my sorrow to the conn school shootings

[Czernobog]

As someone who works in an elementary school as one of my jobs and works mostly with disabled children, this is both extremely sickening and quite frightening. We have lock down drills, but as has been said, locked doors aren't the most secure thing in the world, and there will always be ways around gun control laws. Simply getting a child away from a window in a classroom like the one I work in can be a massive and time-consuming task. That being said, I truly believe any one I work with would do anything in their power to protect those children. There are kids who will try with all their might to actually leave the school building because they cannot understand that it is a different event than a fire drill. I cannot imagine the pain and trauma that all those involved at the school have had to endure. I cannot fathom this happening to innocent children. This is far and away the most sickening event I can recall in my lifetime, and my heart goes out for those families.

[Breetai]

That being said, I truly believe any one I work with would do anything in their power to protect those children.

Absolutely. I think any teacher who has gone through training will have considered putting their own life on the line for the safety of any student. If they have not done so, then I really don't think that individual is fit for having children in their care.

I don't know why the idea of training and arming teachers with weapons hasn't really been seriously put forward, what with all the school shootings over the past 14 years. They're public servants responsible for large numbers of defenseless children for hours each day. I'm not talking about something optional here, I'm talking about making it a mandatory part of getting a public school teaching job. Of course, the hiring process would include the same screens that keeps wackos from becoming policemen.

Obviously my idea would make things more difficult for teachers, but given what's happened it might be worth it.

Nice to know I wasn't alone when I brought this up.

Of course, there are plenty of wacko policemen who have their priorities very backwards.





So, I guess the shooter (not sure what happened to that guy they found in the bushes near the school) was on some sort of medication, of which of course some symptoms were suicidal thoughts (would homicidal thoughts really be a stretch?) and hallucinations.
Question: have not the majority of the high profile killings in the past decade or two (or more) involved the killers being on serious medication? Maybe medications being so common is something that should be looked at. TONS of meds have suicidal thoughts and hallucinations as a possible side-effect.

Maybe there should be prescription distribution control as a main talking point.

I've also read that the meds he was taking were for an undisclosed-as-of-yet personality disorder he had. Again, that seems par for the course, doesn't it?


This CBC article seems to provide a good un-biased summery of everything so far:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012 ... oting.html

[Menegrothx]

I don't know why the idea of training and arming teachers with weapons hasn't really been seriously put forward, what with all the school shootings over the past 14 years. They're public servants responsible for large numbers of defenseless children for hours each day. I'm not talking about something optional here, I'm talking about making it a mandatory part of getting a public school teaching job. Of course, the hiring process would include the same screens that keeps wackos from becoming policemen.

Because the kind of people who seek to be teachers usually aren't the kind of people who would also be fit to be cops. People in differnet professions tend to have different kind of personalities. Teaching little children especially isn't a very masculine job. I know my big sister is studying to become a teacher and even if you gave her a handgun and trained her how to use it, she still would be absolutely useless in a situation like that. Most of my school teachers through grades 1-6 were either very young or very old females. They'd panick and get emotional in a situation like that. A psychopath who is prepared for the situation, has calm nerves and is physically much stronger will have the upper hand in a situation like that.

Usually schools have janitors/caretakers who can open and lock doors, monitor security cameras etc. Atleast my school had one, his office was next to the school main entrance where he could monitor people who were coming in. Arming him (+keeping a bullet proof vest+helmet in his office for situations like this) and giving him the power to lock down different areas of the school makes a lot more sense.

[Breetai]

Usually schools have janitors/caretakers who can open and lock doors, monitor security cameras etc. Atleast my school had one, his office was next to the school main entrance where he could monitor people who were coming in. Arming him (+keeping a bullet proof vest+helmet in his office for situations like this) and giving him the power to lock down different areas of the school makes a lot more sense.

You know, this is not a bad idea at all. This position should also be VERY well paid, IMO, and should be held possibly by a licensed teacher who has also taking some law enforcement/military type courses (NOT saying he needs to be a cop or a military person, but he should have been proven to be able to handle himself in a high-tension situation).

[c0wb0y]

It breaks my heart that this happened. Kids...they were kids, man.
I have 3 daughters. 6, 9, and 18. I got the best hug from my 6 year old last night. It pains me that so many people won't be able to do the same because of one sick lunatic.

I tip my hat to all of you that work with kids. It takes a special person. Thanks for all you do.

Regarding the discussion about teachers carrying weapons...
I live in the Dallas area and was surprised to learn about a Texas school district that does allow teachers to carry a weapon. The rationale stated on the news was that the schools are about 30 minutes away from police and responders. If a shooter arrived, then the crime would be over long before any help showed up. Here's an older link about the district: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,404721,00.html I tried to find a link to the video from last night , but settled on a Fox News link.
I'm with the member that stated lots of educators didn't go into the profession to also be cops. Lord knows I didn't go into IT so I could carry a gun should office buildings be the next preferred target of madmen.

[Luke]

1. Guns don't belong in the classroom.

2. Can we maybe not speculate until we actually know what exactly happened? Nothing justifies the murder of innocent people, but we know so little about what happened and more importantly why it happened.

[AppleQueso]

Usually schools have janitors/caretakers who can open and lock doors, monitor security cameras etc. Atleast my school had one, his office was next to the school main entrance where he could monitor people who were coming in. Arming him (+keeping a bullet proof vest+helmet in his office for situations like this) and giving him the power to lock down different areas of the school makes a lot more sense.

You know, this is not a bad idea at all. This position should also be VERY well paid, IMO, and should be held possibly by a licensed teacher who has also taking some law enforcement/military type courses (NOT saying he needs to be a cop or a military person, but he should have been proven to be able to handle himself in a high-tension situation).

Why all this talk about training school faculty like you would a police officer when you could easily, you know, just have an on campus police officer?

My high school had one.

[Breetai]

Why all this talk about training school faculty like you would a police officer when you could easily, you know, just have an on campus police officer?

My high school had one.

Hmmmm.... feels like a prison then! I guess it's probably a good idea, it just feels weird to me. I guess I've never experienced that sort of thing before.

[AppleQueso]

Why all this talk about training school faculty like you would a police officer when you could easily, you know, just have an on campus police officer?

My high school had one.

Hmmmm.... feels like a prison then! I guess it's probably a good idea, it just feels weird to me. I guess I've never experienced that sort of thing before.

While there are things at my high school that definitely made it feel way too restrictive and prison-like, oddly enough the police officer being there wasn't really one of them. He was pretty much only there to help out when say, big fights broke out at lunch or students got really rowdy in class or something. I never really thought it was strange to have him around, seemed kinda sensible actually.

[brunoafh]

I grew up in a pretty shady town, but High Schools in my area had metal detectors and armed officers at all times. The cop at my High School even had his own office. The doors were locked 24/7 and you had to buzz in to gain entrance to the building. It felt kinda weird I guess, but yeah, no one was walking in with a gun very easy.

2. Can we maybe not speculate until we actually know what exactly happened? Nothing justifies the murder of innocent people, but we know so little about what happened and more importantly why it happened.

A nutcase slaughtered 20 something kids. Frankly, I don't give a fuck what his "reasoning" was.