Tamaqua School Board Moving Forward with Arming Staff

[cdi]

Your assumption that a teacher cannot be trained to be an effective tool to defend the kids is silly . Take police officers. The majority of them do one week of firearms training during the academy and once a year qualification. Wow that’s a professional fighter.
With a proper training program and follow up recurring training even a “ Teacher” can be trained to be quite effective in a shooting situation. After all the shooters are mostly kids that are not gunfighters. The reason they are mostly successful in these situations is because they are not challenged.

I didn't say anything of the kind- I said they should not be expected to counter an armed threat the way a person trained for that specific function would.
Police officers are stretched pretty thin in the firearms competency arena. Their job function is huge and firearms play a pretty small part in it.
I would prefer dedicated gunfighter types in that roll. I have no problem with teachers carrying their personal defense weapons in school.

[t1066]

They don't need to be operators operating operationally.

They just need to be speed-bumps.

Larry Correia on gun control and arming teachers

[cdi]

I don't agree they just need to be speed bumps. Active shooter in a school is closer to a hostage rescue op than just about anything else.
To be clear, I have no issue with teachers that wish to be armed.

In Pa. those teachers can be augmented with armed security, school police officers and school resource officers.
Of those options, the school police officer appears to be a good choice. The qualifications are laid out according to statute.

The qualifications needed are quite a bit more than just a license to carry firearms. Armed teachers are fine- gunfighters AND armed teachers are better.

[rwilson452]

I do believe you give qualified police more credit for their expertise than they deserve. I have observed the training they get at the local police academy and the standards required. I know many "civilians" that are much better than the police. For example, I belonged to a club and competed in shooting in a style very similar to IPSC . If fact we regularly invited local law enforcement to shoot with us. Some would show up once and walk away embarrassed never to return. The best person ever to shoot with us was in fact a SASS shooter and considered one of the top ten in the sport.

[Roger Kipwell]

School teachers are one of those things you probably shouldn't bring to a gunfight.

I know more than a few teachers who are Marine or Army veterans.

Personally, I would much prefer dedicated armed personell.

Might as well station firefighters there as well. Heck, you have greater likelyhood of needing a firefighter at a school than you do a gunfighter.

[alpacaheat]

They are going in the right direction-almost.
School teachers are one of those things you probably shouldn't bring to a gunfight.

I am skeptical about a career change from teacher to gunfighter.
Personally, I would much prefer dedicated armed personell.

My son had a teacher who is an Army Vet last year. I wouldn't mess with her.

Not all teachers are liberal pansies...you only need a few capable teachers to be effective. EVERY teacher shouldn't have a gun...you can't trust liberals with guns, especially in schools, they're the mass shooters!

[alpacaheat]

I know more than a few teachers who are Marine or Army veterans.



Might as well station firefighters there as well. Heck, you have greater likelyhood of needing a firefighter at a school than you do a gunfighter.

NOW you're thinking. Every school gets an armed firefighter. Ready for everything.

[cdi]

I was the lead firearm/defensive tactics instructor on my agency for 18 years. There were a few guys who were just a soup sammich on the range. Most were capable but nothing special. A very few were excellent.
Most cops are not gun guys- their weapons are just something to blow the nose nuggets and butt fuzz off a couple times a year to qualify. There are others however that fit the bill well.

Sometimes a p.d. will hide their duds by making them the dare officer, school resource officer, detective, Etc. After the disgraceful performance of the dud in Florida, those days may be ending. There are plenty of retired cops and military that would qualify for the position, not typical policemen or vets but those that have a little more advanced tactical training.

It's not that hard to find guys that are well trained with a little gas left in the tank to do the job. It gets a little more complicated finding ones that can comport themselves in a school setting but it's far from impossible.
No doubt, the odds of needing someone for the ultimate bad day is very, very small. None the less, schools in Pa. are warming up to the idea. The school police officers are used for a myarid of functions around the school when they're not busy putting down mass shooting events.

[Roger Kipwell]

The school police officers are used for a myriad of functions around the school when they're not busy putting down mass shooting events.

Handing out condoms
Searching lockers for contraband
Telling stories about how they helped take down the Barrow gang.
Frisking cheerleaders.
Maintaining a watch in the girl's locker room

[cdi]

I'm looking forward to all of those details.