Thursday, February 22, 2018

Armed teachers

The idea is back in the news.

Let's not.

True, there are schools where I wouldn't care to go teach without a gun and a buddy handy. But curiously enough nobody seems to be talking about those classrooms.

Have you watched teachers at work? They are concentrating on things relevant to the lesson and to class management. If you want a guard, get a dedicated guard.

Although even a guard may not be very useful.

Think about it: if teachers were armed, the likelihood of a weapon going loose thanks to carelessness or pickpocket-ry goes through the roof. Can you remember what it was like at those ages, and imagine what a fascinating challenge it would be to try to swipe the teacher's pistol(*)? With Billy going OOC in one corner and Jennifer melting down in another, and the teacher too distracted to notice the rest of you?

Do I have a solution to the problem? Which problem? Mass shootings are rare; gang fights and deaths on the way to and from school are much more common. I don't have easy solutions to that. Cruz had red flags sticking out all over (I gather most of the shooters did, though not to this extent), but ... I've heard that discipline policies are applied unevenly to avoid the horrifying sin of "disparate impact." Maybe that played a role. Maybe nobody wanted to take responsibility. I'll wait a while for a fuller report. If we get one, of course. Since a lot of his record accumulated when he was a minor, maybe there'll be some claims about privacy to justify circling the wagons. Notice how we hear virtually nothing about the Las Vegas shooting? (The best explanation I've heard is that the really big money is having lawyers slowly dredge through and dispute every detail to make sure the hotel doesn't get sued to bits.)


(*) "Smart guns" sound pretty useless in a pinch. And if the weapon is easy to get at it is easier to steal or have fall out; and if it is hard to get at it won't be nearly as much use when you need it. And seriously--teachers already have in-service training about every fad under the sun; I don't think they'd be happy with mandatory bi-weekly firearms practice.

2 comments:

Christopher B said...

I think the position of forcing teachers to carry is a strawman. Nobody wants guns that available or people with no interest in shooting having them. The best deterrent is going to be uncertainty. Allow teachers and staff who already have CCW to carry if they wish, and establish protocols for identification in an emergency. Possibly add armed security guards at random. It won't deter someone truly suicidal but it will give the more rational ones pause, and may result in a faster end to an attack if it happens. Certainly faster than having a guy sitting outside til the shooting stops.

james said...

Liability issues play a role too, both in permitting and monitoring. The schools I've been in tended to be very busy places, and distraction still seems like a big deal to me. You notice that I said I wouldn't go some places without a sidearm and a buddy.