Oklahoma GOP Rep wants to arm and train teachers like law enforcement.

You've just got to love these Republicans. They attack teachers and their unions and their collective bargaining rights, and then turn around and expect them to do double duty as law enforcement. Here's what's becoming an all too common idea from the wingnuts out there who think more guns is the solution to everything: Oklahoma Republican’s bill would arm teachers and train them like law enforcement:

McCullough plans to introduce legislation that would give school teachers and administrators the right to carry firearms in school. Under current law in Oklahoma, it is a felony to possess a gun on school property.

“I’m going to err on the side of trusting my teachers if it comes down to it,” the lawmaker explained. “I am not going to trust a madman.”

And McCullough explained to KOKH’s Marisa Mendelson that parents shouldn’t worry because teachers would required to get the same type of Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET) certification that police officers have.\

“These teachers would be trained at the same level as our law enforcement are currently trained,” he said. “They would be trained in target acquisition, in marksmanship. They would be trained in all of the things that our current police officers are trained in.”
Oklahoma parent Tom Jones, however, wasn’t comforted by McCullough’s assurances.
“I don’t believe that’s the answer, I really don’t,” Jones insisted. “I’d have to ask, how are you going to screen the teachers? How do you know you don’t have a mentally ill person?”

Republican state Sen. Ralph Shortey is also on board with McCullough’s plan, but he said that he would allow any teacher with a concealed-carry permit to bring firearms into the school without additional training.

“When citizens have the liberty to protect themselves, they will do so, and they will do so responsibly,” Shortey told The Oklahoman.

These people aren't going to be happy until they take us back to the days of the wild, wild west. Virginia's Governor Ultra-Sound-McDonnell wants to do the same thing in his state as well: Virginia Governor McDonnell Wants More Guns In Schools.

And we heard the same from Texas wingnut Gov. Rick Perry: Rick Perry Tells Tea Party: Allow More Guns in Schools .
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/oklahoma-gop-rep-wants-arm-and-train-teach
  
Texas Bill would assign certain teachers as armed marshals in schools.

Texas state representative-elect Jason Villalba believes that armed faculty members will make the schools safer, and he will file legislation in the Lone Star State to allow designated teachers to be armed.

Villalba was elected to House District 114 in November. With two daughters in the Dallas Independent School District, he is particularly interested in school safety.

His Protection of Texas Children Act would allow schools to designate members of their faculty as “school marshals” — one armed individual for every 400 students. In a statement, Villalba explained that the marshals could “use lethal force upon the occurrence of an attack in the classroom or elsewhere on campus.” These designated individuals would be existing faculty members with concealed handgun licenses, who would provide their own firearms and undergo additional firearms training. Villalba’s bill states that only the principal, law enforcement, and district administrators would know the identity of the school marshals.

A press release for the legislation explains:

The Protection of Texas Children Act would provide for an exception to the restrictions on firearms on the premises of Texas public schools and set forth a systematic training regimen, developed in conjunction with law enforcement officials and the Department of Public Safety, for those who would serve as civilian school marshals. Training would be offered by either private licensees (similar to the entities that provide CHL [Concealed Handgun License] training) or by licensed law enforcement officers. The fees and expenses associated with training the school marshal will be paid by the marshal applicant or, at its option, by the ISD [Independent School District]. Funding for training would not be required to be paid by the state. School marshals will be required to maintain and carry school marshal certification at all times that such marshal is serving in such capacity.
According to Villalba, his legislation would put school safety back in the hands of the schools. He told the Dallas Morning News,

Unfortunately, law enforcement personnel cannot be everywhere at all times.We need to talk very frankly about how we can protect our children if the unthinkable should occur. By providing our schools with the option to have a trained school marshal to act as the last line of defense, we are empowering ISDs with the ability to protect our children and faculty against those who would seek to destroy human life.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/13980-texas-bill-would-assign-certain-teachers-as-armed-marshals-in-schools

Texas town allows teachers to carry concealed guns at school.

Harrold, Texas - In this tiny Texas town, children and their parents don't give much thought to safety at the community's lone school -- mostly because some of the teachers are carrying concealed weapons. In remote Harrold, the nearest sheriff's office is 30 minutes away, and people tend to know -- and trust -- one another. So the school board voted to let teachers bring guns to school.

The school has a policy allowing teachers and other employees to carry concealed weapons on campus. Some lawmakers in at least five other states are looking into similar legislation in the wake of last week's deadly elementary school shooting in Newton, Conn. Anti-gun groups oppose the measure. (AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ron T. Ennis)

"We don't have money for a security guard, but this is a better solution," Superintendent David Thweatt said. "A shooter could take out a guard or officer with a visible, holstered weapon, but our teachers have master's degrees, are older and have had extensive training. And their guns are hidden. We can protect our children."

Harrold's school board voted unanimously in 2007 to allow employees to carry weapons. After obtaining a state concealed-weapons permit, each employee who wants to carry a weapon must be approved by the board based on his or her personality and reaction to a crisis, Thweatt said.

Employees also must undergo training in crisis intervention and hostage situations. And they must use bullets that minimize the risk of ricochet, similar to those carried by air marshals on planes.

Connecticut elementary school shooting, lawmakers in a growing number of states -- including Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota, South Dakota and Oregon -- have said they will consider laws allowing teachers and school administrators to carry firearms at school.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder this week vetoed legislation that would have allowed concealed weapons in schools, churches and day care centers, saying he seeks a more "thoughtful review" that includes school emergency policies and mental health-related issues.

"You are going to put teachers, people teaching 6-year-olds in a school, and expect them to respond to an active-shooter situation?" said Ladd Everitt, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, who called the idea of arming teachers "madness."
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/12/texas_town_allows_teachers_to.html#incart_river_default

Tennessee is considering a plan to secretly arm teachers.

Tennessee has emerged this week as a center of the “the answer is more guns in schools” sentiment following the Newtown, Conn. elementary school shooting.

A member of the Republican-controlled legislature plans during its upcoming session to introduce a bill that would allow the state to pay for secretly armed teachers in classrooms so, the sponsor told TPM, potential shooters don’t know who has a gun and who doesn’t.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) has said the idea will be part of his discussions about how to prevent a shooting like the one in Newtown from happening in the Volunteer State.

State Sen. Frank Niceley (R) told TPM on Tuesday he believes it’s time for that to change. He plans to introduce legislation in the next session, which begins Jan. 8, that will require all schools to have an armed staff member of some kind.

The current language of the bill — which is in its early form — would allow for either a so-called “resource officer” (essentially an armed police officer, the kind which most Tennessee high schools have already) or an armed member of the faculty or staff in every school in the state.

The teachers that would be trained would be volunteers, he said, and would likely carry their own firearms to school.
http://www.businessinsider.com/tennessee-teachers-guns-2012-12?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=politics