St. Louis County Police Chief Wants to Arm School Officials With Guns
In the wake of the Newtown, CT school massacre, St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch will visit schools this week to discuss increasing security, including putting guns in elementary schools.
St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch and police officers will begin visiting St. Louis County schools Monday morning, according to KMOV.
Fitch said he's received numerous calls from area schools concerned about security since Friday's mass shooting in a Newtown, CT elementary school.
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Fitch acknowledges that most high schools and some middle schools, including those in West County, have armed school resource officers.
However, elementary schools are not normally protected by officers. Fitch wants to see armed resource officers or armed school officials in those schools, according to KSDK.
He points out that Sandy Hook Elementary School conducted threat drills and locked its doors once class started, but that did not stop suspected shooter Adam Lanza from gunning down 20 children and six women Friday.
St. Louis area schools also lock their doors when class starts and conduct threat drills. However, this week, Fitch plans to meet with school officials throughout the county to discuss increasing security at schools even more.
His proposal includes putting guns in the schools, particularly the elementary schools. He said the weapons would remain locked up with trained staff members having access to them in an emergency.
What do you think about Chief Fitch's proposal? Do you have a better suggestion? Post your thoughts in the comments below.
Tamara Hunter Durham
7:45 am on Monday, December 17, 2012
Our schools, of all the places, do not need this knee-jerk reaction, of all the reactions
Courtney Rodriguez
8:15 am on Monday, December 17, 2012
The training required to make appropriate decisions, increase reaction times, and make accurate shots in these situations isn't something that you can just go to a class for. In the wrong hands, good intentions aside, a defense weapon can do just as much harm as good. Typically, a by-stander with a weapon has difficulty even drawing it correctly and is brought down before they can even fire. Why is that? Hours of target practice do not prepare you a bit for crisis situations! Ask you local policemen the MONTHS of specialized training they go through to train themselves to over ride the body's reaction in an emergency. The thought of guns in our schools frightens me, even defensive ones.
Joan Krumrey
8:33 am on Monday, December 17, 2012
This is the worst Idea I've heard yet. We can't control the guns that are out there now, so let's just increase the number. As a former teacher, we want our students to feel safe. Having a gun in the classroom sends the message that their classroom is a dangerous place. Safety training for the teachers and students is the best defense.
Gary K Lee
11:17 am on Monday, December 17, 2012
If schools feel they need to prepare for what happened in CT, the guard/policeman needs body armor and the school needs bullet-proof glass. How far are they willing to go? Perhaps everyone needs to give more serious thought about school safety after we're less upset about what happened there.
Why hasn't the dialogue so far been anything about mental health. If the murderer had the right help sometime before, this whole catastrophe could have been avoided and we wouldn't be talking about putting armed guards in schools or even arming teachers.
RDBet
2:11 pm on Monday, December 17, 2012
Terrible idea by the county. The killer's mother was armed to the hilt, and she's dead now.
Gary - with regard to mental health- I wholeheartedly agree. Someone with mental health issues has easier access to guns in this nation, than they do to relevant mental health care
As far as people talking about mental health - there are - this good program had a pyschologist on the roundtable.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-12-17/mass-shootings-and-their-effect-american-psyche
Jh
1:30 pm on Monday, December 17, 2012
Bad idea. Really bad idea.
Mr. Completely
3:53 pm on Monday, December 17, 2012
Courtney Rodriguez: 95% of self defense shootings from average everyday armed citizens happen fom 5 to 7 feet away. So your argument is difficult to apply to real events that may take place like the recent school shooting. The first 2 staff members who were shot were fairly close to the shooter and could probably have eleminated the threat if thay had a weapon and some very basic training.
Its really difficult for me to understand previous posters who don't think that a gun in the hands of ANY law abiding citizen in this situation is better that some crazed killer walking through a school building for 10 minutes killing kids. Many of you will only accept the usual half baked, un-doable theory of removing guns from society. That thought is a waste of valuable time and will only result in additional killings. When I'm out with my family they know that I've taken the responsible position in our group for defending ourselves against some random killer in a restaurant, movie, wherever. Maybe you should consider an alternative to your position and get ahold of an idea that could actually be implemented into a free society. Gun Control is a waste of time, its not gonna happen ever. Plan B?
RDBet
8:21 pm on Monday, December 17, 2012
No one of influence is calling for an all out ban of guns. Even if they were, it wouldn't get anywhere. There was no gun control initiative after the prior massacres, because the politicians are generally cowards and/or owned by the gun lobby. We've just continued to add guns to society - and it has not helped - it surely didn't protect Nancy Lanza.
And the thought of Mr. Completely packing heat in a restaurant...good grief. Yet, another reason to avoid Cracker Barrel.
RDBet
8:24 pm on Monday, December 17, 2012
FYI
"
Other countries offer a road map. In Australia in 1996, a mass killing of 35 people galvanized the nation’s conservative prime minister to ban certain rapid-fire long guns. The “national firearms agreement,” as it was known, led to the buyback of 650,000 guns and to tighter rules for licensing and safe storage of those remaining in public hands.
The law did not end gun ownership in Australia. It reduced the number of firearms in private hands by one-fifth, and they were the kinds most likely to be used in mass shootings.
In the 18 years before the law, Australia suffered 13 mass shootings — but not one in the 14 years after the law took full effect. The murder rate with firearms has dropped by more than 40 percent, according to data compiled by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, and the suicide rate with firearms has dropped by more than half."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/opinion/sunday/kristof-do-we-have-the-courage-to-stop-this.html?smid=tw-share&_r=3&;
Mr. Completely
4:28 am on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
RDBet: Backatya. Bout as scary as you sitting around all day with a keyboard. You don't carry a gun when you go to restaurants? What is your plan B when and if some crazed idiot walks in shooting at everyone? Hello. Waiting.
RDBet
8:43 am on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
What is so offensive by Australia's mostly successful response to their mass shooting problem? It should be encouraging to see that something can help.
As for plan B - I think we can agree that no plan works all the time. Again, I will steer clear of Cracker Barrel, and alway conscious of surroundings. Safety is largely a superstition. By her arsenal, Nancy Lanza could have been construed as one of the safest people in America.
As far as training and arming teachers. BSD is reviewing safety procedures, sent two letters out already addressing concerns. We ask a lot of our schools, besides teaching, they have to deal with sick kids, child abuse reporting, testing testing testing, .... now arming them. Sounds like you want to give them a raise.
And lastly to have my time on keyboard questioned by a guy who calls himself Mr. Completely... you have a legitimate point there. I will stop wasting time on fools, and leave this place for the Mr. Completely's, PaulReveres etc etc.
Jh
2:26 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Teachers carrying guns in a school, is a really dumb iidea.
This is a social problem, not a war. This problem will not be solved warfare like with more weapons from a greater armed contigency. A war on war is about what that more guns mentality amounts to. Stupid.