On armed teachers and guns in schools...

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

So there is much debate about what can be done now (immediately). Some have advocated putting cops in schools ($$$) and others have stated to arm teachers (crazy). Are there any other proposals aimed at the immediate curbing of gun violence in our schools?

Cops in schools would be crazy expensive. There are alot of schools and no clear way to fund such a measure. And I don't think many teachers want to be armed, nor do I think people want some random teacher with a carry permit toting a gun in a school full of children. So I had a thought...

What if school districts allowed teachers or other school staff who wanted to volunteer to enroll in Sheriff Deputy Reserve or Police Deputy Reserve to carry a firearm? No mandates, 100% voluntary. A deputy reserve is not full time Law enforcement officer but rather they have normal full time citizen jobs and are called to duty as needed. Typically their private job is useful to the department and serves the department in a time of needing someone with those special skills (doctor, nurses, technicians, outdoorsmen, mariners, divers, etc). Think of a deputy reserve officer like you would consider a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner in baseball.

Having some school staff who volunteer as deputy reservists would differ from your garden variety gun-toter in several ways:

A) A Deputy Reserve is a sworn-in law enforcement officer.
B) They have real police training, qualification and examination.
C) They can be certified to carry a firearm anywhere a regular law enforcement officer can.
D) They can actually arrest people anytime and carry weight of law.

Any other thoughts on possible steps aimed at immediately reducing deaths from gun violence in our schools?

[Buzz Clik]

1. I really, really don't want any guns in schools. None.

[quinnox]

2. I'd prefer an intense new focus on gun control and new laws

and regulations rather than talk about bringing instruments of death into schools with children. I would be nervous if I was a parent and I heard a school had people with guns walking around. Guns can be lost, or taken from people and used against them or others in the vicinity.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

4. I understand - but traditional gun ontrol is not immediate. Looking for immediate solutions here.

Given the media frenzy surrounding school shootings, any crazed gunmen KNOW the best way to be seen and heard by mass media is to shoot up a school. There are 300,000,000+ guns out there. Gun control, no matter how aggressive can un-proliferate 200 years of firearm proliferation ANYTIME soon.

I agree Gun control if fine to pursue, but it won't help our problems today.
Gun control is a separate issue altogether from what I'm trying to discuss in this thread.

[HockeyMom]

3. Who would do this?

I worked in Collier County, Florida, which had Armed Deputies in the schools. Judging from what these Deputies looked like, I doubt very many teachers, or school staff, would ever pass the physical. The woman in one school I worked in with ED 5th grade boys had to be about 6 feet and around 175 lbs. We called her many times in "situations". Training in using a gun? lol She was very well trained in "talking down" potential violent situations. I never saw her pull her gun.

School staff would have to go through THIS training also to be a Deputy besides passing the physical requirements.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

6. But school staff would not HAVE to go through any such training.

This would be 100% voluntary. I think forcing the armament of schools is a TERRIBLE idea. The school staffer would not have to personally WANT to do do it but also be able to pass the rigors of law enforcement training in their own spare time. Some schools may end up with a few participants in such a program and other schools might not have any. But it gives QUALIFIED teachers with the desire to be PROPERLY trained a chance to do so.

IMO, if one has no problem with a police officer keeping their sidearm when on school grounds, then this proposal is no different. The persons the OP proposes may be allowed to carry ARE sworn-in and trained police officers. Just an idea I had.

[mokawanis]

5. It's better than just arming teachers who don't have much training with firearms

I still have a hard time accepting the idea of anyone walking around a school with a gun, but the additional and more extensive training required to become a Deputy Reserve would probably decrease the odds of things going horribly wrong in a crisis.

It's an idea worth discussing, so I'm interested in seeing how other DU'ers respond.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

7. Perhaps they don't need to walk around with it or keep it on their persons.

Perhaps a small Biometric safe/lockbox or similarly VERY secure method that sits in a locked drawer. Maybe such a lockbox/safe could be placed in an administrator's office where students don't typically visit/reside. I think there are reasonable solutions for securing a firearm from even determined students.

I don't know, I'm just sort of spitballing this idea here. So far, I don't see a downside.

[kenny blankenship]

8. How about some guard towers with snipers?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

10. How about some rational discussion and lack of thread derail? nt

[Recursion]

9. This is like worrying about lightning and ignoring traffic accidents

We can speculate about mass shooting scenarios and what would and wouldn't stop them until we're blue in the face, and we're still missing the significantly worse problem of one student shooting another student over a personal or group conflict. Teachers and police should be involved in that, but whether they are armed is neither here nor there; it's about outreach and intervention.

Any gun in a school is a net safety risk, but not really enough of one to freak out about, but either way it distracts us from the fact that people randomly shooting up classrooms isn't the actual problem with 99.99% of school violence.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

11. Agreed. This isn't a solutoin to STOP he random shooting up of classrooms.

But I do think reactionary methods can save lives by mitigating victims with more rapid response when outreach and intervention fail to prevent some incidents.

Gun violence is a complex problem and needs a multifaceted approach if we hope to tackle it.