“Why conceal guns on the body instead of in a safe? ‘It’s ultimately about putting people in place to protect the house. We hope and pray it would never be us, but at the end of the day, we have to be ready in seconds and not minutes.'” – Georgetown Exempted Village Schools Superintendent Chris Burrow in Guns in school [via mydaytondailynews.com]
And in another district, select staffers can shelter in place, retrieve their weapons from their safes, and be prepared to deal with the shooter when he’s already cleaned out a couple of other classrooms. (from the linked article)
Georgetown’s method is probably superior, I assume teachers are much better than campus security police at not getting bored and playing with their sidearms at school so I don’t think any on-body mishaps are very likely.
The superintendent should probably have a long talk with each armed teacher about bathroom protocol, if cops and some CCWs can’t get it right, we can’t just assume teachers won’t set guns down on the toilet.
“The superintendent should probably have a long talk with each armed teacher about bathroom protocol, if cops and some CCWs can’t get it right, we can’t just assume teachers won’t set guns down on the toilet.”
Since most teachers us the staff bathrooms, there’s nothing stopping them from mounting a small basket of some type to the inside of the stall door…
Good idea. One additional suggestion. Whatever the solution might be, place the gun-holder in such a position that the door lock can’t be easily opened when a gun is in-place. E.g., suppose a simple shelf placed on the door a fraction-of-an-inch below the door lock. You can’t reach the lock to unlock the door without moving your gun. Once you move the gun you ought to remember to re-holster it.
Do people really disarm every time they take a shit?
Depends on where you carry your gun, and whether you are male or female.
What? Are they prepping for prison and stuffing it up there?
Good holsters, good belts and good position of carry make this simpler to deal with.
In my 12 years of carrying, I have NEVER had to remove my firearm to shit nor piss. IMO, if your method of carry requires you to do so, find a new method of carry.
The belly band has really made using the toilet while armed a revelation.
Makes sense to me. Progs must still be scratching their heads & clutching their pearls.
This is a really constructive movement. OH is surrounded by: PA; WV; KY; IN; & MI. All States with a relatively liberal set of gun laws. As OH schools gradually tool-up, the faculty and administrations of schools in the 5 surrounding States will gradually take notice. Any tragedy anywhere in the US will startle the populations of these 5 States to re-consider (to say nothing of the response by still-un-armed schools in OH.)
A superintendent of an un-armed school will have to consider how vehemently he wants to oppose arming his school. He is facing 2 alternate risks, both long-shots. He advocates arming his school and some teacher has an incident; he looses small. Or, he resists arming his school and some crazy kid/adult shoots-up his school; he loses big. Which risk does he want to take? Maybe he will decide that the least risky strategy is to remain neutral.
Parents in these gun-friendly States open a discussion: If OH schools are arming-up, why not us? If the superintendent of a school is neutral, the faculty is apt to temper their opposition. Something is likely to give; if only installing a gun-safe in the superintendent’s office. From there, it’s a slippery slope toward concealed carry by staff.
This won’t happen overnight; more likely, a 10 year process. Our task is to nurture it along so that whichever fissures open-up that we are being supportive. We must resist the temptation to give negative criticism to small steps in the right direction.
Instead, we ought to point out that a gun safe + gun + training 1 guy will put no dent in the school’s budget. Conversely, hiring even one cop (active or retired) would cost a lot that could otherwise be spent on teacher salary increases.
What is worrisome is that many schools, especially in outlying areas, are some distance for any kind of police help. In an emergency they’re basically on their own and this, of course, makes them even more vulnerable—and attractive to bad guys. Things get complicated because school teachers aren’t the most combative folks in the world. I suggested to my school-teacher niece that she should consider arming herself. She nearly fainted at the thought. Still, if there had been a single “good guy with a gun” at Sandy Hook the kids and teachers might have stood a better chance. This is a real dilemma for many school people but reality can bite real hard sometimes.
What do you mean by liberal set of gun laws?
OH has been able to open carry or conceal carry for a long time now. We can own full autos, SBR/S and suppressors. We just passed a law allowing suppressor use while hunting. We have no magazine limits- we got rid of the silly 30 round limit that required one to own an SBR to have a magazine holding more than 30 rounds. We were able to carry modern pistols openly long before Texas was allowed.
What we CAN’T do is use actual rifle rounds for seasonal hunting. We can hunt deer with a 45-70 round, but not a .223 or .308, for example. IIRC pest control is fair game- we can hunt things like wild hogs with whatever round we want to
This Superintendent has his head on straight.
” Four years after bringing guns into Sidney City Schools, Scheu said more than 90 percent of the staff who first volunteered have stayed with the program. He said the district has no issue finding educators willing to bear arms.
“As a matter of fact, we have a waiting list.”
That delightful sound you are now hearing is ‘progressive’ heads exploding like a bowl of Rice Krispies…
*snicker*
I had a frown on when I thought it was the neighbor kid with leftover 4th of July firecrackers.
But now I’m smiling at the mental image…
Waiting list?
Permits to carry at work are rationed?
First line of defense. Good call Georgetown. I think we can safely assume school shootings in that district just fell right off the itinerary.
Considering we use “armed security” to protect so many other valuable items and places in today’s society I’m just baffled that the concept of protecting our kids this way is so controversial.
I like the approach they took here with training and need-to-know only OpSec. Put the bad guys and fame seeking lunatic cowards on notice that those schools are not soft defenseless “gun free zone” that allow you to slaughter the defenseless for several minutes without any resistance.
The resistance to logic you mentioned also sort of amused me in a dark way.
The argument often came down to the idea that it was better to just Mass Shooty McFuckFace run rampant until the 5-0 arrived because an actual gunfight might hurt more students. I often wondered how the advocates of such policies could put them forth with a straight face.
I’d be embarrassed to offer up an argument that stupid.
It is refreshing to see a young school administrator the “gets it.” Most school professionals are ignorant of defensive firearms use and VERY risk adverse. They fear an exposed gun, an angry fearful parent, a negligent discharge and an increase in liability insurance rate. 250 pound football PE coaches fear being overpowered and disarmed by skinny sophomores. In the end, superintendents and school boards would rather risk the loss staff and students to brazen killers than embrace reality, real risks and training.