School Violence Summit

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Bush Summit To Discuss Solutions For School Violence
-- Great opportunity for GOA to show politicos facts, not emotions

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

After three fatal school shootings in a week, President Bush has told
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Education Secretary Margaret
Spellings to come up with solutions to addressing the problem in our
nation's schools. Specifically, the meetings -- which begin this
week -- will host educators and law-enforcement officials from around
the country.

They are charged with reviewing security procedures around our
nation's schools to help prevent campus-based violence.

GOA has a great opportunity to show the President and others how to
stop gun violence on school grounds. Of course, it's inevitable that
the gun issue is going to come up. The media is already clamoring
for that.

"There is a link in these killings," opined The Charlotte Observer.
"A gun was used." So, we need more gun control, the paper's editors
say.

The Charlotte Observer is not alone. And that's why it is important
that the gun owning community present evidence showing how we can
make our schools safer. As GOA pointed out last week:

1. No amount of gun control would have stopped Charles Carl Roberts
from acquiring guns to commit his atrocity. Roberts had a clean
record and would have passed any and every background check.

2. The so-called "gun free school zones" have to go. Such
disarmament zones never stop bad guys from taking guns into a
restricted area. In fact, statistics show that the jurisdictions
that ban guns tend to be the same areas with the highest murder or
crime rates (Washington, D.C., England, etc.).

3. The only school shootings that have been stopped prematurely were
ended because law-abiding citizens had guns -- such as in Pearl
Mississippi (1997) and at the Appalachian School of Law (2002), where
faculty and responsible adults were able to bring their own defensive
firearms to bear. This is an idea that Americans support, as 85% of
the American public find it appropriate for a principal or teacher to
use "a gun at school to defend the lives of students" in stopping a
school massacre (Research 2000 Poll).

To this end, Wisconsin state representative, Frank Lasee, will be
introducing legislation to allow teachers or principals to defend
students with guns. GOA has already appeared on MSNBC and other
media outlets to plug Lasee's bill.

This summit is a great opportunity to invite groups like GOA to
present the facts above and give concrete solutions for how to combat
school violence in our nation's schools.

ACTION: Because the subject of gun control is destined to arise at
the summit this week, please urge President Bush and Education
Secretary Margaret Spellings to invite gun groups like GOA and the
NRA to present the real facts regarding gun ownership in this
country. They need to see that arming teachers and principals is a
solution that works and is supported by 85% of the American public.

You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send Bush and Spellings a
pre-written e-mail message. You can also reach them at:

PRESIDENT BUSH
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
E-Mail: president@whitehouse.gov

SECRETARY SPELLINGS
Phone: 202-401-3000
FAX: 202-401-0596
E-Mail: margaret.spellings@ed.gov


-----Pre-written letter-----

Dear

I hope that you will strongly consider giving groups like Gun Owners
of America a seat at the table when the school violence summit
commences this week. Because the subject of gun control is destined
to arise at this summit, gun groups will be able to present the real
facts regarding gun ownership in this country -- facts such as the
following:

First, banning guns in school zones has failed. Criminals don't obey
the laws and will always manage to get firearms. Putting a "gun free
zone" sign on the front of a school only emboldens criminals who love
disarmed victims.

Second, the only school shootings that have been stopped prematurely
were ended because law-abiding citizens had guns -- such as in Pearl
Mississippi (1997) and at the Appalachian School of Law (2002), where
faculty and responsible adults were able to bring their own defensive
firearms to bear.

Third, at least one legislator has already stepped forward to allow
teachers and principals to use guns in self-defense. This is an idea
that Americans support, as 85% of the American public find it
appropriate for a principal or teacher to use "a gun at school to
defend the lives of students" in stopping a school massacre (Research
2000 Poll).

I also hope you will do everything in your power to urge Congress to
repeal the ineffective Gun Free School Zones law. Thank you.

Sincerely,


****************************

[tenpercentfirearms]

It is actually lawful for me to carry a gun to work! There is only one hang up, if I were to do so I would be subject to termination. Strange, I got a copy of the "Gun-Free Workplace Notice to Employees" in my box this morning!

GUN-FREE WORKPLACE NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that it is a violation of Board policy for any employee not employed by the District as a peace officer to possess or carry a firearm at a school-district workplace, regardless of whether the employee has a license to carry a firearm.

"Firearm" is defined as a pistol. revolver, shotgun, rifle, and any other device capable of propelling projectiles by force or an explosion or other form of combustion.

"School-district workplace" is defined as any place where school district work is performed, including a school building or other school premises; any school-owned or school-approved vehicle used to transport students to and from school or school activities; any off-school sites when accommodating a school-sponsored or school-approved activity or function, such as a field trip or athletic event, where students are under District jurisdiction; or during any period of time when an employee is supervising students on behalf of the District or otherwise engaged in District business.

"License to carry a firearm" is defined as a license to carry a concealed pistol, revolver, or other firearm issued persuant to the provisions of Penal Code Section 12050.

The board may impose disciplinary action for any violations of this policy, up to and including termination.

[luvtolean]

I'd say it boggles the mind...but most teachers are so left wing, it really doesn't.

It'd be nice to see educators apply logic to their own policy as rigorously as they do to students.

[patman]

School districts have employees that are peace officers?

Hypothetically: If someone who goes through the police academy, a masters, plus credentials then it may be possible become a ccw teacher/peace officer at a school?

Two for one for the school district perhaps?
What would they teach? Sociology?



...employed by the District as a peace officer to possess or carry a firearm at a school-district workplace...

[luvtolean]

You do not need a master's to teach. A bachelor's with a credential is fine for K-12. You can sub with less than that.

[tenpercentfirearms]

I don't think you can be paid to be a peace officer at the school and a teacher at the same time. I think it would be one or the other. If I had my choice, I would just be an officer. They don't seem to do much all day long. Fill out reports and investiage kid's myspace for stupidity. In fact, maybe that is what I should do, go through the academy and be a campus cop. Or I can keep making tons of money to teach and only work 185 days a year. Nevermind.

[bu-bye]

You want a sollution? Parents lock up your stupid guns!!!!!:mad:

Its not that hard. I'm not talking cable locks that can be cut with a simple metal file (I've done it in less then 30 seconds), I'm talking about a safe. I personally feel that every home with kids and guns should have a safe. i know this does not help with the crazy milk men or the 50yo perv but at least kids will not be killing kids.

[luvtolean]

I think if they were really serious about reducing the number of violent deaths for children, they'd ban swimming pools:

From the book Freakonomics, Chapter 5 "What Makes a Great Parent":



No one is more susceptible to an expert's fearmongering than a parent. Fear is in fact a major component of the act of parenting. A parent, after all, is the steward of another creature's life, a creature who in the beginning is more helpless than the newborn of nearly any other species. This leads a lot of parents to spend a lot of their parenting energy simply being scared.

The problem is that they are often scared of the wrong things. It's not their fault, really. Separating facts from rumors is always hard work, especially for a busy parent. And the white noise generated by the experts--to say nothing of the pressure exerted by fellow parents--is so overwhelming that they can barely think for themselves. The facts they do manage to glean have usually been varnished or exaggerated or otherwise taken out of context to serve an agenda that isn't their own.

Consider the parents of an eight year old girl named, say, Molly. Her two best friends, Amy and Imani, each live nearby. Molly's parents know that Amy's parents keep a gun in their house, so they have forbidden Molly to play there. Instead, Molly spends a lot of time at Imani's house, which has a swimming pool in the backyard. Molly's parents feel good about having made such a smart choice to protect their daughter.

But according to the data, their choice isn't smart at all. In a given year, there is one drowning of a child for every 11,000 residential pools in the United States. Meanwhile, there is 1 child killed by a gun for every 1 million-plus guns. The likelihood of death by pool (1 in 11,000) versus death by gun (1 in 1 million-plus) isn't even close: Molly is roughly 100 times more likely to die in a swimming accident at Imani's house than in gunplay at Amy's.

[Patriot]

An ABC news report was stressing the fact that so far Bush hasn't mentioned gun control.

AFAIC, the left can pontificate all they want about the need for more gun contol. Nothing but a blanket gun ban and confiscation could have hindered these attacks. They just can't seem to grasp that suicidal, homicidal types don't give a hoot for the law.

[luvtolean]

Many of these people want a blanket banning of guns...

[ivorykid]

I'd say it boggles the mind...but most teachers are so left wing, it really doesn't.

It'd be nice to see educators apply logic to their own policy as rigorously as they do to students.

My wife is a soon-to-be credentialed California multi-subject teacher (she's hoping to teach 5th or 6th grade). She wishes that she would be able to keep a gun in the classroom just in case. I definitely would not consider my wife "most teachers." She was absolutely thrilled one day while subbing for a high school government / economics teacher that he had a video to show the class about how the US government is way too big, spends way too much money, and that most government's "social" programs are resounding failures. We need more teachers like that!