaw guns.\u00a0 Probably we should do both, but let us discuss it further.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Several objections were given as to why teachers should not be armed.\u00a0 Among them was a concern that teacher armed with a weapon would frighten the children.\u00a0 Having known a lot of children in my life, and having actually been one for a while, I think most children would think it was pretty cool.\u00a0 During my years as a police officer I encountered children on a regular basis.\u00a0 Their attention was always drawn to my sidearm and I was asked many questions about it, but never do I recall any of them appearing frightened by the site of my pistol.\u00a0 Not only do I think it would not frighten the children, I think that in very short order it would become common place and go unnoticed.\u00a0 Of course, there is an assumption the gun would be visible.\u00a0 The gun could be carried concealed and therefore out of sight, out of mind.<\/p>\n

Another concern was the security of the weapon.\u00a0 I would not expect the teacher to enter the classroom, greet the children, place the handgun on the desk and turn to the blackboard, all the while little Johnny is stealthily sneaking forward in a covert attempt to gain control of the weapon.\u00a0 The gun should always be under the full control of the teacher and if at times circumstances prevent the teacher from having the gun on their person, for a nominal fee gun safes could be installed in each classroom.\u00a0 I carried a concealed weapon for many years and I know from experience that it is not that difficult to carry or to conceal.\u00a0 I think this concern is a non issue.<\/p>\n

One final point, the discussion of arming our teachers versus outlawing guns.\u00a0 Both are a good idea and we should do both.\u00a0 Teachers can be tr trained and armed with\u00a0 much greater expediency that we can \u00a0expect our legislators to pass laws regarding outlawing various types of weapons and ammunition.\u00a0 They will endlessly debate the size of the magazine, the caliber of the ammunition, automatic versus semi-automatic, who can buy and what they can buy ad infinitum<\/em>.\u00a0 Incidents like Sandy Hook illustrate the immediacy of the situation, we cannot afford to wait on the legislatures.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course there is the age-old argument that outlawing guns does not take the guns away from outlaws.\u00a0 As tired and worn-out as the cliche is, it is still true. Illegal drugs are still sold each day.\u00a0 Illegal guns are sold everyday.\u00a0 Addition to the list of weapons that are illegal will only add to the inventory of the illegal gun dealer.\u00a0 The only thing definite about making guns illegal is that it will make guns illegal.\u00a0 Nothing more.\u00a0 Making them illegal will not make them go away!<\/p>\n

If we arm our teachers and save a child’s life, it is worth it.\u00a0 If we arm our teachers and discourage one person from entering a school and massacring children, it is worth it.\u00a0 Let us arm them, let us make it well known that they are armed, and if some misguided individual chooses to commit “suicide by teacher” so be it. We owe it to our children to provide them this security. \u00a0If we won’t protect them, who will?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

School should be a safe place. \u00a0Children should not be afraid to go to school, and we\u00a0should\u00a0not be afraid to send our children to school. \u00a0Last week’s Blog Post, Teachers With Guns seems to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_daextrevo_audio_file_creation_date":"","_daextrevo_text_to_speech":"","_daextrevo_document_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/THFI.png?fit=214%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":309,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=309","url_meta":{"origin":321,"position":0},"title":"Teachers With Guns!","author":"Tom Lind","date":"December 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It is in the news. It is on our minds. We talk about it at work and we talk about it at home. And we are all so glad it did not happen to us. I am, of course, talking about random, unexplained violence, the most recent being the massacre\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"Teachers and Guns","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/images.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":339,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=339","url_meta":{"origin":321,"position":1},"title":"Teachers With Guns – The Prequel","author":"Tom Lind","date":"January 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The debate contains on gun control. The president has signed executive orders. Politicians are trying to decide what weapons to ban, what ammunition to ban, what size magazine should be legal, and our children remain in jeopardy. Once the debating is over and the legislators begin drafting laws we will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Opinion"","block_context":{"text":"Opinion","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"We need immediate solutions","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/ss-linkedin-answers-quora-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11790,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=11790","url_meta":{"origin":321,"position":2},"title":"Stupid Free Zones","author":"Tom Lind","date":"October 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Once again the country is reeling from the horror of yet another school shooting. This time on\u00a0a university in Oregon where ten were killed and seven more wounded in a killing spree by Chris Harper-Mercer at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. This despicable and cowardly act took place\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/download.jpg?fit=644%2C428&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/download.jpg?fit=644%2C428&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/download.jpg?fit=644%2C428&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12064,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=12064","url_meta":{"origin":321,"position":3},"title":"It\u2019s Not the Guns!","author":"Tom Lind","date":"June 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Every time there is a mass shooting incident in this country I brace myself. I know what is coming and I know I am going to get upset. I try to prepare myself but all the preparations I make do not seem to help. 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