WE: After school shooting in Connecticut, Piers Morgan blasts America’s ‘gun madness’

[rictus58]

3) Does anyone know what the physiological long term effects are of surrounding our kids with guns at school?

The cynic in me thinks the NRA thinks of these kids as future customers.

[twa]

I'll answer your question with a question....since that's the circle game you like to play.
How is increasing security in schools with armed guards paid for by the government anything but MORE government?

Because the govt is not paying them any more than they already do.
Allowing those willing and qualified is not more govt

[PeterMP]

There is no law against hiring armed security for schools.

Money and efficiency. There are fewer middle schools and high schools, and there are more security incidents (older kids get into more serious fights and bring drugs/weapons to school more often). At an elementary school, an armed guard would probably spend more of his time just making friends with little kids than actually dealing with security issues.

For more bang for my buck, I think I would rather just include elementary schools in the patrol route of a beat cop in the neighborhood. I would also have them patrol the local shopping center, parks, churches, playgrounds, and other places that could be the sites of mass shootings and/or robberies, kidnappings, or parking violations. And I would prefer that these be regulated locally. Maybe in some communities, they are willing to pay for a full-time armed guard in each of their elementary schools, but I think that other communities would be uncomfortable with it. A federal program doesn't seem like the right solution for this.

Where I live 4 districts go into a single high school complex.

In my district alone, there are 5 different elementary schools at 5 different physical locations.

[rictus58]

Because the govt is not paying them any more than they already do.
Allowing those willing and qualified is not more govt

Quit trolling and use your brain.
If school "A" currently has no security guard, they will need to hire one and pay one
If school "A" HAS unarmed security, the government will need to buy them a gun, provide training, and possibly pay them MORE because they are armed.
The only instance this doesn't create more government is in schools where they already have trained/armed security.

[PeterMP]

If we have the need, who gives a **** what other counties do?

Seriously. You want to stand on some kind of principle. I want to see the children protected regardless of my wish that it was not necessary.

Bottom line. Like it or not. Barring martial law and a likely civil war that would follow, this country is going to remain full of guns. There isn't a law that can possibly be written that will stop a motivated nut job from gaining access to some sort of weapon and using it on unarmed individuals.

So do I, BUT NOT JUST AT SCHOOL!!

ON THE PLAYGROUND, AT THE MALL, WALKING DOWN THE STREET, IN THEIR HOMES, AT THE MOVIE THEATER!!!!

DO NOT PULL THAT KIND OF GARBAGE!!

[Corcaigh]

Arming everyone is solving the wrong problem. More guns means more accidents, attacks and suicide opportunities that would be less successful than with other means. As noted many, many, many, many times, more lives are taken each year by guns in the USA compared to other countries. The proliferation of weapons is a huge factor in this. You are far more likely to be killed by a friend or family member (or to kill your self) than by a spree killer.

And putting an armed guard in every school doesn't look like a particularly well designed solution if the attacker comes in with an AR-15 and body armor, and an (elderly) school guard is dozing there with his handgun.

And, security guards committing suicide at their place of work is not that rare.

[endzone_dave]

I am seriously looking forward to seeing Republican politicians stand up and say they do not support an assult rfile ban and they support having an armed guard in every school. Their NRA puppet masters may be making life very difficult for them.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

I seriously don't even see this being helpful in a situation where someone does start shooting in school. Is there some rule I don't know about that if one bad guy has a gun and one good guy has a gun, the good guy always kills the bad guy first?

[PeterMP]

I've got a 6 year old girl that I pack up every day and send to school and take and send other places.

My wife and I SERIOUSLY sat down the other night and talked about whether we should teach her to play dead in the case of a mass shooting and NOT JUST AT HER SCHOOL!

(Where they did a lock down drill when I was at her school for their Christmas party on Wed.)

Seriouisly, in the middle of a Christmas party with parents there, all of the kids and the teacher locked themselves in a bathroom that is in the class room for 5 minutes.

[Mad Mike]

Three points on guns in schools:

1) Ft Hood was a military base. Guarded by trained military professionals and patrolled for safety by armed military police. It is my understanding (correct me if I am wrong), that a single gunman was only taken down by trained offers ON base 13 soldiers and injured dozens more. I understand the soldiers were not armed, but there was security on the base, and a mass killing still occurred. If a shooting can happen in a military base patrolled by police, why would a school be safer with a NRA "volunteer" armed walking around?

2) While I appreciate police offers and all they do, we all do recognize that in the past even well trained officers have made mistakes and killed/hurt unarmed civilians? It happens. Police officers have an incredibly hard job and sometimes they get confused and scared and shoot unarmed people. Sometimes a police office has used excessive force in a high adrenaline situation. The idea of NRA "volunteers" - not even trained police officers (who are not perfect) scares the **** out of me.

3) Does anyone know what the physiological long term effects are of surrounding our kids with guns at school? I honest don't know, but I do wonder what a physiologist would think about raising a kid in that environment surrounded by weapons.

Anyhow, just some thoughts to throw out there.

1) the place where the soldiers were shot WAS NOT PROTECTED. THE SOLDIERS WE UNARMED. THERE WERE NO GUARDS, because it was thought that none were needed. And the shooting only ended when the shooter was shot.

2) What do you imagine might happen? The cop might pull the gun on a 6 year old because he is suspected of stealing candy because he is pumped up on adrenalin?

3) As discussed earlier. Kids are surrounded by guns every day from TV to the police they see on the street. An armed security guard in a school can wear a normal suit and keep the weapon concealed. The kids need never see the gun unless (god forbid) the security officer is forced to use it to protect them.

[DjTj]

So do I, BUT NOT JUST AT SCHOOL!!

ON THE PLAYGROUND, AT THE MALL, WALKING DOWN THE STREET, IN THEIR HOMES, AT THE MOVIE THEATER!!!!

DO NOT PULL THAT KIND OF GARBAGE!!

When I have kids, the government better pay for an armed guard to follow them to school, to piano lessons, to soccer practice, to the movie theater, and to grandma's house. If the government does it for the President, then why not for my kids?

I would also like a police escort whenever we drive places.

[nuposse87]

Wow, that was an amazing meltdown on live TV. I think they just called for a huge expansion of the Gov't while blaming Mortal Kombat, the Media and everybody else under the sun.

Because the amount of bicycle kick related deaths in America have been staggering since that franchise came into being, lol. I find it amusing they blame something like that...I didn't watch the press conference...but tell me they at least blamed gun/war related games as well...like **** like COD.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Because the govt is not paying them any more than they already do.
Allowing those willing and qualified is not more govt

There are 100,000 schools in the US. Are you going to move 100,000 police officers from their current beats and put them in schools? Don't you have to replace those 100,000 police officers?

[twa]

Three points on guns in schools:


Anyhow, just some thoughts to throw out there.

Your points simply illustrate why allowing qualified armed teachers and staff is best
a intruder means a lockdown and those armed cover the locked door to their area.

[Duckus]

Your points simply illustrate why allowing qualified armed teachers and staff is best
a intruder means a lockdown and those armed cover the locked door to their area.

Does it? In the Ft. Hood example the person who killed everyone obviously worked at the base. He was a mental health professional, who clearly had mental health issues. What stops a teacher from having mental health issues that results in violence? Then the teacher is in the room, with a gun . . . .