Is that a firearm in your teacher’s bag? You may pass
Sunday Canberra Times, Page: 16. Sunday, 17 August, 2008
A tiny Texas school district will allow teachers and staff members to carry concealed firearms to protect against school shootings when classes begin this month, provided the gun-toting employees follow certain requirements.
The small community of Harrold in north Texas is a 30-minute drive from the Wilbarger County Sheriff’s Office. The superintendent of the Harrold Independent School District, David Thweatt, said this left students and teachers without protection.
The lone campus of the 110-student district sits near a heavily-travelled highway, which could make it a target, he said.
Mr Thweatt said in a story published yesterday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram web site, “When the Federal Government started making schools gun-free zones, that’s when all of these shootings started. Why would yon put it out there that a group of people can’t defend themselves? That’s like saying sic em to a dog.
The naysayers think [a shooting] won’t happen here. If something were to happen here, I’d much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them.” Mr Thweatt would not disclose how many of the 50 or so teachers and staff members will be armed, to keep the information from students or potential attackers.
A school security expert, Ken Trump, said Harrold was the first district in the United States with such a policy.
For employees to carry a pistol, they must have received training in crisis management and hostile situations, and have ammunition designed to minimise the risk of ricocheting bullets.
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