By Baldr Odinson.
A little less than a week ago, the little town of Harrisburg, Oregon, just north of where I live in Eugene, held a meeting to discuss the idea of arming some of its school staff, following the lunatic advice of the NRA. 
From an article:
At the meeting, [state representative Dennis] Richardson said that upgrading fences and locking doors make schools feel like prisons, and that building prison-like schools are an ineffective deterrent to school shootings, as determined shooters will find access to a campus.
Linn County Sheriff Tim Mueller agreed and added that Sandy Hook Elementary was locked down and secured when the attack happened and that no matter what schools do, a shooter will gain access if desired.
Richardson suggested that Oregon schools should consider allowing several staff members to act as campus responders by bearing a concealed weapons permit, with permit bearers partaking in frequent training and practice.
(Maybe you remember Sheriff Tim Mueller? He’s one of the insurrectionist Sheriffs who, before President Obama had even unveiled his proposals to reduce gun violence, declared that he would rebel against his sworn duty to uphold and enforce the laws of our nations by refusing to enforce any gun legislation that was passed. But I digress…)
We wouldn’t want to add sensible security features like fences and locking doors. Let’s instead arm our teachers! We don’t pay them enough to actually teach our kids, with 30+ students per class, and expect them to sometimes parent our kids, too, and serve other roles, like street-crossing guards, coaches, or even bus drivers, for little-to-no additional pay, but now they are expected to be the school armed security, too?
What representative Richardson failed to acknowledge is that there isn’t a single instance — ever — of an armed school security guard actually stopping a shooting by pulling out their weapon. In fact, they have tried and failed.
Perhaps this is why teacher and parent organizations have roundly come out against the idea of guns in schools. From one article:
The American Federation of Teachers called the suggestion “irresponsible and dangerous,” while the National Education Association described it as shocking and based on the “delusional assumption that everything other than guns contributes to these tragedies.”
From another article:
The National Parent Teachers Organization said today it was pleased with many of President Obama’s new proposals to improve school security but that his call for more armed guards at schools “comes as a disappointment.”
But there HAVE been instances where conceal carry permit holders, including armed security guards, have had accidents at schools. Consider the following examples:
- March 6, 2013: A recently-started armed resource officer program at schools in Highland, New York, was suspended after one of the security guards unintentionally fired his weapon in school. Children were present, but luckily no one was injured.
- March 1, 2013: During a conceal carry training class, on school grounds, which was part of a new program to arm school staff, a school maintenance worker who was a student in the class unintentionally fired his weapon, wounding himself in the leg.
- January 17, 2013: A charter school in Lapeer, Michigan, decided to start having an armed guard on campus. Three days after hiring a guard, the man left his weapon in a school bathroom where kids could have found it.
- October 8, 2012: A man with a concealed handgun visited an elementary school classroom in Moore, Oklahoma, to help the teacher with her computer. His gun fell out and he left without it, only realizing it was missing after the media reported it. Small children were present in the room at the time.
- September 12, 2011: An armed security guard, patrolling schools at night in Salem, Oregon, unintentionally lost his loaded firearm somewhere during his rounds. The gun was never found.
There’s no clear evidence that having armed guards has reduced the violence rate. The vast majority of schools have never demonstrated a need, nor likely ever will demonstrate a need, for armed interference. One report for armed schools in Mississippi reported that the guards engaged in “overly harsh school disciplinary policies,” unnecessary arrests, and racial prejudice. Further, two different studies (HERE and HERE) have shown that armed guards in schools make students feel less secure, possibly affecting their performance.
Conceal carry gun owners are all-too-often responsible for leaving loaded guns where children find them, sometimes resulting in injuries or death, unintentionally discharge their gun in public or leave it behind in public, or, yes, purposely use their guns to murder people.
And God forbid if a troubled child were able to get the gun off of the concealed carry permit holder to arm themselves.
Walking onto the grounds of a school won’t magically change human nature, including for conceal carry permit holders. It is an unacceptable risk to our children.
