Teachers can pack heat in tiny Texas town

Teachers can pack heat in tiny Texas town


Board okays concealed weapons for educators
Aug 30, 2008 04:30 AM
Comments on this story (3)
JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR.
NEW YORK TIMES
HARROLD, TEX.–Students in this tiny town spent much of the first couple of days in school this week trying to guess which of their teachers were carrying pistols.

"Everybody knows everybody here. We will find out," said Eric Howard, 16, a high school junior.

The school board in this impoverished hamlet 290 kilometres northwest of Dallas has drawn attention with its decision to let some teachers carry concealed weapons.

"Our people just don't want their children to be fish in a bowl," said David Thweatt, superintendent and driving force behind the policy. "Country people are take-care-of-yourself people."

Leaders of the state's major teachers unions have expressed outrage, while conservative Republican governor Rick Perry has endorsed the idea. Thweatt, a self-described "contingency planner," believes Americans should be less afraid of protecting themselves.

The county sheriff's office is 27 kilometres away, he says. Teachers have received training and will use ammunition designed to prevent ricocheting, he added.

Thweatt said the board discussed the proposal for nearly two years and considered tranquilizer guns, beanbag guns, Tasers, Mace and armed security guards; each was found lacking.

Longtime residents were hard-pressed to recall a single violent incident at the school.

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/488059

I surely would not want that responsibility! And I hope those carrying guns have received some kind of training!

On the other hand, I was always concerned about the lack of preparedness in schools I taught in...with regard to "the unexpected. " We had only regular fire drills...but no instructions re. tornadoes or a person with a firearm. There were no drills...and no practices re. lockdowns etc. Or a threatening person in the hallway.