Your thoughts on the NRA's statement?

[bsd13]

I have mixed feelings about what they had to say today. Still processing it. How about you?

Is there a place for armed and (presumably) trained guards in our schools?

[Jacob2899]

I was more surprised at the IACP's response:

. . . The IACP has also been a strong proponent of an effective ban on military style assault weapons, background checks on all gun purchasers, and a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines. . .

http://www.theiacp.org/About/WhatsNe...px?id=1924&v=1

Other than that, I do agree with the rest of their response to the NRA. It's just not realistic to expect every schools in America to have armed security. Most schools -- public and private -- can't even afford to pay teachers.

[just joe]

I don't have mixed feelings about it at all. There are plenty of things less important than our children that are protected by armed security. As noted, the issue becomes when everyone tries to figure out who pays for it or what their share of the bill is going to be.

[PhilipCal]

I was more surprised at the IACP's response:



Other than that, I do agree with the rest of their response to the NRA. It's just not realistic to expect every schools in America to have armed security. Most schools -- public and private -- can't even afford to pay teachers.

Don't be too surprised at any anti-gun statement from the IACP. In the wake of any incident, tragedy if you will, involving firearms, all the "experts" come out of the woodwork. Much of the membership of the IACP is composed of chiefs who owe their jobs to liberal and anti-gun mayors.

It might be of more than casual interest to note that quite a few of these incidents take place in venues with very stringent gun laws. We should also note that these same incidents take place in the "gun free zones" so beloved and touted by the mainstream media and the rest of the Perfect World Society.

[Iowa #1603]

A purported cost estimate is $5 Billion a year.

Cut that cost by 1/3 by employing retired LEO/Corrections officers---an maybe retired / former military at a discount. Most already have a pension, benefits, and could easily "share" positions rather than hiring full time staff

Those people have been trained for years in weapon skills & have a bit of discipline in working around weapons and problem people

Paying for it........................cut into welfare programs

[BigMyk]

There are over-reactions to this kind of tragedy on all sides. There are 57 MILLION American kids in school right now in grades k-12 and 10s of millions more have graduated since 1999. Since 1999, 258 or so people (mostly kids) have died in school shootings of the Sandy Hook type.

That's Tragic and Horrific to be sure and I'm not against school taking reasonable measures to defend against the lone lunatic attacker (here in Texas many school districts have PDs and some schools allow for armed civilian employees), but if you ask me, this country doesn't need to spend another $5-10 billion a year on salary alone to turn schools into fortresses.

This country's 5000 School District Police Officers and 20,000 School Resource Officers from local LE agencies already do a fine job of protecting our kids. Expansion of school district PDs and SROs, yea, but some kind of armed security guard in each school, i don't think we need that. There are 73,000 elementary schools , not counting the other higher grades.

From the article in the above link:

Study: 121 attempted or planned attacks on schools nationwide thwarted between 2000 and 2010
Attacks foiled by police -- even school janitors
-snip-
A review of the 121 incidents shows the majority of threats to the schools involved actual or intended use of guns (55 instances) or explosive devices (22), with the rest not specified.

The reports indicate most of the threats were blocked by police investigations or law enforcement interventions at the schools when an assault was already underway. School administrators, counselors, school resource officers, even janitors and cafeteria workers, foiled at least 19 threats.

[-Erik-]

LaPierre called for armed guards in every school in the nation and blamed violent media, video games, films and music videos, not guns, for violence in society.

Shut your darn mouth LaPierre. If violent video games makes me a mass murderer, then I'm also a champion golfer, a race car driver and the Prince of Nazaroth.....

You can blame video games, but don't blame guns. Gotcha.

Friggin idiot. What happened to crazy?

[Bearcat357]

You post

You don't think kids are desensitized to violence based on violent games and vioence in the media...? Give me a break.....

[pulicords]

I think the NRA has fallen into the same trap of offering simplistic answers as those who regularly attack gun ownership. Here's an excellent perspective from a forensic psychiatrist that was a guest on "The View":

http://youtu.be/ZyKvTn5BT5c

[Bearcat357]

Expansion of school district PDs and SROs

That would be my thought as welll....

Easiest way to do it...? Start un-funding Iraq/A-Stan (pull Troops out now)/Eqypt/Syria/P-Stan/etc.....

Trillions of dollars are right there for the taking to fund this instead of those ****-hole countries.....

[HI629]

Shut your darn mouth LaPierre. If violent video games makes me a mass murderer, then I'm also a champion golfer, a race car driver and the Prince of Nazaroth.....

You can blame video games, but don't blame guns. Gotcha.

Friggin idiot. What happened to crazy?

Big difference between adults playing those games and impressionable young children. Hearing a 7 year old boy telling uniformed police officers "I'm gonna pop a cap in you" the other day just doesn't sit well with me. If I pulled that crap when I was 7, my parents would have whipped my @$$.

These video games that depict violence does have an impact on young minds. Would you take your young child to a "R Rated" violent or sexually explicit movie?

[reils49]

My agency axed SRO's last year because we didn't have the manpower to cover patrol.

[-Erik-]

You don't think kids are desensitized to violence based on violent games and vioence in the media...? Give me a break.....

If this was true then there should be a school shooting every other day in this country. Give me a break, some people are just crazy.

Big difference between adults playing those games and impressionable young children. Hearing a 7 year old boy telling uniformed police officers "I'm gonna pop a cap in you" the other day just doesn't sit well with me. If I pulled that crap when I was 7, my parents would have whipped my @$$.

These video games that depict violence does have an impact on young minds. Would you take your young child to a "R Rated" violent or sexually explicit movie?

So really the problem is the parents letting kids play these games before they are really ready.....

[hpd42]

I think putting officers in schools is good for a few reasons. First, it would provide plenty of new jobs. Secondly, it would serve as a deterent for school violence. Nothing will prevent all acts of violence, but it would serve as a deterent. Third having an officer in the schools allows children, their parents, and teachers to view the police in a different light. Just like with SRO's and DARE officers. As I country we send billions of dollars on foriegn aid to countries all over the world. I think we could cut some of that money and spend it here.

As part of my duties at my PD I do firearms applicant investigations. NJ has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. As part of the checks we run there is a mental health check to "try" and prevent ose with mental health issues from obtaining firearms. I don't think every state should be as tough as new jersey, but there does need to be some form of background check and mental health check on anyone trying to purchase a firearm. I am only familiar with NJ gun laws so I cant speak for what other states do.

[bsd13]

I notice a couple of people in this thread talking about police departments and addition SRO's, funding, etc.

Maybe I misunderstood what LaPierre was saying, but I didn't get the impression he was talking about law enforcement officers as the armed guards. At least not exclusively. If that's the case, if the armed guards turned out to be $8.50 hour everyday citizens off the street with virtually no training, does that give you pause?

In my initial post when I said I had mixed feelings that's what I was talking about.

[bsd13]

I was more surprised at the IACP's response

I'm not surprised. Like was pointed out it has a lot more to do with politics than anything else.

[Iowa #1603]

.

These video games that depict violence does have an impact on young minds. (

Especially if there are underlying psychological problems to begin with.

Pretty much all of the shooters in multiple causality incidents have prior problematic mental health histories.

What do many parents with poor child rearing skills do with children who cause trouble at home/school?.....................set their butts down in front of the TV or game console to keep them out of the adult's hair.

I have watched children with behavior problems react to violent TV programs and computer games. It overstimulates many. A child with psychological problems who gets a steady diet of computer killing can and most likely WILL be impacted negatively by those games


The problem is-----------------------many parents are ignorant of their child's psychological makeup. The first they are impacted by it is when they become a statistic.

[ten08]

To put a man in each school and each school bus should mean about 750,000 new jobs what with vacations and sick days. School taxes will take quite a hit. Perhaps we could get volunteers like George Zimmerman

[just joe]

I notice a couple of people in this thread talking about police departments and addition SRO's, funding, etc.

Maybe I misunderstood what LaPierre was saying, but I didn't get the impression he was talking about law enforcement officers as the armed guards. At least not exclusively. If that's the case, if the armed guards turned out to be $8.50 hour everyday citizens off the street with virtually no training, does that give you pause?

In my initial post when I said I had mixed feelings that's what I was talking about.

I don't have a problem with properly trained and armed security being non-sworn, however you are not going to get that for $8.00 an hour.

[GangGreen712]

I think that putting out a mandate that every school have armed security is a good idea. It needs to be done. Whether it's done by school resource officers or armed security, or whatever, soft targets can't be left undefended anymore.

You can get armed security officers for $10-$12 an hour and part time...that's pretty much the going rate for a new armored car guard. Will it cost money? Yeah, but it's doable.

[ten08]

Shut your darn mouth LaPierre. If violent video games makes me a mass murderer, then I'm also a champion golfer, a race car driver and the Prince of Nazaroth.....

You can blame video games, but don't blame guns. Gotcha.

Friggin idiot. What happened to crazy?

The Board of the NRA includes Ted Nugent, Chuck Norris and Grover Norquist

[PhilipCal]

Never would say "it can't happen here" but the City of Montgomery (Alabama) has had SRO's in the public schools of the city for quite a few years. I don't have any statistics on how many Sandy Hook type incidents they may have prevented, but it's been a very successful program.

When school is not in session, these officers are deployed on regular patrol. All in all, the taxpayers of the city are getting their money's worth. It's been, and continues to be an excellent , well run program.

[ten08]

So how many of your agencies follow up to ensure anyone placed on an involuntary committment is registered for a weapons ban. I did with the VA. I'm not sure if anyone did while I was a local

[JJHunsacker]

Shut your darn mouth LaPierre. If violent video games makes me a mass murderer, then I'm also a champion golfer, a race car driver and the Prince of Nazaroth.....

You can blame video games, but don't blame guns. Gotcha.

Friggin idiot. What happened to crazy?

I didn't read the entire statement, but did this guy actually not blame the shooter? If he didn't, then he's just another utopian.

[moparfan]

why not hire reserved officers/deputies to work the school. In most places they work for free or for a fixed rate with no benefits. seems like a win win, would be much like having retired or off duty guys worksing