Arkansas Allows Teachers To Be Armed.

Would you be ok with your kids or grandkids going to a school where the teachers could carry? (KNUS daily question) I would be ok with it.

There is difference in allowing teachers to be armed and thoroughly training those teachers before allowing them to carry in the school. Either way I'll bet there will be some very nervous parents.....especially those whose kids tend to act up in school.

FredHayek wrote: Would you be ok with your kids or grandkids going to a school where the teachers could carry? (KNUS daily question) I would be ok with it.

I'm not a father (at least that I know of...), even so I would want to know a few things before I could be alright with this idea:

1) What kind of basic training has each teacher had with their weapon?
2) How many hours of practice are required annually and does accuracy factor into the annual qualification?
3) Which weapons are authorized?
4) Because a classroom is full of kids it isn't safe to just start blasting away at perceived targets; How many hours of CQB training will be required annually and what criteria will be applied to retain a qualification to carry a weapon on school grounds?

Even in Arkansas, I'm assuming that not every educator is going to warm up to the idea of carrying a firearm and go through the amount of training it would take to safely identify a threat and neutralize it. CQB requires a lot of training and it has to be continuous if the operator is going to remain proficient, proficiency has to be measured and there has to be standards that demonstrate an operator is or is not qualified.

At the end of the day, we would be asking educators to also be policemen and that's not what they do. Let the teachers teach, those who want to carry and are willing to qualify and do what it takes to remain proficient have that privilege with the conditions I would apply. I think I would feel better knowing that there were two off duty SWAT officers (paid by the school district) roaming the school grounds instead.

OMG.....I agree with Otis....

So far it looks like they are testing this in one district and they are being trained, but I don't know how much training they are required to have.

My concern? Where the firearm is stored and how. I carry it on my person and think that would be the smartest as opposed to in a briefcase or a purse.

And I do think the fear of school shootings is overblown.

Maybe it's the old Master of Arms in me that keeps going back to mandatory training and annual qualifications, I wouldn't be comfortable with Joe blow carrying a weapon in a public school without detailed training and continuous qualification.

Kids need a safe place to learn and they shouldn't have to worry about assholes invading their school grounds, shooting up the place gunning down kids and educators that happen to pass through their sights. Yes, additional security forces will cost more. I'm sure Dads, Moms and others who are qualified would be happy to do what it takes to keep kids in classrooms safe. If they'd have me I'd do it myself for free. I'd still have some operators that happen to be off duty take on the job, I'm not as proficient as they are because I'm not in practice as much as they are.

A jobs program for old military MP's and SP's? Let these military guys get degrees in education and teach armed at high school and elementary schools. Having former military male role models might also help inspire both boys and girls to consider the military as a career option.

I have a picture in my head of these teachers lecturing in white uniforms with flap holsters and billy clubs.

What I would be most comfortable with was a secure storage compartment akin to a permanently installed safe in the classroom rather than on the hip/in a purse for any teacher who wished to be trained. I don't think it reasonable, or smart for that matter, to have teachers trying to be defacto SWAT team members if the worst should happen. But I also don't think it reasonable to ask that teacher to sit huddled in a room full of students praying that SWAT arrives before the gunman gets to their classroom and they have nothing more than a stapler to defend their students with if the gunman enters the classroom. Make it so the safes can only be opened if the administrators at the school first release the locks from the main office or police headquarters if a 911 call of an active shooter is received, have it wired like the fire alarms are so that if a safe is opened an automatic response is launched. There are all sorts of safeties above and beyond the one on the gun that can be built into the system for those who are fearful of the very teachers they entrust our children to each and every day of the school year having access to a gun if a maniac decides to shoot up the school.

You don't need to be qualified as CQB capable to understand creating a defensive firing position and being ready to defend the classroom if it is breeched. Asking that teachers be trained to CQB standards so that they can in essense act as an armed response team to clear the halls is way more complicated than the process needs to be. All that is really necessary is holding down the fort until the cavalry arrives and it doesn't take a lot of training to instill that basic skill set.