Okay, this is simply my opinion, and I'm not trying to offend anyone, but, yes, I do think guns should be kept at a school. And that regular citizens should have them. Believe me, if someone walked up to the shooter, in, say the Connecticut school shooting and put a gun to his head, I don't think he would have kept going. In regard to the question raised about a hidden gun frightening children in a classroom: I don't think its presence should be advertised in the first place, and in the second, being shot would frighten them a lot more. Sorry if this offends anyone.

I am going to request that, with no prejudice to anyone involved, we end this thread now. I don't like the way it is shaping my opinions of my fellow Boarders.

My specific proposal is this:

-No-one new will post on the thread.
-Anyone who has already received a reply to a post of theirs may respond to that reply with a single post.
-Any further discussion anyone wishes to hold on this subject with anyone on this thread should be taken up in another venue.
-It is acceptable to post a one-line reply requesting someone's email address.

Regardless of whether people agree to this, I will not be posting any further in this thread. Also regardless, I do not and will not harbour any ill will towards Pauline07 for starting the thread.

If people do agree, I will do my best not to allow anything said as part of the prior thread or the closing statements to affect how I see anyone. I will also not bring this thread up in any later discussions for any reason.

If people don't agree, then those last two points do not stand, since I will assume that people are willing to be seen differently based on what is said here. This is not meant as a threat, just as information on how my mind works.

My email address is linked above. Thank you for your consideration.

hS

Once again, I seem to be in opposition to the majority opinion. Over all I don't think this would be such a bad thing, though there are several addendums I would make to that. Such as I'm not sure requiring an armed guard is necessary. But I don't see the problem with letting teachers or the principal have a gun on school property, provided of course said individual went through the proper training including all possible ways to take down someone without firing a lethal shot, legal process and anyone considering the privilege under go a second and much more thorough background/psych check. I mean I know they are supposed to have that done before being a teacher anyway, but let's face it, some of the teachers you hear about and what they get caught doing, yeah... I wouldn't want them to have a gun either.

As to the fear that a student would get a hold of the firearm, while it nullifies a point I'm going to make in a minute, they can't get a hold of said firearm if it's not made known that so and so has a gun. Just keep it locked in a desk drawer, or file cabinet or safe and only take it out if there is an actual threat, and the kids wouldn't know it was there to try to get it. On the flip side, however, can you honestly say that there would not be one less school shooting if the students perpetrating them knew they could/would face return defensive fire? I know it probably wouldn't stop them all, but just knowing that you weren't facing a completely defenseless population, would stop some, maybe even a lot of people I would think. I don't know, maybe since I can't even fathom what would cause someone to do such a thing to other people, and yes there are those that deserve to be smacked or punished for their treatment of others. But gunning down whatever random bystanders you can get at is beyond my comprehension, so maybe I'm giving their determination too little credit. But I really do think if someone is planning to shoot up a place, they would think twice or more about it if they knew they would face return fire, and the consequences of getting caught before they had the chance to take their own lives.

I agree just turning teachers/principals loose with the right to carry in school is probably not the way to go about it, but I don't see a problem with it once they have gone through the proper legal tape and had proper training, and not just safety and point and shoot, but as I mentioned, ways to incapacitate a threat with out the use of a lethal shot, and of course an additional, more thorough and up to date background check/psych evaluation. But I do agree with Rep. Jim Lucas (R) about needing to over come the negative stigma attached to guns. A lot more people than you think have guns, and have them legally, and it's no problem because they aren't out waving them around. I've known people that don't realize this and they went, pardon my language, completely ape**** when they've found out that friends of theirs are gun owners, to the point of all but accusing them of going to come running two states over and shooting up their house, just because they owned guns. So I believe there is reason to work on over coming negative stigmas, however the proper steps need to be taken as well to insure safety while doing it. I grew up in a gunless house, did I feel less safe for it? Not really, it wasn't something I ever thought about. Now I live in a house with several guns. Do I feel less safe than when there weren't any around? No, unless you count the few hours a careless person was messing around with them, but he's not allowed to touch them anymore and can't get into the gun safe. Do I feel safer knowing they are in the house and there are people who know how to use them? Maybe a little, if I ever think about it. But again, I really don't think about them being or not being there so it doesn't affect how I feel about my safety. Are there times I would have felt safer with a gun around and had been thinking about it? Absolutely! I have spent more than one night sitting with my only weapon, in this case a katana, right at, or in hand due to break-ins or drunk neighbors. And I would have felt a lot better had there been a trained gun owner around.

And to anyone that takes note of it, the only reason I left janitors out of people in school that should be allowed to under the above circumstances, to carry a gun was that janitors may not always be around during school hours, or they may not be employees of the school, ie outside contracted janitorial service. So it would be harder for them to be properly vetted, or since they might not be around during school hours, it would not be as helpful for them to be the lone school defender.

(PS I know this is a clean board and I hope I didn't cross a line by saying something even if I starred it out mostly. If I did, let me know and it won't happen again.)

How about making firearms LESS accessible for everyone? But no, bloody Second Amendment or whatever... 'Murica. *sighs*

The Indiana amendment's sponsor, Rep. Jim Lucas (R), said he believes mass shootings like the one in Newtown could be prevented by more firearms. "The way they are right now, school is a gun-free zone. Tragically we see the tragic consequences of gun-free zones, defenseless zones like the Colorado theater, Columbine, and Virginia Tech," Lucas told The Huffington Post Wednesday. "We have to work to overcome the stigma that firearms are a bad thing."

Um. No.

I would write more, but I'm too angry.

hS

I'm going to agree with Vixen on slowing down your posts, but I do think it's all right that you post such things.

And as for that bill...it doesn't seem particularly well-thought.

Being a Connecticut native who's seen my friends, family, and my entire community at my last college torn apart on this debate, I don't think I have the stomach to enter it lightly. I will say that the last article I wrote for that college before leaving was on the topic of guns - control thereof, and arming security therewith. Opinions from student and faculty alike were pretty solidly against arming guards. Most people felt that if someone was determined to bring a gun to school, an armed guard wouldn't stop them, and might increase the casualty rate - especially if, in a worst-case scenario, the students get ahold of the firearm. I was inclined to agree. If it comes to a shoot-out, things have already gotten pretty bad. About a week after I moved away, though, there was a gun scare at the school, and my friends were posting updates from where they were hiding, underneath their desks in dark classrooms. I don't know whether it changed anyone's mind.

On a completely different subject, Pauline, you might want to slow down with the posting. Not so much slowing the "serious" topics specifically, but if you've got something that might fit into another thread, it helps to put it there, rather than start a new thread altogether. You've probably noticed that each new thread pushes the old ones down - eventually, they all fall off the side of the 'Board, and several pages down, disappear entirely. So it's preferable to avoid double-posting when possible. Thanks!