[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I am for more reasonable gun control, devil is in the details but in concept, absolutely.

On guards for schools ... I'm okay with a police officer patrolling school grounds. In my area, the elementary and middle school are literally side by side and there is one guard that patrols both.

Local police forces are already paying out overtime to deal with simply patrolling and responding. Putting the burden to patrol schools frequently enough to make a visible difference will significantly increase costs for them, and remove them as resources from other areas in local neighborhoods. Funding would be needed and a lot of it, for it to make a legit difference.

Do we need multiple guards? Not sure but if the school district can afford it, why not?

I don't know about how many actually can. In the Cincinnati/NKY area our public school district budgets are continually shrinking despite a wider and wider tax base in NKY. So much that the kids only have 6 classes now, and 1 of them is basically study hall. 25 years ago, it was 7 or 8. Teachers haven't had a raise in 10 years and the governor it looking to shut down pensions for the teachers. New teachers aren't coming into the area and the ones that are here deal with more and more. I can only assume that this is similar across the country. Average class size is approaching and in many cases over 30 per teacher. The West Virginia teachers got a 5% raise, and the governor said that this would result in steep cuts to other social services. School districts cannot afford it, where I can see at least.

Do we want select teachers trained to carry weapons? After speaking with my wife who is a teacher, I don't think its in many teacher's DNA to do this and definitely not packing all the time (e.g. concealed carry).

However, if there are school administrators or teachers who are so inclined to be the last line of defense, and the weapons are securely locked somewhere (e.g. principal's office) to be used in an incident, I would support it.

You just can't allow teachers who are qualified to C&C to carry in schools. That's the absolute lowest bar, and it's a terrible concept. For pilots who are allowed to carry, they have to travel to another state, be trained by Federal officers, undergo repeat training yearly, and be subjected to very strict rules about where it is, where you are, and how and when you handle it. Pilots who are so inclined can choose this path, and if you create a similar program for teachers it might work, but simply turning on a switch that all legal to C&C teachers can now carry is ludicrous.

All this would be at teachers expense too. If you think that the government should pay for it, then you're looking at another massive government agency, or add on to another agency, that would be responsible for a few hundred thousand armed teachers.

On the broader question as to whether this is a sign of our messed up society, absolutely.

There was a post earlier on what other developed countries have guards at schools and found this link.

Global school security measures vary, but no arming teachers - ABC News

My Fox News buddies have trotted out the meme about Israeli teachers being armed and the result is all the kids are safe forever. I found this interesting from that article.

"He said the small number of teachers who have a legal gun license and usually carry a weapon can do so as well in school, but that this is not policy or encouraged. "Teachers here aren't supposed to be carrying weapons in classrooms, teachers are supposed to teach," he said."