Texas School District Will Let Teachers Carry Guns

[silencertalk]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,404721,00.html

Texas School District Will Let Teachers Carry Guns

Friday, August 15, 2008



A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to pass a law specifically allowing teachers and staff to pack heat when classes begin later this month.

Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements.

Superintendent David Thweatt told FOXNews.com the policy was initiated because of safety concerns.

"We have had employees assaulted before by people in the last several years," Thweatt said. "I think that safety is big concern. We are seeing a lot of anger in society."

He wouldn't comment further on the nature of the assaults.

The Texas superintendent linked gun-free zones with the uprising of school shootings in recent years.

"When you make schools gun-free zones, it's like inviting people to come in and take advantage," Thweatt told FOXNews.com.

In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations and must use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls.

Thweatt said the small community is a 30-minute drive from the sheriff's office, leaving students and teachers without protection. He said the district's lone campus sits 500 feet from heavily trafficked U.S. 287, which could make it a target.

The kindergarten through 12th grade school district is home to 110 students.

Thweatt said officials researched the policy and considered other options for about a year before approving the policy change. He said the district also has various other security measures in place to prevent a school shooting.

"The naysayers think [a shooting] won't happen here," Thweatt said. "If something were to happen here, I'd much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them."

He told FOXNews.com he doesn't think students will think twice about the new policy.

"I hope they forget all about it," he said. "We want them to pay attention [to their school work]."

Texas law outlaws firearms on school campuses "unless pursuant to the written regulations or written authorization of the institution."

While the district's plan shot them into the national spotlight, carrying guns to school is nothing new some states. In Utah, the law allows anyone with a permit to carry a gun in public schools and state institutions of higher education.

It was unclear how many of the 50 or so teachers and staff members will be armed this fall because Thweatt did not disclose that information, to keep it from students or potential attackers.

Wilbarger County Sheriff Larry Lee did not immediately return a call placed to his office by FOXNews.com.

Barbara Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of School Boards, said her organization did not know of another district with such a policy. Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based school security expert who advises districts nationwide, including in Texas, said Harrold is the first district with such a policy.

The district is 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth on the eastern end of Wilbarger County, near the Oklahoma border.

[ArevaloSOCOM]

EXCELLENT.

[Conqueror]

Bravo for them having the cojones to do the right thing even when it is unpopular in the media circus. I predict zero problems with this policy.

[karmapolice]

awesome hope the idea spreads like wild fire.

[.357sigger]

awesome hope the idea spreads like wild fire.

+ 1,000,000

[MicroGuy]

Hell yeah and another +100,000 for having the onions to do it!


The only issue is they're probably so small, they probably don't have anything to worry about in the first place.

We need an inner city school to do this.

(or ANY school where the kids are on anti-depressants)

[hoss]

The only issue is they're probably so small, they probably don't have anything to worry about in the first place.

I am sure the Amish school where shootings took place earlier this year never considered such a problem either.

[Hush]

Damn, some common sense for a change. Now thats refreshing.

[silencertalk]

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.h ... 42,00.html

[Ben B.]

Probably will never be an issue, but I'd be curious how the actual training goes. By requiring the teachers to get the TX CHL first, at least it winnows out more goofballs.

I wasn't enthused on arming as many commercial flight officers as possible, either.

[jupiterdraft]

And to think, FOX actually ran that report....


Well good for them. Even if they only arm 2 teachers, as long as nobody knows who and how many, you have to assume everyone that is capable of being armed is. A good psychological deterrent as well.

Maybe more schools should simply make similar announcements. I am sure there will always be some yoakle out there that wants to test the waters, but I suspect that most people wouldn't.

[karmapolice]

lady on the interview is a joke

[ArevaloSOCOM]

By Mark Finkelstein
Created 2008-08-19 08:32

If your child's school were invaded by Columbine-style killers, methodically murdering students in cold blood, would you want teachers to shoot to stop them? Gayle Fallon wouldn't. For that matter, Fallon doesn't think teachers "have it in them" to even try to save their students' lives. Fallon, the president of a teachers union in Houston, TX, made her views known during an Early Show segment this morning conducted by Harry Smith.

HARRY SMITH: Gayle, when you first heard about this, what was your reaction?

GAYLE FALLON: Initially I thought it was a joke. However, after a couple of media calls, we realized it wasn't and we were asked whether our district would consider it, and it was absolutely no way would we consider it. One of the things that hit me is, you know, Columbine and the other incidents were generally initiated by students. Now, I've been around teachers a long time. They don't have it in them to aim at a student and kill him. They'll freeze. Nor would I want them to.

View video here [1]. newsbusters.org/static/2008/08/2008-08-19CBSES.wmv

Update: MRC News Analyst Kyle Drennen provided a full transcript of the segment:

7:01AM TEASER:

HARRY SMITH: Plus, a controversial decision by a Texas school district. It has decided to allow teachers to carry guns into the classroom. Will this prevent violence? We'll have a debate, coming up.

7:13AM TEASER:

JULIE CHEN: Also, teachers carrying guns into the classroom. Will it prevent the next Columbine or Virginia Tech. The superintendent in Texas thinks so. We'll talk to him.

7:30AM TEASER:

SMITH: Still ahead this morning, a school district in Texas is the first in the nation to let teachers carry guns. We're going to have a debate with the school superintendent and the president of the Houston Federation of Teachers.

7:33AM SEGMENT:

HARRY SMITH: A rural Texas school district has made a decision that appears to be the first of its kind in the country. Teachers are now permitted to carry guns. Harrold, Texas is located near the border with Oklahoma. Joining us is the District Superintendent, David Thweatt, and Gayle Fallon, President of Houston Federation of Teachers is also with us this morning. Good morning to you both.

[GRAPHIC ON SCREEN: School Safety Gone Too Far? Texas District Allows Teachers to Carry Guns In School.]

GAYLE FALLON: Good morning.

DAVID THWEATT: Good morning, Harry.

SMITH: Mr. Thweatt, let me start with you. What made you decide to try and get this passed through your school board and why did you think this was a good idea?

DAVID THWEATT: Well Harry, we're looking at all the issues surrounding school violence, anything, starting with Columbine all the way up to the Pennsylvania shootings. And we started looking at state-of-the-art security, which we installed. And then we found that that was not good enough because we had a problem with being next to a 287 road north of us. And we're right 500 miles -- 500 feet off of that particular road. And then on top of that, we're about 30 minutes from law enforcement. And we started asking hard questions. What's going to happen when we get an active shooter into our school? And that's the reason we decided to go in this direction.

SMITH: Let me ask you this, are the weapons of the teachers, are they concealed, are they holstered? How -- how are they carried in the school?

THWEATT: Yeah, there are several components of this. They are concealed. They do have to be approved by our school board. And then they have to undergo extensive safety training and other training in hostage situations, et cetera, before we've installed this.

SMITH: Okay. Alright, Gayle, when you heard about this, what was your reaction?

FALLON: Initially, I thought it was a joke. However, after a couple of media calls we realized that it wasn't and we were asked would our district consider it. And it was absolutely no way would we consider it. One of the things that hit me is, you know, Columbine and the other incidents were generally initiated by students. Now, I've been around teachers a long time. They don't have it in them to aim at a student and kill them. They'll freeze.

SMITH: And-

FALLON: And nor would I want them to.

SMITH: Right. Mr. Thweatt, I guess when looking at this, and I want to be as serious as possible, what kinds of scenario are you imagining that your teachers might be called into actually using these arms, or do you just think perhaps folks knowing that they have arms in the school may be a preventive measure in and of itself?

THWEATT: I think it would, Harry. And because any time we've looked at these school shootings they've occurred after we've designated schools across the nation as gun-free zones. The people who are going into these situations are evil. I'm not going to be politically correct on this. I don't care what their problems were. They've gone in and killed children. And if they come into our school, they are going to meet resistance. And I think if we did have some resistance in our schools, these crackpots or whoever they are would stop going into them.

SMITH: Alright, Miss. Fallon, real quickly. Just, if someone -- if you woke up tomorrow and found out that Houston were going to allow teachers to carry guns in the schools, what would you do?

FALLON: We would elect a new school board immediately. I think what's going to happen, there is a loophole in the law that's allowed this. But our legislature meets in January. And the legislators I've talked with said they're going to plugging that loophole.

SMITH: Alright, we got to go for now. David Theatt, Gayle Fallon, thanks very much for your time this morning. Do appreciate it.

THWEATT: Thanks, Harry.

SMITH: You bet.

[Ben B.]

Another version of the "They'll just take it away from you and use it against you" drivel. Too bad Harry the pussified metrosexual didn't ask her if it was the right thing to use such force against attackers.

[Smalldog]

A small victory for the good guys.

[Blaubart]

FALLON: Now, I've been around teachers a long time. They don't have it in them to aim at a student and kill them. They'll freeze.

Depends on which student it was doing the shooting. There are students in every school that many of the teachers, as liberal as they may be, would welcome an opportunity to legally put a hole in their head.