Packing for school

Harrold schools first to allow guns for teachers

The 110-student school district of Harrold made history Monday.

The country school that sits in the middle of a prairie 30 miles from Wichita Falls is the first school district in Texas — and the nation — to allow its teachers to carry guns into the classroom.

The new Harrold gun policy, which passed its school board last October, took effect with Monday’s start to the 2008-09 school year.

The lag time gave teachers time to meet the board’s requirements before strapping a firearm under their clothing as part of their back-to-school wardrobe.

Superintendent David Thweatt would not identify which teachers would be armed or how many.

“There’s 1 to 25 of us,” he said.

Teachers who wanted to participate had to be approved by the school board, obtain their concealed carry license, and complete extensive training in crisis management, including how to deal with hostage situations.

They must wear the weapon, Thweatt said. “They may never take it off. I don’t want the horrible feeling of walking into an office and seeing a gun safe open because someone forgot to shut it or because someone picked a lock. It’s hard to pick a lock when it’s on a person.”

A decision like this one can be made by a Texas school district without the state’s approval, said Sheila Allee, spokesperson for the Texas Education Agency, which oversees Texas public school policies.

“School districts in Texas have a lot of independence and autonomy,” Allee said.

But that doesn’t mean its legal, according to Doug Pennington, a spokesperson for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the nation’s leading gun control group.

While one section of the Texas penal code bans firearms on school campuses except when the institution authorizes it, another section pinpoints the training required of school security personnel. “Even if they want their teachers to be the ones in charge of school security, at least they need to send them through Texas law enforcement certification,” Pennington said.

The law “doesn’t say a school district is allowed to come up with their own system,” he said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry came out publicly in support of the school district’s idea.

Thweatt said this plan for the school that sits off a main interstate highway was two years in the making. Always one to be prepared, Thweatt invested more than $100,000 in a state-of-the-art security system for the school that prompted one of its installers to comment, “We don’t even do that in banks.”

But Thweatt wasn’t satisfied. “This is not a bank,” he said. “Lose all the money you want. Do not lose one child.”

Still, with the old brick school’s new keyless entry, camera system, lock-down buttons and classroom telephones, it bothered Thweatt that his setup would not have prevented some of the country’s deadliest attacks on schools.

It would not have prevented the 2006 attack by a milkman at the Amish one-room school house in Lancaster County, Pa.

“We would have let him in the door. We would have said, “Bill … or John … how you doin? How’s the kids?”

It also would not have deterred the deranged student at Virginia Tech University, who gunned down victims once he was inside a campus building.

With Harrold so isolated, police couldn’t come quickly enough to the school that sits 30 miles from law enforcement, Thweatt said.

The district could hire a security guard. “But what do you do when he’s sick? We don’t have enough money to buy him so he can stand around. Then we asked, ‘What if we come up with multiple people who can be there at all times?’”

To say it’s not legal is “smoke and mirrors,” Thweatt said.

Some community members were skeptical, but eventually came around. The policy passed unanimously among school board members.

“As we were looking at the facts and looking at them hard, there were a whole lot of ‘Ah-hah!’ experiences” by board members and employees, he said.

“Some of those who didn’t come from a gun culture were concerned at first. We started talking about it. It began to make sense. They’d say, ‘You know, I don’t want to be anybody’s victim.’ One particular employee said, ‘Oh, this is awful.’ I said, ‘Stop a second. You’ll have a grandkid coming here. Wouldn’t you rather have a plan like this in place?’ She said, ‘I never thought of that.’ ”

Thweatt will have two of his own children, ages 5 and 12, in the school. “That’s validity I can add,” he said. “It shows how much I trust these individuals. I’m putting my own children’s lives in their hands.”

Thweatt said he’s fighting the misconception that “guns walk out of holsters and run across and shoot someone on their own.” He said his employees have gone beyond the typical safety precautions with guns, including following his requirement that they use ammunition that would blast into powder instead of ricocheting off school building walls.

“If an argument needs to be made, it’s for the old system,” he said.

Not everyone agrees with him, however. Texas Classroom Teachers Association spokesperson Kristina Tirloni said everyone wants safety in the classroom, but she isn’t sure that this policy will achieve that goal.

“There are other safeguards you can put in before resorting to that,” she said.

Doug Pennington, with the Brady Campaign, agreed.

“They’ve apparently studied this for a year, but they never asked anybody at the state level for financial assistance or legal assistance or advice,” he said. If they had, then they could say they had investigated all avenues but this was a last resort, he said.

“But this is their first answer.”

By: Ann Work, The Times Record News

Joe Biden and Gun Control

It was on July 23 last year in Charleston, S.C., that Joe Biden really showed what he is made of. It was at a Democratic debate -- one of approximately 700 or 800, as I recall -- that was sponsored by CNN, Google and YouTube. Via a video clip, a man identifying himself as Jered Townsend from Clio, Mich., said, "To all the candidates, tell me your position on gun control, as myself and other Americans really want to know if our babies are safe."

Then Townsend picked up what appeared to be a semiautomatic assault rifle. "This is my baby, purchased under the 1994 gun ban," he said. "Please tell me your views. Thank you." It was an invitation for the Democrats to fall all over themselves telling gun owners how much they really loved guns.

The Democrats have been quaking in their boots over the gun issue ever since Al Gore lost the presidency in 2000. Had Gore carried either Tennessee, Arkansas or West Virginia -- all winnable states -- he would not have had to win Florida and he would have become president.

But he lost all those states, and guns had a lot to do with it. Bill Clinton had succeeded in making gun control a mainstream, pro-police issue, by convincing voters, including hunters, that banning assault rifles and cop-killer bullets would in no way harm sport shooting.

Gore could not pull this off and was unable to counter attacks by the National Rifle Association. According to exit polls, some 48 percent of voters owned guns in 2000, up from 37 percent in 1996. (This did not necessarily mean more people owned guns, but rather that more gun owners went to the polls.) Among those owning guns, 61 percent voted for George W. Bush.

After Gore's defeat, Terry McAuliffe, then chairman of the Democratic Party, advised Democrats to abandon gun control as an issue in future elections. "I believe we ought to move it out, let the individual communities decide their gun laws and how guns ought to be treated," McAuliffe said. "It has had a devastating impact on elections because the NRA has targeted and spent millions of dollars distorting individual members' views and Al Gore's views."

So now it was 2007 and Jered Townsend wanted the Democrats on the stage to tell him how much they loved their guns, loved their "babies."

Anderson Cooper, the CNN moderator, turned to Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico. "Gov. Richardson, " Cooper said, "you have one of the highest NRA ratings."

Richardson did not disappoint the NRA. He talked about "instant background checks" and then said, "The key is going to be also attacking poverty, bringing people together, dealing with those kids in the ghettos that are heavy users of gun violence and they are victims of gun violence, to make sure that this country attacks the core problems of poverty, having child care, bringing parents together."

Yeah, right. The shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech really had a lot to do with poverty and kids in the ghettos.

Then Cooper turned to Joe Biden. "Sen. Biden," he asked, "are you going to be able to keep his baby safe?"

And Biden gave an answer that was 100 percent Joe Biden.

"I'll tell you what, if that is his baby, he needs help," Biden said. "I don't know that he is mentally qualified to own that gun."

Biden went on to say that he was "the guy who originally wrote the assault weapons ban" and "we should be working with law enforcement, right now, to make sure that we protect people against people who are not capable of knowing what to do with a gun because they're either mentally imbalanced and/or because they have a criminal record."

Then Biden added sardonically: "I hope he doesn't come looking for me."

It was a tough, honest answer that did not play to the crowd. And let me be the first to note that, at the time, I criticized Biden for it, saying, in effect, he should have pandered more. I was wrong, and he was right.

Biden wanted to run a presidential race by talking about what he actually believed, even if not everybody wanted to hear it. It was a novel concept in presidential campaigning.

So I was a little surprised when Barack Obama selected Joe Biden the other day as his running mate. Obama has his own gun "problem," having said at a San Francisco fundraiser in April that when small town people "get bitter, they cling to guns or religion ... as a way to explain their frustrations."

That did not play well with a lot of people, including gun owners -- which might have eliminated Biden as a vice presidential choice. But Obama picked him anyway. Perhaps it is an attempt to do what Bill Clinton did and say that Obama is for sensible gun control laws that won't harm the hunting of animals but will harm the hunting of people. And Joe Biden believes in that, too.

We will soon see how Biden deals with his past statements and positions. Personally, I hope he sticks to his guns. Or against them, that is.

By: Roger Simon, The National Ledger

Calls for tighter airgun controls after Birmingham accident

Campaigners have called for legislation to make airgun owners liable for their misuse after an 18-month-old Birmigham boy was shot in the head.

Rashid Rullah is in a critical condition at Birmingham Children's Hospital after what police said appeared to be a "tragic accident" in Washwood Heath on Sunday.

The boy's grandfather said that Rashid was accidentally shot by his five-year-old sister when their father, who had been using the rifle for target practice, turned his back on the children to answer his mobile phone.

But the Gun Control Network (GCN) said such tragedies were "not merely 'accidents'," but were preventable incidents.

The organisation, which campaigns for tighter controls on guns of all kinds, called for legislation to register airguns and their owners, and make them liable for the misuse of their weapons. It said in a statement: "The tragic shooting of the toddler Rashid Rullah highlights once again the terrible consequences of the "boys' toys" culture surrounding airgun ownership.

"This culture results in easy access, casual regard and non-accountability. Because airguns are not treated as "real" weapons they are not thought worthy of registration or regulation. They are not taken seriously."

The GCN said that airguns are responsible for around half of all firearms offences and more than a quarter of all serious firearms injuries.

It said that children have picked up air weapons left lying around and the result has been that other children, often siblings or friends, have been killed, blinded or injured.

"The adults who own these guns are rarely held to account," the GCN said. "There is no law requiring them to store their weapons safely nor is there any record of ownership."

The father of 12-year-old Mitchel Picken, who was killed in 2006 as his friends played with an air weapon, also joined the call for stronger controls. Andrew Picken said: "The Government cannot hide behind recent changes in legislation, which failed to take the airgun problem seriously enough and make owners responsible for storing their weapons safely.

"Airguns and their owners could be registered, and they should be."

Labour MP Liam Byrne, whose Hodge Hill constituency includes Washwood Heath, said: "As a parent of three youngsters, I know that, beyond doubt, this is every parent's worst nightmare.

"No matter the circumstances, everyone's prayers and thoughts should be with little Rashid and his family. They will be going through absolute hell."

* New rules on airguns mean it is illegal to sell them to anyone younger than 18 years old. The rules, which came into effect last October, also mean that the rifles can only be sold by registered firearms dealers.

There are some exceptions which allow people under the age of 17 to use an airgun, which fires projectiles using compressed air or gas, or a BB gun which is an air weapon designed to shoot small pellets. It is permitted if they are under the supervision of a person aged 21 or over, if they are on private land and have permission from the occupier or they are shooting as a member of an approved club in a shooting gallery.

Despite these exemptions it is still an offence for people aged 14 to 17 to carry an airgun or air ammunition in public place.

People between 14 and 17 are also banned from firing airgun pellets beyond the boundaries of private land on which they have permission to shoot. There are also laws that apply to adult users of the weapons. Most air weapons do not require the keeper to apply for a firearms certificate but they still fall under the control of the firearms legislation.

By: The Birmingham Post