Texas school district to let teachers carry guns

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas school district will let teachers bring guns to class this fall, the district's superintendent said on Friday, in what experts said appeared to be a first in the United States.

The board of the small rural Harrold Independent School District unanimously approved the plan and parents have not objected, said the district's superintendent, David Thweatt.

School experts backed Thweatt's claim that Harrold, a system of about 110 students 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth, may be the first to let teachers bring guns to the classroom.

Thweatt said it is a matter of safety.

"We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" he said. "It's just common sense."

Well...in Texas anyway, where there's always someone ready to refight an Alamo situation!

I cannot believe that they are allowing that!!!!!!!!!! WTF is happening to the World?

The world seems to be more akin to A Clockwork Orange and Class of 84'...

Kasmira wrote:

^^ not the world... just Texas.

See, we're just a whole 'nother world here! Yee Haw!!

Is it true that everything is bigger in Texas?

I can't find out too much about this school on google. How bad is it there that need to carry guns to class?

I think this whole thing is ridiculous. Surely in any modern school nowadays the kids will be carrying enough weaponry to make any arming of the teachers redundant?

Maxmordon wrote:

Is it true that everything is bigger in Texas?

lol, well it depends on the item being discussed & measured.

Apocalypse wrote:

I can't find out too much about this school on google. How bad is it there that need to carry guns to class?

Sorry about that. Here's a link to the story on CNN.
I think this is typical gun-nut thinking based on legitimate concern. The town that plans on doing this is a small town of just a few hundred. Its so small they have no town police department. The concern is that if a student should happen to "go Columbine" (or if there's a Commanche attack, I guess, as this IS Texas), the nearest armed help is 30 minutes away. Therefore, why not arm the teachers to deal with the threat if that threat should happen to force their way into a locked-down classroom? (I'm not justifying it, btw, just explaining it.)

Of course that's assuming all the teachers are level-headed and there isn't "the loner" on staff, who whispers to him/herself that he/she "is the angel of death....the time of purification is at hand..."

I think at the center of it all is the fear of having the UT-Austin tower shooting happen all over again.
On August 1, 1966 a homicidal ex-Marine climbed to the observation deck of the University of Texas at Austin's multi-story clock tower, barricaded the deck's entrance, took out 2 box loads of ammunition and began to fire down on the student body with his sniper rifle from on high. Since nothing like this had ever happened before no one, including the police, knew how to handle it.
In typically Texan fashion, as the article notes, ...About 20 minutes into the attack, civilians started to arrive with deer rifles. They helped police return fire.

Yee Haw!!
Eventually 2 policemen were able to get onto the observation deck & blow the guy away.

Yehaw Pa, let's gigem. Ahem, the fact is it's not 'just Texas'. You can find highschool hysteria just about anywhere now-a-days. It has to do with what's been going on in the school systems ALL over the country over the last 10 years. I'm with DW. When you live in a small town such as this first off, yes there is going to be the few that take it to extreme but when you don't have law enforcement of any kind for miles around then you begin to find alternatives to keep ppl safe, albeit maybe not the best alternatives but at least they're trying something.

darkwave_71 wrote:

Maxmordon wrote:

Is it true that everything is bigger in Texas?

lol, well it depends on the item being discussed & measured.

Apocalypse wrote:

I can't find out too much about this school on google. How bad is it there that need to carry guns to class?

Sorry about that. Here's a link to the story on CNN.
I think this is typical gun-nut thinking based on legitimate concern. The town that plans on doing this is a small town of just a few hundred. Its so small they have no town police department. The concern is that if a student should happen to "go Columbine" (or if there's a Commanche attack, I guess, as this IS Texas), the nearest armed help is 30 minutes away. Therefore, why not arm the teachers to deal with the threat if that threat should happen to force their way into a locked-down classroom? (I'm not justifying it, btw, just explaining it.)

Of course that's assuming all the teachers are level-headed and there isn't "the loner" on staff, who whispers to him/herself that he/she "is the angel of death....the time of purification is at hand..."

I think at the center of it all is the fear of having the UT-Austin tower shooting happen all over again.
On August 1, 1966 a homicidal ex-Marine climbed to the observation deck of the University of Texas at Austin's multi-story clock tower, barricaded the deck's entrance, took out 2 box loads of ammunition and began to fire down on the student body with his sniper rifle from on high. Since nothing like this had ever happened before no one, including the police, knew how to handle it.
In typically Texan fashion, as the article notes, ...About 20 minutes into the attack, civilians started to arrive with deer rifles. They helped police return fire.

Yee Haw!!
Eventually 2 policemen were able to get onto the observation deck & blow the guy away.

I guess that makes sense in a way, I thought they were turning into L.A. for a moment.

Thanks.

Well...at the risk of opening a can of worms...

The crime rate in my area has spiked on account of A) the crappy American economy, and B) the influx of "the Bad Crowd" from New Orleans. Friends in Louisiana have occasionally commented "Keep 'em! We're glad they're not our problem anymore!" Just yesterday a trial was concluded here where a teen refugee was found guilty of killing 2 of his best friends then setting the bodies on fire. His defense: post-traumatic stress on account of being evacuated back in 2005.

The whole of Texas isn't being overrun but major cities like Dallas, Houston, & San Antonio got the biggest influx. With fear & distrust amuck, it doesn't surprise me some smaller towns here are going "Praise the Lord & pass the ammunition".

With students like these there is not much surprise of teaching kids at the point of a gun!

Now here's a scenario I actually could forsee happening. Some misanthropic loser gets a teaching job- in some places they're so desperate for a teacher in the room they'll take anyone with a pulse. Said individual hates kids and has the mentality of a rent-a-cop harassing kids for hanging out in the mall too much. Not that I blame anyone for such a sentiment but say this guy takes the power trip a little too far and loses it on one of his charges.

Or say some kid does rip of a Harris-Klebold manuever or at least gives the impression of doing so (you know, wears black and might read the Anarchist Cookbook or something then moves too fast or sticks his hand in his pocket during class, god forbi). Or some meathead gives back talk, perhaps loses his temper. Teach pulls the gun, misses the target, shoots a civilian. Handling a gun takes practice. Any mention of training courses for teachers packing heat?

Personally though I think it's a good idea if it's implemented right. Lord knows I wish some of my teachers had the power to arbitrarily execute some of the miscreants in my classes. That'll get 'em to do their homework, yeah?

Morella wrote:

Lord knows I wish some of my teachers had the power to arbitrarily execute some of the miscreants in my classes. That'll get 'em to do their homework, yeah?

No, it gets the others to do their homework.

EvilHippyEmperor wrote:

Morella wrote:

Lord knows I wish some of my teachers had the power to arbitrarily execute some of the miscreants in my classes. That'll get 'em to do their homework, yeah?

No, it gets the others to do their homework.

I don't know about that, EHE. For some of the morons I went to school with, it would take at least a flesh wound to get them to pick up a pencil.

Morella wrote:

EvilHippyEmperor wrote:

Morella wrote:

Lord knows I wish some of my teachers had the power to arbitrarily execute some of the miscreants in my classes. That'll get 'em to do their homework, yeah?

No, it gets the others to do their homework.

I don't know about that, EHE. For some of the morons I went to school with, it would take at least a flesh wound to get them to pick up a pencil.

Kids today, huh?


In my day, having a classmate or two gunned down in the classroom was enough to teach us a lesson, and we respected our teachers for it. Not only that, but we knew if we went home and told our parents, then they'd gun down a couple of our siblings too! Things were better in those days... mumble, mumble ... beer, tuppence a pint...

EvilHippyEmperor wrote:

Morella wrote:

EvilHippyEmperor wrote:

Morella wrote:

Lord knows I wish some of my teachers had the power to arbitrarily execute some of the miscreants in my classes. That'll get 'em to do their homework, yeah?

No, it gets the others to do their homework.

I don't know about that, EHE. For some of the morons I went to school with, it would take at least a flesh wound to get them to pick up a pencil.

Kids today, huh?


In my day, having a classmate or two gunned down in the classroom was enough to teach us a lesson, and we respected our teachers for it. Not only that, but we knew if we went home and told our parents, then they'd gun down a couple of our siblings too! Things were better in those days... mumble, mumble ... beer, tuppence a pint...

When I was growing up, we called that good old fashioned Irish Catholic discipline. For the most part, it worked...

Okay, I'm going to set myself up as a target here, and see what happens.

1) Every time gun laws are tightened, crime rates go up.
2) Every time gun laws are loosened, crime rates go down.
3) The one city to mandate gun ownership saw their crime rate go to almost zero.

I missed the part where this is a bad thing.

Moreover, I agree with the faculty. If some nutjob gets in with a gun and starts going berserk, is it better to have someone inside that can fight back, or have everyone in the school be mandated to be sitting ducks, calling the cops to haul their bodies off at the end of the day?

Gomez wrote:

Okay, I'm going to set myself up as a target here, and see what happens.

1) Every time gun laws are tightened, crime rates go up.
2) Every time gun laws are loosened, crime rates go down.
3) The one city to mandate gun ownership saw their crime rate go to almost zero.

I missed the part where this is a bad thing.

Moreover, I agree with the faculty. If some nutjob gets in with a gun and starts going berserk, is it better to have someone inside that can fight back, or have everyone in the school be mandated to be sitting ducks, calling the cops to haul their bodies off at the end of the day?

I actually agree entirely with Gomez-- I just didn't know how to state my case quite as well! Thanks Gomez~

Akasha'sMistake wrote:

Gomez wrote:

Okay, I'm going to set myself up as a target here, and see what happens.

1) Every time gun laws are tightened, crime rates go up.
2) Every time gun laws are loosened, crime rates go down.
3) The one city to mandate gun ownership saw their crime rate go to almost zero.

I missed the part where this is a bad thing.

Moreover, I agree with the faculty. If some nutjob gets in with a gun and starts going berserk, is it better to have someone inside that can fight back, or have everyone in the school be mandated to be sitting ducks, calling the cops to haul their bodies off at the end of the day?

I actually agree entirely with Gomez-- I just didn't know how to state my case quite as well! Thanks Gomez~

Those who feel an armed citizenry make for safer society should perhaps look up the difference in per capita gun deaths and injuries (intentional and accidental) between the USA and the UK.

That said, it would not be a simple case of banning guns in the USA due to the sheer number of firearms that are already in the States. Criminals in the US would still find it decidedly easier to get their hands on firearms than their counterparts in the UK (and even they manage it with depressing regularity)

All right. That being said, I could understand opposition to the idea of teachers arming themselves in the UK, where (I'm guessing) it's not at all necessary; but see it as a good precaution over here, with all the guns we've got floating about.

Regarding accidental shootings: I actually couldn't agree more. I think it's tragic that so many kids get shot, and find that it's mostly due to a lack of education. I know lots of people up here (I'm in the wild west, remember) who have been shooting since they were 5, and never had problems. Back in the day, at the start of hunting season, every kid brought a rifle to school, because they were going hunting as soon as that bell rang. What did the teachers think? They were thinking about an afternoon in the woods as well. Never was a problem.

UNTIL

Until "city slickers," hotshots who didn't know crap about hunting started moving in.

Now, before you paint me as a redneck, gun-toting, hillbilly, bear this in mind. I've gone shooting once, so I could say I did, since I don't want to knock something I haven't tried. I hate guns. Hate them. I hate guns like some people hate dentists or spiders. Guns. Ugh! Makes my skin crawl. And I have been shooting. Fired a .22 rifle and a .44 handgun. .44s are crazy loud. They're too loud to hear. From a distance you hear BANG!!! When you're shooting them you hear B-----! because your ears just overload and you go deaf for a fraction of a second.

Point is, I'm not defending my personal love of guns, because I have none. Not even a little bit. I'm defending hard science. I have found that, for whatever reason, having people who have and know how to handle guns seems to make it harder for the bad guys to make headway, and I think that's cool. At the same time, I don't expect I'll ever actually have one in my house.

I do, however, quite seriously intend to purchase a crossbow in the near future. I figure by the time Max can cock the thing, he'll be big enough to use it responsibly.

Why a crossbow, rather than a bow?

Gomez wrote:

Now, before you paint me as a redneck, gun-toting, hillbilly...

Gomez = Redneck

Redneck = Gomez


Nope, I just can't see that. My mind's eye rebels at the attempt to picture the habitually elegant Gomez as a 'good ole boy'!

Although if you wanted a really scary idea for Hallowe'en fancy dress...