A well-written piece on move to let people carry concealed handguns in schools
This article apparently originally appeared in Politico:
Gun rights advocates have suggested armed school staff could have prevented the killing of 20 children in a Connecticut elementary school. Now, lawmakers in Texas, Tennessee, Virginia and Florida are considering arming teachers and allowing concealed weapons on school campuses. All four states have the Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence’s lowest rating. . . .
Patterson, who wrote Texas’ original concealed carry law as a state legislator and is running for lieutenant governor in 2014, has long favored allowing concealed weapons in schools. But his idea seem to be gaining steam. Texas Gov. Rick Perry told a Tea Party group this week he wants a law allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons in school. . . .While Texas is the center of the movement, governors in Tennessee and Virginia have also signaled openness to allowing guns on school grounds.
“If people were armed, not just a police officer, but other school officials that were trained and chose to have a weapon, certainly there would be an opportunity to stop an individual trying to get into the school,” Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said on WTOP, a local radio station. . . .
A South Carolina House member introduced legislation there earlier this week. The Florida legislator who wrote the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law and an Arizona gun rights group have also proposed arming trained teachers
“In our zealousness to protect people from harm we’ve created all these gun-free zones and what we’ve inadvertently done is we’ve made them a target,” Florida GOP Rep. Dennis Baxley told the AP. “A helpless target is exactly what a deranged person is looking for where they cannot be stopped.” . . .
In Michigan, it is legal to carry a pistol in schools — as long as the weapon isn’t concealed. Patterson pointed out several school districts in Texas have armed police forces. And Utah, Oregon and New Hampshire already allow concealed carry in schools, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. . . .
Labels: ConcealedCarry, GunFreeZone
posted by John Lott at 1:08 AM
6 Comments:
After reading the factcheck analysis ( http://factcheck.org/2012/12/gun-rhetoric-vs-gun-facts/) on John Lott’s proposal, it seems like a clear choice for those who can think with their head on this issue. Allow conceal/carry (CC) guns in school. The evidence strongly suggests that it almost certainly will NOT make things worse; many credibly claim it will reduce gun murders; and finally, it stands up to common sense. If the state does not already have a CC certification program, they would need to build one to satisfy the Federal law on guns in school. Many schools already allow guns in schools on a uniformed police officer. However plain-clothes/concealment is an advantage in that an intruder would not know who might be armed.
I find the reluctance by the opposition to train and certify school employees difficult to understand. The cost would certainly be less than adding a full time employee to do nothing but the security detail.
Wayne called it "qualified armed security" after I had been calling it "accurate return fire" for a week. Qualified armed security produces accurate return fire.
This is happening and will become the norm. We won this argument as soon as we made it, despite the insanity of the screams and howls from the left. The "Craziest Man on Earth" is the sanest man alive.
As Lt. Col. Grossman has pointed out, we haven't had a Beslan. Sandy Hook was a wake up call - we lost 26 to one crazy. At Beslan, they lost 300 to an Islamist kill team. On 9/11 we lost 3,000+ Americans. We need to wake up, because we have a lot more to lose if we don't. “Qualified armed security” is the least we can do. If we cannot exercise basic common sense, we will perish from the face of the Earth.
Texas law allows a teacher to carry concealed at school NOW. The school administration/school board can authorize it. One school did this already a couple of years ago...for example, see http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/teachers-armed-guns-texas-school-article-1.1224257.
And Perry did not call for a new law...he called for school districts to allow qualified teachers to carry under current law.
Dear austin-tatious:
I understand,though I think that there precise point was whether any permit holder could carry in a school.
But the school district under Texas law CAN permit any CHL holder (school staff or not) to carry on the premises of a particular school. For a district to give blanket permission to all CHL holders may require new legislation...or maybe not. I am not a lawyer and I do not play one on TV.
Dear Austin-tatious:
Technically, unless state law forbids it, the Federal GFSZA 1995 allows all schools to make that decision. The four states mentioned in the piece doesn't leave the decision up to local schools, though some have nullified the law by putting a prohibition in employment contracts.
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