Bill would allow SC teachers to carry guns

Reba

Reba

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A new bill in the South Carolina House aims to better protect children by creating new “School Protection Officers,” who would be teachers, administrators or any other school employees who would be allowed to carry guns or pepper spray at school. The school employees would volunteer for the additional responsibilities and would have to go through a new two-week training program at the Criminal Justice Academy. School employees who have concealed weapons permits would be allowed to carry their guns at school, as long as they keep them concealed or locked in a school firearm safe.

“Schools are gun-free zones now, and that makes them a target,” says Rep. Phillip Lowe, R-Florence, the main sponsor of the bill. He says if someone intent on shooting up a school knew that any teacher or other school employee might be armed, schools wouldn’t be targets.

He prefiled a bill in 2012 that would have allowed any teacher with a CWP to carry at school, but the bill didn’t go anywhere because of concerns about the lack of training. This new bill would require the new two-week training to include: shoot/don’t shoot training; school safety protection training; rapid response training; identifying and containing potential threats and occurring threats training; defusing volatile situations and resolving conflict; communicating with law enforcement that has jurisdiction over the school; and first responder first aid.

James Davis was waiting to pick up his 13-year-old from middle school in Columbia Monday. When told about the bill, he said, “It’s a good idea to have guns in the school, for the teachers, to have the right teachers to have the guns. You’ve got to have protection. The crooks have got guns so we’re going to have to have them too. So I think it’s a good idea. I hope it passes.”

But Brett Qualls, who was waiting outside the same school to pick up his 13-year-old daughter, said, “More people with guns bothers me.” He says he’s worried about the accessibility of the guns. “At the end of the day or in-between classes the teacher could lay their pistol down anywhere, sit it in their drawer, don’t want to wear it, put it in their drawer. A kid could get a hold of it. Anything could go wrong like that. You’re talking about K-through-12. Kids are curious.”

It would be up to each school district to decide whether to have school protection officers, and the districts would have to hold public hearings before deciding.

Kathy Maness, executive director of the Palmetto State Teachers Association, says, “I am very concerned that this bill would allow other people besides law enforcement agencies to carry guns inside the classroom.”

She says state superintendent Molly Spearman appointed a school safety task force, whose report is due next month, and lawmakers should wait to see what that report says before taking action on this bill.

She’s also worried about the potential accessibility of the guns. “What about these students who may, all of a sudden, say, ‘Hey, they’ve got a gun. I’m going to get it.’ That is a huge concern of mine as a parent and as someone who works with educators.”
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Bill would allow SC teachers to carry guns in school
 
Bad teacher: If you did not complete homework, here I am pointing gun at you! :lol:
 
I only prefer SRO or LEO to be armed at school.

I will not send my kids to school if I know it is heavily armed, especially full of teachers with guns due concern with accidental shooting, also schools may have issue with insurance companies that insure the school.
 
I am curious... Will the training be updated and where are the safes in relation to the teachers?


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Jezie said:
I am curious... Will the training be updated and where are the safes in relation to the teachers?


Sent from my SM-G530T1 using AllDeaf App mobile app
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that's entirely up to school districts
 
Best place to keep a gun is on your person. If not then it's got to be in a safe.

I'm all for it but I agree that they need ongoing training. A single 2 week program is not enough. There should be yearly qualifications. But there is no reason a teacher can't be just as qualified as a cop to carry a gun. You'd be surprised how little active shooter training most cops get. They're not all SWAT.
 
Foxrac said:
I only prefer SRO or LEO to be armed at school.

I will not send my kids to school if I know it is heavily armed, especially full of teachers with guns due concern with accidental shooting, also schools may have issue with insurance companies that insure the school.
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To be honest, even in "gun-free zones," you never really know who's carrying and who's not unless everyone is going thru a metal detector at the school.

Personally, I don't think all the teachers or even a majority of the teachers would sign up for this program if it's made available, so I don't envision schools "full of teachers with guns."
 
Jezie said:
I am curious... Will the training be updated and where are the safes in relation to the teachers?
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Training, qualifying and practicing need to be done on a regular basis. I don't know what the legislation will require.

I was wondering about the safes myself. If it's one big safe in the admin section of the school that wouldn't make much sense. :dunno:
 
So I'm wondering if a kid gets detention instead of cleaning out the board erasers does he have to clean out the teacher's gun? :lol:
 
Reba said:
To be honest, even in "gun-free zones," you never really know who's carrying and who's not unless everyone is going thru a metal detector at the school.

Personally, I don't think all the teachers or even a majority of the teachers would sign up for this program if it's made available, so I don't envision schools "full of teachers with guns."
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I don't trust teachers to be armed, even with CCW due risk of accidental shooting in K-12 schools and in some cases, teacher jobs require a lot of action. My father used to be CCW in 80s and it was uncomfortable for him so he quit CCW before I was born. He is seriously concerned about accidental shooting that caused tragic events for families.

Effective security measurement for school is SRO + closed policy - it means K-12 schools closed all time and require staff to open the doors. There is no mass shooting for K-12 schools since 2012 after many schools adopted similar policies. The mass shooting has move to college due to open policy and fewer campus officers in size of big campus.

During my time, the guns were banned in school that where I attended in 90s but they probably change after 2012 mass shooting - they are closed to everyone nowadays, also some school districts adopted manadatory clear and mesh backpacks or ban all backpacks together. I know clear and mesh backpacks aren't foolproof and you could hide guns in sandwich between books or in pencil box.

The metal detector is common at school in big cities and they are very time consuming. I don't believe that is existing in my state. Mass shooting in K-12 schools are very rare and it is becoming difficult due to security measure above.
 
Foxrac said:
I don't trust teachers to be armed, even with CCW due risk of accidental shooting in K-12 schools and in some cases, teacher jobs require a lot of action. My father used to be CCW in 80s and it was uncomfortable for him so he quit CCW before I was born. He is seriously concerned about accidental shooting that caused tragic events for families.
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Not everyone is suitable for CCW, and no one should be forced into getting one.

Effective security measurement for school is SRO + closed policy - it means K-12 schools closed all time and require staff to open the doors. There is no mass shooting for K-12 schools since 2012 after many schools adopted similar policies. The mass shooting has move to college due to open policy and fewer campus officers in size of big campus. . .
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Of course, crazed shooters don't have to obey closed doors--they can shoot their way in or shoot kids who are outside the building.

. . . The metal detector is common at school in big cities and they are very time consuming. I don't believe that is existing in my state. Mass shooting in K-12 schools are very rare and it is becoming difficult due to security measure above.
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I don't know about my entire state but I know in this area there are no metal detectors in the schools.
 
Reba said:
Not everyone is suitable for CCW, and no one should be forced into getting one.


Of course, crazed shooters don't have to obey closed doors--they can shoot their way in or shoot kids who are outside the building.


I don't know about my entire state but I know in this area there are no metal detectors in the schools.
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It is difficult to break the closed metal doors without force - it will lead to lockdown. In many schools, front door is only accessible and monitored. It does lower the probability for schools to be target of mass shooting. The gated around playground is common in urban schools.

There is no mass shooting in K-12 schools since 2012 and I believe that SRO + closed policy are sufficient, also mass shooting in K-12 schools are rare.
 
my kids' HS have armed SRO. So my kids will be protected and safe. Those of you who don't have kids won't understand.
 
israel teachers who are in the IDF reserve often keeps guns and rifles locked in their schools. Deaf Israelis told me

Foxrac said:
I only prefer SRO or LEO to be armed at school.

I will not send my kids to school if I know it is heavily armed, especially full of teachers with guns due concern with accidental shooting, also schools may have issue with insurance companies that insure the school.
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Whether the schools have armed teachers, off duty police officers, etc. don't fool yourself into thinking that a school shooting won't happen and it will be safe. You will have either a teacher shooting someone on accident or someone hell bent on killing someone avoiding the security measures and shooting up a classroom before they themselves are "taken out" or take themselves out. The person they will shoot first will probably be the teacher as happened in OR. All guns will do is give you a false sense of security. We have had several students shot at schools over the years and all the schools had armed on campus security
 
seb said:
Whether the schools have armed teachers, off duty police officers, etc. don't fool yourself into thinking that a school shooting won't happen and it will be safe. You will have either a teacher shooting someone on accident or someone hell bent on killing someone avoiding the security measures and shooting up a classroom before they themselves are "taken out" or take themselves out. The person they will shoot first will probably be the teacher as happened in OR. All guns will do is give you a false sense of security. We have had several students shot at schools over the years and all the schools had armed on campus security
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Who said it would stop all shootings?
 
mikemike said:
israel teachers who are in the IDF reserve often keeps guns and rifles locked in their schools. Deaf Israelis told me
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That's interesting and I heard about Israel is dealing with terrorist attack everyday.
 
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