Ayfkm? !? (1 Viewer)

At a loss. These are the same "responsible adults" that are having sex with the students and now somebody is actually considering arming them. This is a joke, right?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42804741

Sad but true.

I can see having an armed guard at the school - one who has been trained in use of a firearm including when NOT to use it. But arming teachers is wrong. The consequences are just unthinkable.

I can see some really young kid coming home traumatized the first time he gets a bad test grade, afraid that he would be shot if he doesn't make a better grade. Teachers don't need to be exposed to that kind of situation, because you KNOW there would be a lawsuit SOMEWHERE. They are ALREADY "the bad guys" too many times when it is NOT deserved. We don't need to give folks reasons to not like teachers.

While I firmly believe in the right to keep guns and to use them when necessary, I also firmly believe that there is a responsibility that goes with the right. And teachers already have too much responsibility laid on them as it is. Don't make the teachers your children's armed guard. Get the school to hire one.

Gent, it is one thing to train a teacher in how to react when someone has a gun, but I agree with you that it is bonkers to actually suggest that teachers get a concealed carry or open carry permit.

From the perspective of the UK, its even more bonkers....

We do have occasional issues of major violence in the UK
e.g. a teacher was murdered in a classroom by a student with a grudge. There was a drugs related knife fight at my last school where a student was injured & it made national news.

There are no UK schools with armed guards (and there would be a furore if any tried to do so) though some do employ security staff, particularly after a major incident such as described above

As an ex-teacher , the comment I picked up on in the first post was this rather sweeping statement.

These are the same "responsible adults" that are having sex with the students

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Yes, I know it happens but its incredibly rare & in the UK at least, can lead to prison sentences for male or female staff

Doc hit the nail on the head...our own Police Force cannot use fire arms without a MAJOR issue in the form of lawsuits. And...they go to work with the understanding that it is a probability they may have to use it and that is their primary purpose to protect and serve.

A teacher?!? C’mon folks, not even a good punch-line...

A teacher?!? C’mon folks, not even a good punch-line...

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John
Which part of my reply did you think was intended as a joke?

I don't want this to degenerate in the way the joke thread did recently.

However, I was a teacher for over 35 years and in my last two posts (totalling 20 years) would have been informed of any suggestions of inappropriate behaviour between staff & students. There were none. There were instances of other types of unacceptable behaviour by staff but that's another story

You raised a sensible point querying the sense (or lack of it) in arming teachers.
Why you felt the need to link that to

having sex with the students

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is however beyond me...

Colin, I didn’t intend my remark to be a refutation in any way and it wasn’t meant as a slight to the teaching profession. Apologies if I have come off that way.

My issue with this whole thing is the potential of having untrained personnel with guns in an institution that should not require them. Even out police cannot use them without have being second-guessed every time they fire a shot.

As Doc has alluded to in his post, imagine the outcry and legal nightmare that could arise if a teacher happens to take a students life.

Stated differently, there are many cases where is is questionable if a policeman is suitable to carry his or her weapon. To give them to a professional in a non-related industry just doesn’t make sense.

The linking to having sex with the students was intended to show that, the moral compass of the teaching profession (I could say the whole human race) is in need of a recalibration already, in the US at any rate. To add guns into this equation makes me want to scratch my bald head. Nothing good can come from it, in my opinion.

As far as this thread “going south” like the joke thread, I do not see you as being the cause. YOU are able to discuss things like an adult and not like a grown child with an imense chip on his shoulder.

In general I'm pretty anti-gun but must admit that I carry because I deal with some pretty bad characters and put myself in some dangerous situations. I doubt that I would ever put myself in a position to be the good guy with a gun. Eff that! I'm running unless my back is to the wall. My biggest fear is that Law enforcement is likely to shoot the first one they encounter with a gun when they arrive at an active shooter situation, teachers included. Not to mention a good guy with a gun encountering another good guy with a gun.

A friend of mine from college days went to work with the Louisiana Gaming Commission which oversees all sorts of gambling-related issues. His particular job was with horse-racing; he investigated the practice of "doping" horses to improve their performance.

He told me that the job was great, but the thing that made him think long and hard was that he was told he might have to carry a weapon. The guys who made money from tainted horse races were not congenial fellows. Quite the opposite, actually. There have been a few cases of local notoriety regarding horse-racing conflicts that resulted in injuries or death.

He said that the responsibility of carrying a gun made him really pause before accepting the job. And we used to call him "Crazy James" because he was always the wild and crazy guy on campus. But the reality of a gun steadied him down a lot.

My question in this context is, how many more teachers would we lose from an already dwindling occupational population if we told them that they would have to undergo gun training?

We need more teachers and more protection for the students because this world IS full of crazy people who know how to get guns through other than the legal channels. So stricter gun laws don't make sense. Better deterrence makes sense. But the thing that makes the most sense is to somehow elevate the way people react to the stresses that they face in an ever-growing, ever-changing world. And last I looked, there was no class available titled "Coping with Life's Copious Crap." (The author in me can't resist a good option for alliteration.)

Bump to inform of edited comments in post #7

A friend of mine from college days ...

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Years ago a fellow investigator of mine needed to get a photograph of the street on a busy bridge in Brooklyn. He pulled to the breakdown lane and jumped out of his car, snapped a quick picture and jumped back into his car and continued on his way. Unfortunately when he first got into his car he took off his suit jacket. He didnt put it back on when he jumped out of his car. Someone who was passing as he snapped the picture called 911 and reported a man with a gun on the bridge. When he got to the other side of the bridge he was surrounded by Police, guns drawn and detained for 14 hours before being released.

We laughed about it at the time but back then it was a different world. Its frightening to ponder what could have happened in today's world.