School shooting. Is it time for armed security on all campuses?
The school shooting at an elementary school in CT yesterday is particularly unsettling to me, as I work at an elementary school and most of my day is spent in the Kindergarten classrooms working with 5 and 6 years olds. I am not, however, one of those who are saying that something like this happening is "unfathomable". I'm probably viewed as being a little on the paranoid side among my peers because I always jump to the extreme when anything seems a little off kilter.
For example, a few weeks ago I heard office staff talking on the radio that the overhead system (speakers) weren't working for some reason and I immediately grabbed a few extra radios and passed them out to teachers saying, "keep this on your person until the overhead gets fixed", some looked at me perplexed until I explained, "What if somebody's tampered with our speaker system? If something crazy happens we won't be able to communicate...call me nuts I don't care just take a friggin' radio!" I got different reactions from them. Some were surprised with my train of thought and others were appreciative of my preparedness. The speaker system was quickly fixed and all was well.
Maybe I am being extreme, but when I see kids on the playground, or sitting in a classroom, it has crossed my mind that 'if some lunatic wanted to cause chaos here it could be easily done', but let's face it because it's true...as we have just seen, once again. I was at a Christmas dinner last night with my book club friends (almost all teachers) and eventually the school shooting topic did come up, although we had vowed to avoid it for the evening because it is so upsetting. We didn't talk about it for too long, but we quickly came to the conclusion that there is no real way to make a school "totally secure" from an intruder if someone is so inclined to intrude.
Sure, there are certain "security" measures in place, enforcing them is a priority, keeping the kids safe at all times is paramount (even to the extreme of not letting children 'chase' each other on the playground to avoid injuries...and I could write a book about all the bloody noses and head lumps that result from this practically daily because enforcing the "no chasing" rule on a playground with 90 kindergartners is just as difficult as maintaining a "secure school"...you do your best, but if they're inclined to chase, they're going to chase...they're 5 year olds and that's what they want to do).
I've been thinking about school security a lot this morning, watching the news etc. and the topic of having an armed security officer/cop on every campus has been brought up. (Gun control has also been brought up, but being a gun enthusiast and freedom lover and a believer in having a right to defend myself and my family I do not believe that adding more gun laws to the books will do a damned thing to stop lunacy.) So I'm wondering... is it time to privatize schools and add an armed officer to each campus? Or should some charter schools pop up offering this service on campus, giving parents a choice of sending their children to schools where they think their kids will be as safe as possible?
Sure, some parents would opt to not have their kids attend a school where there is a gun present ANY where on campus, even if it's holstered on a hip of a trained law enforcement officer and that's their choice to do so, but is it time to do this? Would public schools ever offer this? (I'm sure the unions would love it as they could collect union dues from an officer too), but it would work against their current gun control agenda so I'm not so sure really.
What say you?
For example, a few weeks ago I heard office staff talking on the radio that the overhead system (speakers) weren't working for some reason and I immediately grabbed a few extra radios and passed them out to teachers saying, "keep this on your person until the overhead gets fixed", some looked at me perplexed until I explained, "What if somebody's tampered with our speaker system? If something crazy happens we won't be able to communicate...call me nuts I don't care just take a friggin' radio!" I got different reactions from them. Some were surprised with my train of thought and others were appreciative of my preparedness. The speaker system was quickly fixed and all was well.
Maybe I am being extreme, but when I see kids on the playground, or sitting in a classroom, it has crossed my mind that 'if some lunatic wanted to cause chaos here it could be easily done', but let's face it because it's true...as we have just seen, once again. I was at a Christmas dinner last night with my book club friends (almost all teachers) and eventually the school shooting topic did come up, although we had vowed to avoid it for the evening because it is so upsetting. We didn't talk about it for too long, but we quickly came to the conclusion that there is no real way to make a school "totally secure" from an intruder if someone is so inclined to intrude.
Sure, there are certain "security" measures in place, enforcing them is a priority, keeping the kids safe at all times is paramount (even to the extreme of not letting children 'chase' each other on the playground to avoid injuries...and I could write a book about all the bloody noses and head lumps that result from this practically daily because enforcing the "no chasing" rule on a playground with 90 kindergartners is just as difficult as maintaining a "secure school"...you do your best, but if they're inclined to chase, they're going to chase...they're 5 year olds and that's what they want to do).
I've been thinking about school security a lot this morning, watching the news etc. and the topic of having an armed security officer/cop on every campus has been brought up. (Gun control has also been brought up, but being a gun enthusiast and freedom lover and a believer in having a right to defend myself and my family I do not believe that adding more gun laws to the books will do a damned thing to stop lunacy.) So I'm wondering... is it time to privatize schools and add an armed officer to each campus? Or should some charter schools pop up offering this service on campus, giving parents a choice of sending their children to schools where they think their kids will be as safe as possible?
Sure, some parents would opt to not have their kids attend a school where there is a gun present ANY where on campus, even if it's holstered on a hip of a trained law enforcement officer and that's their choice to do so, but is it time to do this? Would public schools ever offer this? (I'm sure the unions would love it as they could collect union dues from an officer too), but it would work against their current gun control agenda so I'm not so sure really.
What say you?
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And you're right, it is very surreal.
The price of safety and security is indeed vigilance. But we are also tasked as parents with teaching them the realities of the world and how to cope when we're not there. I am always impressed by the kid who climbs in the closet and acts like a pair of shoes. I am impressed because to do that the kid must have some guts and some presence of mind and that will almost always be an asset in a difficult situation.
The mind is a resource of undefined dimension, so I offer this simply as a reference of how we sometimes react and why.
http://www.committeeforfirstprinciples.o...
You cannot usually tell who the crazy person is until they do something crazy, and subjective views of family usually fail to give society the true view of what might or might not be dangerous.
Do guns belong in schools? Yes, in the hands of competent individuals trained for this kind of events. At the same time access within school grounds should also be restricted. The more trouble it is to get somewhere the less likely people are to go. Criminals and crazies have even less patience and give up quicker. At the same time video and electronic countermeasures should also be employed so that employees can see what is happening outside at a distance and warn security should there be a suspicious lurker.
In the end to keep anything or anyone safe you must defend it. You defend with knowledge, training, and practice. My daughter has been exposed to 3 incidents where MS13 wanted to shoot up her school. Early on she had a phone and we had a plan. She performed a basic escape and evade, I met her, and took her home. And yes, I was armed.
It's an interesting correlation between the places with the strictest gun control laws and violent crimes. NYC, Chicago as you mentioned, DL, and DC, which is near where I spent most of my growing up years. Guns can be found by any criminal, without much effort. No background checks there!
I used to take my daughter to go shoot my guns, and now she's married to a cop. So there you have it: GUNS CAUSE CRIME.
Exiting sarcasm mode now...
That being said, this happened in the next town over, and to say I'm shattered right now would be a grievous understatement. A friend was one of the first responders, a friend and neighbor knows children who died there. The two schools my kids attend were in lockdown Friday, and my daughter was terribly frightened. There will be police at each school this entire week, and the schools are operating on a high security protocol. Sending them off this morning made me a bit edgy, to say the least.
In our middle and high school, there is a "resource officer". This is a town police officer, who gets paid out of our school budget. Actually we had to do away with the middle school officer, but will stop in about once per week. The high school officer is there every day. I think it's a great idea. They also wear their sidearm. The kids like and respect these officers, and as a result are open with them, and feel comfortable that they're there. I do too. I have NO issue whatsoever that he or she is armed. What good is it to have an officer there, unarmed, if something ever should happen?
This is a conundrum that will not be solved overnight. I just hope a knee jerk reaction doesn't pull us down a road of paranoia and over regulation. The guns used were legally obtained by the coward's mother. It's a hideous shame that her son got ahold of them. Criminals will get them illegally, as usual.
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