So what can we really do? I'm asking in all seriousness. Is there something realistic we can do to even start a serious dialog to allow teachers, etal, carry in school?
While I'm not a big fan of being required to have special training (although a quality course would be good) I would even pay for it myself.
Thankfully, schools are a very safe place for our children and the likelihood of a mad shooter in any school is very low. Schools also have few occurances of fires, tornados, and falling aircraft (yes, that is in the EOP for a local district) but we plan, train, and spend a boatload of money on these things. Think about fire alarms and sprinkler systems. Schools pay serious money to have them installed, tested, certified, and maintained yet the vast majority of them are never used in an emergency. How many student deaths have resulted from school fires in the recent past, I don't know either but I would venture to say it has been very few to none, yet we still see the need for a fire system and plan, and rightly so. (edited-see below)
Apples and oranges you might say...and you might be correct but the point is still the same. We plan for catastorphic events that are most likely never going to happen. How is this really any different? Because there is a gun involved. And many of us simply don't like that idea being in school. It goes against our Norman Rockwell ideals.
Times are changing, good, bad, or indifferent, they are a-changing. With that change, we must change our thinking. We may not like it, we may fight it, but things will still change. We can hope for the better, but we better plan for the worst.
Not to sound pessimistic, just the reality of the world.
What can we do? What should we do?
I'd love to hear some real ideas.
Edit: After doing a little research, from 1990-1994, there were 137 injuries (not defined) due to school fires. These schools include nursery, K-12, vo-tech, residental, college, business, and speciality schools. There is less than 1 death per year average due to school fires. NFPA Journal – September/October 1997, National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Massachusetts.
According to the 2000 U.S. census, 73 million American residents are enrolled in Pre-K through college. Now I'm not going to get into math or stats but it is pretty apparent that we are "wasting" a lot of money on fire suppression/alarms that are not going to be used. (Don't take me literally, I don't think it is a waste.)
Hold onto your hats, from 1999-2006 there have been 227 school violent deaths (including suicide and fighting). National School Safety and Security Services
Now I will be the first to admit that the data is not from the same years or for the same amount of time but it certainly shows some interesting numbers. I haven't done exhusting research on the matter. I'll also admit that a number of these deaths were not the high-profile Columbine-type deaths rather they were "drive-by" types or obliquely related to school. Most certainly the lack of deaths from fire are due to having fire suppression/alarm systems in place. Still, I think there is room for a "statistical" argument for having qualified teachers given the option of carrying at school. Even if we only consider the high-profile type shootings, I would venture there have been more than 1 per year average in the recent years.
Maybe someone has better data, the time to dig through it, or the means to better analyze it. I simply include it to give us a few numbers to consider. It is my hypothesis.
May still just be apples to oranges...