Posted on Feb 22, 2018
Is it realistic to believe that a teacher could effectively defend against an active shooter, using an AR-15, armed with only a handgun?
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After the shooting in Florida many people began to say arm the teachers. But they over look that a police officer was there. As a Marine I understand how difficult it is to close on and take an active shooter even with the best training and equipment. During the Dallas shooting 11 police officers was injured and another 6 was killed. Out of all the return fire none actually hit the suspect. Infact the suspect was killed by a remote control robot carrying an explosive. The reason why the suspect wasn't killed by a well aimed handgun shot is because of what we call the fog of war. When the shooting starts panic and confusion set in and the way we deal with it in the military is continually to train for those situations week in and week out. But without a third of the training people are expecting teachers to be able to identify the location of the shooter, know the movement of other armed teachers, know the movement of the innocent students and staff, close on the shooter and fire a well aimed shot without putting any students in further danger. Is that realistic?
Active Shooter
New Politics
Children
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 489
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No. A teacher is employed to teach, not carry a handgun to school. Our society, in general, has changed. There was a famous Pogo cartoon that said, "I have met the enemy. The enemy is me." As a society, we have created this problem, which is now exacerbated because we are exposed to the media 24 hours a day. How do we change this? Where I grew up, all the neighbors on my street knew each other. Today, I don't know my neighbor across the street. How do we change this?
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I agree with SGT Zack Madren, our society has changed. But this does not answer McCain's question. I agree with McCain that it is not realistic to expect teachers to handle this kind of destructive situation. Training for this type of confrontation is intense and takes a lot of fortitude to confront a killer with an AR15. What the hell, why are these weapons of mass destruction even available in a society where in the words of the SGT, "Our families, our beliefs our moral standing has gotten worse," ; and to the point of this kind of mass murder we in society are experiencing?
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If the armed teachers are expected to find and engage the shooter then I agree it will do more harm than good but if the intent is for the teachers to get in the classroom and guard the door then I think it’s better than guarding the door unarmed
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The real problem is for the shooter to know who is armed and who isn't. It takes just one to get the drop on the bad guy.
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If that's the case we should train the teachers in hand to hand combat. Doesn't that sound ridiculous Maybe a Teacher should have a Masters degree in Marksmanship and Hand to hand combat. What are security guards for, maybe they should have a degree in teaching? Maybe we should have a security guard at every entrance searching every student for anything considered to be a weapon. What is the answer. This is something that should be taken up by our federal government, instead letting the NRA. dictate our policies. And certain politicians sticking their head in the sand so they don,t hear or see nothing. Semper Fi.
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I suspect that there are more than enough teachers who are ex-military who are capable of engaging a shooter. In Dallas, most of the ranges were to far away to effectively engage the shooter plus not knowing exactly where he was until he was cornered. The bomb-bot was used to avoid more police casualties because of the building layout.
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My Daughter is Substitute teacher, she is allowed to carry her gun in the classroom, with restrictions. She has to have a valid concealed carry permit, proof of training in usage of the gun every school year, she is never to mention she has a gun in the classroom to students or faculty. I cannot remember all the restrictions that she told me, these are just a few of the restrictions. There are other faculty members that also carry. I asked my daughter what would she do if the shooter was a student. She said she would do everything to prevent having to shoot a armed student, but if there was no another option,she said she was prepared to shoot a student who was armed and shooting, to protect the lives of the other students in the class room. My husband taught all our children how to shoot a gun, to have respect for a gun, all at very young ages. He taught them that a gun was not a toy. As I see them now as adults, and how they handle their guns. My husband did a good job in teaching them.
He taught them all very well.
He taught them all very well.
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I know you don't want to hear this, but the best answer is "It depends..." How skillful is the shooter? How skillful is the defender? How many shooters, and how many defenders? What is the geometry of the tactical situation? Is the shooter in a long hallway with long lines of sight which favor a long gun? Or is the shooter in a part of the school with shorter lines of sight, in or around classrooms? That might favor a handgun. Can the classrooms be locked securely? How good are the school's warning systems? How many teachers or guards are there? Lots of factors. It's difficult to have a running gunfight around several hundred students/citizens without putting non-combatants at risk.
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After serving in the Marines I got out, used the GI Bill to get my degree in special education. I am currently a teacher and I without hesitation can say that I would not trust a single teacher in my building with a weapon of any kind. Today’s culture is crazy. Teachers are treated worse than a private that didn’t shave before inspection. Administration, parents and kids treat teachers like crap. Teachers are assaulted every single day in my building. If they had a handgun, I would have no doubt that a student would wrestle it away from the teacher and use it in them. Arming teachers is a horrible idea.
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