Texas School District Approves Guns for Teachers in Schools

This is a tough one and I'm not too sure just how I feel about it.  The Harrold, Texas Independent School District approved a plan last Friday that would allow teachers to carry a concealed handgun on their person while in school, provided they receive permission from the school and take the Texas state concealed weapons training, as well as crisis management training.  There was no word at this early stage just how many teachers might choose to arm themselves under this plan.

The Harrold system includes about 110 students in all grades.  Part of the justification given for the plan is that the school buildings are 30 minutes from the nearest Sheriff's office, leaving the school out of any reasonably rapid response to an emergency situation.  With the rise in school shooting incidents throughout this country, the Harrold School Board felt a need to provide more security and chose to meet this need with allowing their teachers to arm themselves.

Proponents cite this plan as a "deterrent" to potential student violence as well as creating the ability on site to quell a violent disturbance.  Opponents see all manner of nightmare scenarios, many of which arise from the level of training the teachers will be required to have, which many believe is "not much."  I heard a former Marine Corps MP on talk radio describing the level of training he had just to be issued his .45 pistol to carry out his duties, which, compared to the relatively minimal requirements for a state carry-conceal permit, made a strong argument for the potential for bad outcomes.  Many parents on this same program, however, argued that they would feel safer for their children to attend a more secure school.

I believe in the Second Amendment and the right to own and bear arms, but also believe that freedom has to have some reasonable public safety limitations.  I have previously written here that I would not object to very strict limitations on assault weapons, for example.  Something about this Texas plan for arming teachers just hits me in my gut as being a little too extreme a solution, without looking to other things such as metal-detecting gates at entrances, armed and police-trained security officers on campus, etc. 

I have a Kentucky carry-conceal permit and can attest that in this state holding such a permit in no way assures proficiency with handguns nor the cool head and common sense to properly handle one in a emergency situation.  I doubt Texas is much more stringent, if at all, in issuing such permits to its citizens.  In other words, what I am saying is that this requirement probably means very little.

I think my negative reaction comes from my perhaps naive belief that pistol-packin' teachers is not the atmosphere nor the lesson in which we want our children to learn.  It is tragically disappointing that we have so lost control in this society that we would even have to think about resorting to arming teachers, yet I do realize that this is the sad reality for many American schools.  I'm just not quite ready to go there.  Not yet, anyway.