Texas school district encourages armed teachers for protection

HARROLD, Texas -- There's at least one school that welcome firearms to class.

It believes nothing makes a school safer than teachers who are armed,

The Harrold Independent School District is one building with 103 students. It's 20 minutes away from the nearest sheriff's station. Superintendent David Thweatt created what he calls a "guardian plan" after the attack at Virginia Tech.

"These people that go in and do these horrible acts, they're evil. But they're not that crazy -- they always know where they are going to get resistance," Thweatt said.

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Teachers and administrators here carry concealed handguns. They won't say how many faculty members are armed. They get extra training, but the district would not give us details.

Some people are horrified when he starts talking about putting guns in schools with children, but Thweatt said it's important to be safe.

"Sure, but it's a pretty horrific thing that happened the other day." Thweatt said. "And quite a few people are not horrified. Quite a few people we have in our district, since we have a high-transfer district, people bring their students to us for that protection."

Texas law allows concealed weapons in schools with a district's permission. Harrold was the first district to do it. A similar proposal was vetoed by Michigan's governor Tuesday.

Thweatt says allowing the firearms into the school will dissuade anyone who wants to hurt the kids.

"That's the bottom line," he said.

Since the shootings in Connecticut, Superintendent Thweatt has gotten calls from districts around the state and as far away as Missouri from school administrators asking whether they might be able to implement similar plans.

[KPeters_from_UK]

While we are at it should all movie attendants and mall shop keepers be required to arm themselves?

[traveldood]

No one is REQUIRED to arm themselves. PLEASE try to deal in actual facts rather than rampant emotionalism.

[Belle925]

Since the Israelis armed their teachers back in the 1980's, there have been NO attacks like this there. Harrold, Texas trains and arms it's volunteering teachers. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57559912/texas-school-district-encourages-armed-teachers-for-protection/ This solution can be adopted on a district level. It is up to the teachers to protect the children in their charge. There is law and precedent for this. It's legal, responsible, and achievable.

[Dave_eddleman]

You're right. Witness your other repliy. Someone of this mentality would more likely use your child as a human shield than protect him.

[TimeToEvolve]

How does an inbred like David Thweatt get this press? What training do the teachers have? If he does not like what has happened even though he is likely all behind the NRA, then he should have to pay for armed security people. I mean that is what his fantasy world about freedom and free market is about.

[Dave_eddleman]

He does. They receive "guardian" pay, which circumvents Clinton's "Gun Free Zone" school law by making them armed security.

Notice that the school is full with only a 18% district automatic enrollment? Parents seem to like the idea that these teachers take a personal interest in thier children's safety.

[Belle925]

Ad hominem attacks make the bulk of leftist arguments. Whenever you can't defend your point logically, you calumniate the person making the argument, calling names like 'inbred,' sexist, racist, homophobe, bigot, etc. . It's an intellectually illegitimate tool of the left to emotionally influence the decisions of the low-information citizen and close debate without honest inquiry into what works.

[Vunderkint]

This is a common tactic used to squelch dissenting opinions by hurling invective and using debate ending cliches, the fact is when they use these tactics they have already lost the debate because if they had a real argument they'd be making it. This goes for everybody because the real aim here should be truth and right reasoning.

[TimeToEvolve]

Someone needs to write a book called What's the Matter With Texas? I don't know if most of the people are violent right wing wackos (I suspect not) or is it just the corporation puppet people in charge?

[ciphertext1]

Why don't you take a first pass at the book? It sounds like you have all the necessary material.

[therudge]

There are plenty of books about Texas, timetoevolve, but you and your Northeast elitists are too full of crap to read them. PS: Love your screen name. When to you plan to evolve from the cesspool and walk on two legs?

[Vunderkint]

Violent in Texas? Ever hear places like New York and Chicago? It's strange how the places with the toughest gun control have the most violent crimes, kind of puts things into proper perspective.

[Lindag20]

Looking to Texas for leadership in this matter is like turning the clock back 150 years. Their school test scores show how backward the state is.

[Vunderkint]

Try checking the test scores in the Washington DC school districts. Before removing the spec from your brother's eye maybe you should remove the 2 x 4 in your own first?

[WiseAsOwl]

So, you Libs just can't get your mind around folks being responsible for their own safety, can you.. It's no wonder you vote for Obama. You'd rather be killed like sheep than to do what you think might be considered a red-neck way of handling things.. So, we'll chalk you down as someone who would rather see people killed than for common sense methods to be used to prevent it... My.. aren't you a person of principles??? I don't want you to be responsible for my kids safety.. You'd sacrifice them for your cause.

[margroks]

Not everyone believes as you do. This has nothing to do with "taking responsibility." It's about weeding out those who cause such tragedies before they happen and that includes idiots who think they're all macho and can just take care of any problem with a gun. Truth is, and experts have said the same thing-in a situation like this there is confusion and chaos and it's very hard for anyone to be calm enough and rational enough to take out a perp withpout accidentally hurting an innocent bystander. Your post is just more NRA extremist brainwashing. None of what you say is true or makes any sense.

[Videoscribe21st]

>> can't get your mind around folks being responsible for their own safety, can you.

If guns in the classroom is the answer, shouldn't we embrace a 'more guns' solution. Why not arm every student, starting with the 6-year old first grade students. Give them the protection of 'Stand Your Ground' laws. It will end bullying, end teacher's verbal abuse of students and likely end mass shootings in schools.

[Vunderkint]

This has nothing to do with "taking responsibility."

It has everything to do with taking responsibility you are missing the point. Suggestions like arming every student (setting aside the fact it's illegal for kids to have guns) it's superfluous reasoning and ridiculous. "Teachers are verbal abuse of students?" OMG, reality check we need a reality check here! Sounds like Helicopter Parenting, I work in the public school system and you haven't got a clue as to the verbal and physical abuse school staff endures by students in this last generation of overindulgent parents that not only withhold their support for the authority of teachers and administrators but actively undermine it and bully the school staff demanding video proof their little angel did anything wrong and when we provide that video/audio proof did we received an apologize and do they hold their own kid accountable? Rarely! The parents engage in a power struggle to get something on a particular school staff member and it's getting worse every year.

I'm a firm believer in parental rights but there's a dirty little unspoken secret that's going on and that is the various drugs these kids are taking this is the missing link in many of these school shootings that hardly gets reported and I wonder why? Could it be that billions of dollars are at stake from big Pharma and the rush to drug these kids turning a blind eye to the stated side effects of a lot of these drugs but you're never going to see congressional hearings about this, no it's just easier to demonize weapons and ban guns that way they can get two birds with one stone, appear to be doing something and caring about anything other than getting reelected and proceeding on their statist agenda to disarm the American people incrementally.

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves." William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." Benjamin Franklin

[varigdc10]

We started very uncivilized back in the days of Columbus, we gradually became civilized over the centuries, now over the last few decades we slowly reverted back to being uncivilized once again, for different reasons than originally. So, it seems to me we are back into the "survival of the fittest" mode once again.But, lets just go back into the 1800,s, in the days of good old Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, Billy the Kid, an others, let's all wear holsters and see who is the fastest draw, wow,much more fun than the PC, iPods, Tablets, but wait, all this is coming to a screeching halt on December 21st, isn't it? Oh, well, I'll just go out and smoke my pot and booze and get happy till then.

[nohater]

Per FORTUNE California public schoolteachers own more than a 6% stake in the maker of .223 Bushmaster rifles, like the one used last Friday to murder 20 first graders and seven adults in Newtown. The company in question is Freedom Group, a privately-held firearms conglomerate formed by private equity and hedge fund group Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus created the platform in April 2006 via the acquisition of Bushmaster, after which it added another 10 makers of firearms, ammunition and accessories (including Remington, Marlin Arms and Barnes Bullets).

The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) committed to invest a whopping $500 million into a $7.5 billion Cerberus fund that has helped bankroll Freedom Group.

[skeezix06]

When I was in school no one had a gun. People didn't need to carry a gun to get respect and the students didn't live in fear 24/7 if they didn't have someone in their immediate vicinity carrying a gun. No one was trying to foster a dependence on guns back then.