You're right, you are entitled to your opinion and I agree that the teachers who would want to carry should receive proper training. I would like for everyone that carries to be properly trained on how to use their firearm. However, I do not feel I have the right to tell someone that they are not allowed to defend themselves because they haven't been trained. That is a God given right, and no one should be able to take it away.
You're right, you are entitled to your opinion and I agree that the teachers who would want to carry should receive proper training. I would like for everyone that carries to be properly trained on how to use their firearm. However, I do not feel I have the right to tell someone that they are not allowed to defend themselves because they haven't been trained. That is a God given right, and no one should be able to take it away.
Why are you asserting that teacher carry is the only thing he lobbies for?
I agree. I think all "safe zones" or "gun free" zones should be illegal. These areas suggest that you will be safe once you enter them. However, history has shown just the opposite.
I certainly respect your opinion but I'm not talking about teachers carrying firearms to protect the students (although that might be a side benefit); I'm talking about teachers and others being able to carry a firearm to protect themselves. In regards to the comment about 90% of employers not allowing firearms - assuming it is not a felony offense, I don't care about the employer's policy. What the employer doesn't know won't hurt them.
There was an armed guard at one of the school shootings. Unfortunatly, he was at lunch two blocks away.
Teachers have the same right to protect themselves as well as the rest of us. If they can save some students, so be it. Its not their job to be security.
Teachers have the same right to protect themselves as well as the rest of us. If they can save some students, so be it. Its not their job to be security.
Thanks for being civil in your replies, I think we all without question agree there is a problem. I think we need to put it in perspective though, lobbying for teachers to carry does as much to fix the problem as the other side lobbying for a hi-cap mag ban, it doesn't fix it, nor does it even start to.
The issue is there are too many guns accessible to bad people, I don't know how you fix that. I do know that I do not want to see any further erosion of our rights. I think we have a responsibility as responsible gun owners to help educate others. Almost every week I hear about someone that has a gun stolen, that is another gun in the hands of bad guys, why aren't we securing our firearms? I can personally name at least a dozen people I know that have purchased a gun for "protection" yet they have no idea how to even load the gun. I do my best to help them learn how to be responsible gun owners, but in reality they are not. Others have a gun, but have no intent to use it, merely "scare someone off", may as well just hand it to the BG at that point.
So what do we do? I don't have the answer, I do know that Teachers are employees, and that many employers prohibit firearms at work, we have let that happen. Some chose to carry regardless of Employer rules, that is a personal choice that everyone can make, but you have to understand the consequences if you are caught(with or without).
So how do we fix the problem?
The issue is there are too many guns accessible to bad people, I don't know how you fix that. I do know that I do not want to see any further erosion of our rights. I think we have a responsibility as responsible gun owners to help educate others. Almost every week I hear about someone that has a gun stolen, that is another gun in the hands of bad guys, why aren't we securing our firearms? I can personally name at least a dozen people I know that have purchased a gun for "protection" yet they have no idea how to even load the gun. I do my best to help them learn how to be responsible gun owners, but in reality they are not. Others have a gun, but have no intent to use it, merely "scare someone off", may as well just hand it to the BG at that point.
So what do we do? I don't have the answer, I do know that Teachers are employees, and that many employers prohibit firearms at work, we have let that happen. Some chose to carry regardless of Employer rules, that is a personal choice that everyone can make, but you have to understand the consequences if you are caught(with or without).
So how do we fix the problem?
That, my friend, is the ultimate question. Responsible gun owners should keep guns locked-up or in thier immediate possession, should use probing questions and discretion when making private sales, continue to display responsible use of firearms, and educate those that are new to firearms.
Sorry I have a cold so i haven't been back on much, my apologies. I agree with you 100 percent. Way to many people who own weapons do not know how to properly store them, care for them, safely handle them. or even fire them. That however, does not mean that they shouldn't own them. We were all first time gun owners at one time. I have never heard anyone at a gunshop say, " Excuse me sir, would you like to look at a proper storage box or gun safe for your new firearm? " , when I purchased a gun. We have to get away from the mentality that people who know nothing about guns shouldnt own them. We just need to be wlling to help them out and help them be responsidle gun owners. If I see someone purchasing a weapon and asking questions that they arent getting answers to, I will do the best I can to help them get the information they need because that just makes me safer. In reality, you will never stop bad things from happening with guns, all we can do is try your best. Bad people do bad things. Everyone forgets about a guy with a truck and some fertilizer that killed 168 people in OKC, or some guys who took flying lessons and then flew a plane into a building and killed thousands of people. It just makes me sick that this whole thing has become a gun issue in the first place, when that is the furthest thing from what we should be focusing on.
You are correct, giving teachers the choice of whether or not to carry a gun will not solve the issue, but I disagree that it doesnt start to. Had someone at SandyHook had a weapon or had they placed an armed guard at the entrance, I am almost certain it would have been a different outcome. As far as how we fix it, you don't. This is not 1955 anymore, we live in a dangerous world and thats the reality. I whole heartedly endorse someone's choice to not carry or own a weapon, but don't try to take away my right to own or carry mine.
You are correct, giving teachers the choice of whether or not to carry a gun will not solve the issue, but I disagree that it doesnt start to. Had someone at SandyHook had a weapon or had they placed an armed guard at the entrance, I am almost certain it would have been a different outcome. As far as how we fix it, you don't. This is not 1955 anymore, we live in a dangerous world and thats the reality. I whole heartedly endorse someone's choice to not carry or own a weapon, but don't try to take away my right to own or carry mine.
Teachers in Utah have been carrying for more than a decade with NO incidents.
Who is going to pay for all that added security? You?
Ever heard of the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program? Do you know how it works? Interested individual commercial ATP pilots apply for the program, are vetted, pay for their training out of pocket, travel to the training location and take the training on their own time and their own dime, and when it's completed, they hand them a Federal Officer badge that gives them a strictly and narrowly defined authority, a jurisdiction (the cockpit of the aircraft) and a gun, ammo and safe storage items.
If a commercial pilot can fly an airplane and provide their own armed security, I don't see why a teacher or administrator couldn't teach and do the same. Unless of course you don't think they're smart enough for it. Just my opinion of course!
As for the current Oklahoma law and the "working group" at the capitol, the writing was on the wall when I saw who was on the committee. However, I have yet to see a single thing in the Oklahoma Statutes that would prohibit a school district from having armed faculty. Our state law mimics the federal GFSZA almost to the letter. The same GFSZA that applies to the school district in Texas that has armed faculty.
I say let the individual districts decide what works for them and what doesn't. We don't need an additional state law that "allows" it.
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