School safety

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
If I wanted to shoot a lot of people I'd certainly look for a "gun free zone". I certainly would not want to get shot by an armed citizen.


Considering that most of these folks seem to commit suicide, I sort of doubt that "not getting shot" is really a consideration.


It might be if they want to get the job done.


So define the "job"? I wasnt aware that they were actually on a defined mission, but rather set to get someone, or just to wreak havoc because they are mentally ill.

Originally Posted By: Shannow


If this was really an "argument" then they'd obviously shoot themselves out the front of the school in protest rather than wading in to wreak havoc on innocents while wearing armour, and finally top themselves at the point in which capture was imminent.

In sake of your argument, having a greater presence of armed personnel (security, or otherwise carrying) would only speed up the suicide moment..yet another good thing.


In light of my comment just above, we all know that their intent is to harm others. That IS true. But evidence suggests that nobody is going into this with the intent to harm and "get out". Others do have that intent, think of examples like the DC beltway shooter, completely different scenario. I agree that hitting the suicide moment sooner IS a good thing. But remember again that everybody can say thats good when typing on their keyboard, but when you look at the statistical realities, coupled with the fact that nobody wants to PAY for that capability, its a catch-22.

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
How about this:
Don't change anything. Don't arm teachers, and let whatever happens, happen. More kids die each year from drinking chemicals under the sink than those who died in school shootings.
It's not an epidemic. It's just media driven hysteria.


Yes.

 

[Astro14]

The Federal flight Deck Officer program provides a reasonable template for arming teachers. The pilots who are trained in carrying a weapon in the cockpit are:

1. Volunteers
2. Pass an extensive background check
3. Pass a psychological interview
4. Trained by the Federal government in; use of force, shooting, weapon retention/self defense.

Their identities are not known to the public. They re-qualify with the weapon frequently. To put thousands of armed pilots in the air costs the Federal Government between $10 and $20 million/year. Very inexpensive.

The FFDO program has been in operation for over 10 years. You don't hear about it because it works.

http://www.tsa.gov/about-tsa/federal-flight-deck-officers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Flight_Deck_Officer

The teacher that I referred to in an earlier thread, the one in Arapaho High School whose family was targeted, sure would like to have a similar program in schools...

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
How about this:
Don't change anything. Don't arm teachers, and let whatever happens, happen. More kids die each year from drinking chemicals under the sink than those who died in school shootings.
It's not an epidemic. It's just media driven hysteria.

As horrific as a school shooting is -- and remember, it's a violation of something sacred in addition to a mass murder of innocents -- I have to agree with this.

Arming schools and locking them down pushes them even further from being the kinds of places they should be for our children.

The real problem we should be focusing on is not school shootings, but violence generally.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
The Federal flight Deck Officer program provides a reasonable template for arming teachers. The pilots who are trained in carrying a weapon in the cockpit are:

1. Volunteers
2. Pass an extensive background check
3. Pass a psychological interview
4. Trained by the Federal government in; use of force, shooting, weapon retention/self defense.

Their identities are not known to the public. They re-qualify with the weapon frequently. To put thousands of armed pilots in the air costs the Federal Government between $10 and $20 million/year. Very inexpensive.

The FFDO program has been in operation for over 10 years. You don't hear about it because it works.

http://www.tsa.gov/about-tsa/federal-flight-deck-officers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Flight_Deck_Officer

The teacher that I referred to in an earlier thread, the one in Arapaho High School whose family was targeted, sure would like to have a similar program in schools...


That makes a lot of sense...

However, how mush else is leveraged? Liability associated with anything happening aboard a plane? Other checks for fitness, mental and other capability elements for pilots done by other FAA or business rules? Other things?

Its interesting that a friend of mine was temporarily turned down for coaching kids soccer because someone with the same name (common name) across the country had a felony record. I suspect that all teachers need pretty decent background checks and must be fairly upstanding people with minimal chance of "going postal"...

Youre right, this would be a good model, if for nothing else than some of the seemingly silly rules associated with some prohibitions of carry create much greater risk for stolen weapons which is a far larger public safety issue (since a hundred thousand guns are stolen per year).