Arming teachers and other personnel is the best approach to combat gun violence in schools, the National Rifle Association reiterated Tuesday.
“We want the debate focused on school safety,” said former Arkansas Congressman Asa Hutchinson at the National Press Club. “Teachers should teach, but if there is a personnel that has good experience, has interest in it and is willing to go through the training…then that is an appropriate resource a school should be able to utilize.”
Hutchinson released an eight-point list of recommendations drawn up by the NRA-funded School Shield Task Force, which he heads. The task force was launched in response to the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
The group spent the past three months assessing schools nationwide for security vulnerabilities, best practices and technologies. Their findings were detailed in a 225-page report.
The goal of having armed personnel in schools is to reduce response time in emergency situations, Hutchinson said.
After passing background checks and screening, personnel designated by school districts would receive 40-60 hours of training at what the NRA estimated would cost from $800 to $1,000.
Focusing solely on mental health to improve school safety is inadequate, Hutchinson said, calling instead for a “comprehensive plan of layered security.”
But Maryland educators are skeptical about the NRA’s plan to fight guns with guns.
“I’m not sure a whole lot of parents want to see little elementary school kids walking by armed guards when they to go school,” said Betty Weller, president of the Maryland State Education Association.
Intentionally increasing the number of guns in schools can make accidental shootings more likely, Weller said, echoing a common criticism of plans to arm teachers.
“I think it’s incumbent upon us to come up with more common sense solutions to prevent gun violence, not just always react to it,” Weller said. “Guns have done a lot of damage in schools. I’m not sure if that’s the best way to deal with this.”
The report also recommends increased coordination between schools and local law enforcement, more training for school resource officers, security assessments, threat assessments, state safety requirements, improved federal coordination and funding. The task force also suggested creation of an umbrella national organization to provide leadership for school safety –a role it feels it is in a position to fill.
The task force’s report did not look at gun control legislation circulating on Capitol Hill, including proposals to limit ammunition capacity and ban assault weapons.
Before Hutchinson’s remarks, Congressman Elijah Cummings, D-Baltimore, urged action on gun control in a separate speech just down the hall.
“One of my greatest concerns is that arguments go back and forth and we end up doing absolutely nothing,” said Cummings, a chief sponsor of the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act of 2013.
The bill, which was introduced in early February and has 102 co-sponsors in the House, would create a federal law prohibiting the purchase or transfer of weapons intended for recipients who may not possess a gun, such as felons. It also strengthens punishments for those found to have lied about the intended recipients of purchased guns, so-called “straw purchasers.”
Cummings acknowledged that his bill may not have the votes to pass the Republican-controlled House, but said he isn’t frustrated.
“This is about moving the ball up the court. I don’t know whether we’ll score two points or three points. But I believe that we will accomplishment something. And it may be that we lay the foundation in this Congress to do even more in the next Congress,” Cummings said.
He referred to the NRA and other gun control legislation opponents as “wonderful people,” but took issue with their plan to focus solely on school safety.
“Gun violence is not just restricted to schools,” Cummings said.
Asked about the School Shield plan, he was both honest and diplomatic.
“Having more guns at schools I don’t think is necessarily the answer,” he said. “But any jurisdiction that wants to take care of their kids in that way, may not be a bad proposal. I wouldn’t just throw that suggestion out the window, just as I would not want him to toss the things that we are trying to address here out the window.”
By Yagana Shah and Jeremy Barr via Capital News Service
joe diamond says
I think the NRA plan is a good way to get a teacher or volunteer shot. In the unlikely event of one of these attacks the cops would arrive with guns drawn. If the NRA plan gets rolling the cops have to sort out friend or foe while trying to work a plan to find and stop the shooter (s).
THEN THERE IS THIS:
The review article, published in the American Journal of Criminal Justice last month, examined the NRA’s proposal to prevent mass shootings by placing armed guards in every school. Based on previous research, the article concluded the proposal was a “superficially simple solution.”
“We hope our critique will emphasize issues that must be considered prior to simply implementing blindly what is being proposed,” Dr. Gordon A. Crews of Marshall University told Raw Story via email. Crews co-authored the report along with his wife Dr. Angela Crews, who is also a professor at Marshall, and Dr. Catherine E. Burton of The Citadel. The NRA released its “National School Shield” Task Force report on Tuesday, outlining a plan to reduce gun violence in schools using armed guards.
“We wrote our article as a rebuttal to the initial NRA press conference in December announcing the National School Shield proposal,” Gordon explained. “We saw nothing presented today that would change anything we wrote in the article. In fact, we are more concerned that many of the issues we described in the article were confirmed today.”
The proposal appears to be based on a faulty — although widespread — opinion. The NRA has said schools are not safe places for children because gun-free zones make them “utterly defenseless.” However, the article contends schools are in fact safe places. Though gun violence is the second leading cause of death among those ages 5-9 and 15-24, nearly all of those deaths occurred outside of school. In fact, Stephen Brock of California State University, a leading expert on school violence, described schools as “the safest place for a student to be.”
“To try and reduce something that already is rare… is tricky business,” Crews remarked, noting that there is only 1 homicide or suicide at school for every 2.7 million students.
Crews and his colleagues found there was little evidence to suggest that placing armed guards in schools would actually prevent gun violence. About 27 percent of schools in the United States already have armed or unarmed security officers. Both Columbine High School and Virginia Tech had armed security guards, but that did not prevent two deadly mass shootings. A 2011 study found schools with armed guards actually had higher rates of violence than similar schools without armed guards.
Having armed guards in schools also raises the troubling possibility that a student could get ahold of their firearms.
“Ongoing research that we are conducting with incarcerated perpetrators of school violence also indicates that school shooters have easy access to weapons, often getting them (either as gifts or stealing them) from their parents, neighbors, or friends who may have purchased them legally,” Crews explained. “Putting more weapons in schools just makes more weapons available because inevitably, someone will forget to lock their drawer, misplace their key, or otherwise lose track of their firearm, making it easy for kids who want to have one to take it.”
Reports have also found placing security guards in schools results in children coming into contact with the criminal justice system for minor infractions, which is a major concern for the American Civil Liberties Union.
The NRA has proposed allowing teachers or volunteers to carry firearms if they complete 40 to 60 hours of training. Though having armed volunteers guarding schools seems like a cost-effective solution, it adds another layer of potential problems. Crews and his colleagues warned that schools would face the risk of costly civil and/or criminal liability lawsuits if they went that route.
“Even firing on a would-be school shooter trying to enter a school would likely bring civil suits from that person’s family,” Crews and his colleagues noted in the report. “In addition, if a shooter happened to make it past security, even more significant liability issues would arise.”
The article concluded by suggesting that focusing on mental health services and helping troubled students would be a more effective strategy.
“In our opinion, relatively little can be done at the national, state, or even local level to prevent school violence,” Crews told Raw Story. “We have to go to the family, intimate peer, and individual levels for prevention. The decision to commit school violence seems to be an individual one, primarily driven by individual factors, but also significantly influenced by family factors, peer factors, and school factors that impact a student individually (e.g., personal interaction with teachers and staff, perception of fairness, perception of safety).
“Adding an armed officer will never impact those factors,” he added. “In fact, this approach tends to worsen school climate, increase students’ dissatisfaction with school, and increase the likelihood of violence.”
Joe & others
RD Sweetman says
Then let’s just put up “Gun Free Zone” signs around the White House, and Congress, Take away their armed Guards and see how well it works out. I mean our Kids are way more important than our Politicians Right, so why do they need Armed Protection?
AD Crews says
We don’t make the White House and Congress (and other governmental entities) “Gun-Free Zones” because these people are threatened with gun violence daily. Children in schools are not, despite what the NRA seems to want us to believe. Less than 2% of all youth deaths occur at school (which means 98% die elsewhere), and there is only 1 student death per 2.7 million students. Gang violence claims exponentially more youth (and other) lives each year, but the NRA has not come forward with any proposals to end that.
RD Sweetman says
Yes, the Leaders in Washington and throughout the state houses in this nation are under threat, However I disagree with your assessment that the Children aren’t threatened on a Daily Basis. They are. You’re just not aware of it. Most of the events that are aimed at our leaders are not spur of the moment, or random acts of violence, but are well planned and organized. Same holds true for those events which target either schools or places of worship, or public events. They are planned, sometime weeks or even months before the event occurs. They gather and organize their weapons, their materials and just wait for a “trigger” event to put their plans into action. And this includes those who both Criminal and/or have Mental Health issues. ( I was certified in Active Shooter events when I worked for the Federal Government, hence I do know a “little” bit about this.
I’m not a Member of the NRA, but I like their idea of having armed security people in the schools. If educators and/or teachers don’t want to be armed, then have trained security personnel do it. Here in Kent County we already have a Deputy Sheriff on watch there. The comment “I’m not sure a whole lot of parents want to see little elementary school kids walking by armed guards when they to go school,” said Betty Weller, president of the Maryland State Education Association, is misleading to me. To me, that’s like saying “I’m not sure a whole lot of parents want to see little elementary school kids walking by Police Officers on the street when they are taken to school.”
I have a family member, a Marine Corps Sgt. who specialized in Security, Diplomatic and Foreign Embassy Security assignments all over the world before he retired. He came out with this exact same idea way before the NRA did. So it’s not just an NRA idea. And concerning why the NRA doesn’t have a proposal on Gang Violence, that’s an unfair assumption because Gang Violence comprises many facets other than just gun control. Prior to the Newtown Event Chicago had some of the strictest gun control laws in the Country. They also have one of the highest murder rates, and Gang Violence Rates in the country. It’s not the NRA’s or Law abiding gun owners fault that this is the case there. The NRA came out and asked why the Laws in place in Chicago, both municipal, state and Federal aren’t being enforced? The Government has the Control, but no one is blaming them. No…Let’s blame the NRA….
RD Sweetman says
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20130406-educators-take-class-in-kennedale-on-gun-laws-safety.ece
Fletcher R. Hall says
Realy great ideas! Placing armed police in schools and arming teachers are both rediculous proposals. They do not deal with the root problems of mental health, drugs and other factors that are the real cause of mass shootings, especially in schools. This problem has become a political football and is, I am pursuaded, another congressional knee jerk reaction.