Texas School District To Let Teachers Carry Concealed Firearms

HARROLD, Texas — A tiny Texas district will allow teachers and staff members to carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings when classes begin this month, provided the gun-toting employees follow certain requirements.

The small community of Harrold in north Texas is a 30-minute drive from the Wilbarger County Sheriff's Office, leaving students and teachers without protection, said David Thweatt, superintendent of the Harrold Independent School District. The lone campus of the 110-student district sits near a heavily traveled highway, which could make it a target, he argued.

"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying 'sic 'em' to a dog," Thweatt said in a story published Friday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Web site.

Barbara Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of School Boards, said her organization did not know of another district with such a policy. Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based school security expert who advises districts nationwide, said Harrold is the first district with such a policy.

Trustees approved the policy change last year. For employees to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations; and must ammunition designed to minimize the risk of ricocheting bullets.

Officials researched the policy and considered other options for about a year before approving the policy change, Thweatt said. The district also has other measures in place to prevent a school shooting, he said.

"The naysayers think (a shooting) won't happen here. If something were to happen here, I'd much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them," Thweatt said.

Texas law outlaws firearms at schools unless specific institutions allow them.

It isn't clear how many of the 50 or so teachers and staff members will be armed this fall because Thweatt did not disclose that information, to keep it from students or potential attackers.

___

On the Net:

Harrold Independent School District: http://harroldisd.net/

Comments

[3dtrix]

02:48 AM on 08/17/2008

When I was a kid, my sister had a doll called Chatty Kathy; it was high-tech for the era - you just pulled a string and a lo-fi recording repeated a handful of banal phrases. I came to Huffpost looking for a higher order of social and political dialog, but "I know you are but what am I?" seems to be the best most commenters can come up with. Chatty Kathy would occupy an exalted status here.

Just look at the thread below this entry - is there a single argument you've never seen before? Is there a single fresh idea?

Even one?

Is there the remotest possibility that someone's mind was changed, or point of view was expanded here?

I heard a song once - a line in it went "Please don't dominate the rap, Jack, if you've got nothing new to say..."

Our nation and this planet are on a rocket-sled to hell - we don't have time to beat every molecule of dust out of every old threadbare rug.

Someone says "Abortion", and the masses again murmur the well-worn incantations - to no measurable effect. Someone else says "Guns" or "Evolution", and the faithful hit the prayer rugs yet another time. Cult and counter-cult.

What a colossal waste of time.

[indypete]

03:23 AM on 08/17/2008

The alternative is re-runs of I Love Lucy. We don't necessarily come here to be insightful. Personally, I come here to let off steam, whack the occasional tro// and crack silly jokes. Keeps me out of bars and away from fast women.

[indypete]

03:25 AM on 08/17/2008

Sometimes, though, I find fast women here... right, Babs?

[BabsfromKansas]

04:32 PM on 08/16/2008

This is just terrifying!

I was a school administrator for 15 years in a very poor rural town, off an interstate highway near a major military installation.

Some kids would bring in spent bullets and grenades their parents had given them for show and tell. Some kids had parents who were out on parole. Some kids were in protective custody. In other words, we were educating in a "war zone."

However, I would never in my life want guns in that building any where near those children. The risks of an accident are statistically so much higher than an attack.

[indypete]

04:56 PM on 08/16/2008

You mean you don't want some panicked academic spraying bullets everywhere? Spoilsport!

[BabsfromKansas]

05:04 PM on 08/16/2008

Well, I would have been the one doing it and I would have s hot myself in the foot after I
pe ed my pants!

[BabsfromKansas]

05:06 PM on 08/16/2008

Well, I would have been the one doing it and I would have shot myself in the foot after I peed my pants!

[indypete]

05:26 PM on 08/16/2008

Hello.... hello... Where are the pro-gun types? Babs and I are looking for someone to play with.

[BabsfromKansas]

05:25 PM on 08/16/2008

Jeez... after you and souce left last night all people wanted to talk about was R ick W arren!

[mouselion]

04:15 PM on 08/16/2008

The sensible approach for a remote rural high school is not for the teachers to be an armed militia, but rather to have an armed security guard, or two, on duty. Nowhere does the article indicate that the school has ever been under threat. If it were a problem, they can have a satellite police or sheriff's office on-campus. If not, -- it just sounds like some paranoid authoritarian jerks that have gun fixations. Not exactly sending a good message to the students about how their viewed by the faculty, either.

Those who don't trust for no apparent reason should not be trusted.

[BabsfromKansas]

04:34 PM on 08/16/2008

Yes, a security guard and a protected entry way would be so much better.

[mouselion]

04:05 PM on 08/16/2008

Two months from now, headlines read:

"Drunken Redneck P.E. Teacher Goes Postal While On Cafeteria Duty"

[BabsfromKansas]

04:32 PM on 08/16/2008

Jeebus H. Xmas!!!

[indypete]

04:06 PM on 08/16/2008

There's no reason I shouldn't have a carry concealed permit. I don't think anybody else should, though..

[BabsfromKansas]

04:31 PM on 08/16/2008

Do they make you check your guns at the saloon door?

[indypete]

04:52 PM on 08/16/2008

No, it's like driving.... I shoot better when I'm drunk.

Seriously, though (unlike me as it may be) the reason for my remark is that the gun laws, or lack thereof, involve only sane and rational people being allowed to have them. Of course, that doesn't work at all since any looney tune Tom, Dick or Harry can get as many shooters as he likes as long as he's not actually twitching, barking and drooling all over the counter at K-Mart. (Have a look down the thread and you'll see a couple of twitchers, barkers and droolers, by the way). Then there's the question of whether someone in okay when they get the gun but later they go off the deep end for some reason. There's an old saying from Yorkshire in the North of England...

"There's nobody right in this world 'cept for thee and me.... and I'm not so sure about thee."

[who38]

03:51 PM on 08/16/2008

David Thweatt, McCain's choice for Secretary of Education.

[indypete]

03:42 PM on 08/16/2008

Do the teachers packing concealed get extra pay as deputies?

[BabsfromKansas]

04:35 PM on 08/16/2008

STOP!!!!!!

[indypete]

04:56 PM on 08/16/2008

Bwahahaha!

[ManassasMan]

03:10 PM on 08/16/2008

MY interpretation of the Second Amendment's mention of a "militia", coupled with the citizens' right to bear arms is that it refers to our present-day state national guard units, and NOT some idiot's right to have an AK-47 in his gun cabinet and an ICBM silo in his back yard !

[dphilip]

03:24 PM on 08/16/2008

Then this "idiot" couldn't be more pleased that the Supreme Court is responsible for interpreting the 2nd and not you. Oh, and they did decide and according to them....you're wrong.

[mouselion]

04:07 PM on 08/16/2008

You have an ICBM silo in your backyard?

[Mort]

03:24 PM on 08/16/2008

Guess it depends who's doing the interpreting. When this was drafted, the militia was just about everybody. Most citizens were armed and willing to drop everything at a moment's notice to defend family, community and nation against enemies, and according to Jefferson, the tyranny of corrupt government. The National Guard was born from the ideals of the Minutemen, but that doesn't relieve us of the right and duty to protect ourselves and our loved ones.

[Elmo]

02:49 PM on 08/16/2008

i came here for the knee-jerk hysterics, and wasn't disappointed.

[Mort]

02:57 PM on 08/16/2008

Always happy to provide you with the best entertainment value, Sir!

[indypete]

03:38 PM on 08/16/2008

Guilty as charged!

[MalloMel]

02:33 PM on 08/16/2008

Why am I not surprised?

[TheProf]

01:29 PM on 08/16/2008

My, my how I love Texas. It helps us all define crazy and realize that we are just a little tilted, but Texas? Now there's a state that has one leg shorter than the other. "No sir, he's not drunk. He's just crazy." You gotta love a state that George Bush calls home. Bam! bam! bam! how they do love their manhood defined by guns. Must be lacking something else.

[RRK70]

01:19 PM on 08/16/2008

I've realized after Bush's attack on the Bill of Rights that you can't pick and choose which rights you want and which one's you want to removed. I'm fine with guns, really.

What I AM concerned with however, is how many teachers get shot by police or SWAT responding to a crisis. If there are multiple people running around a school all playing Dirty Harry, a lot of them are going to wind up getting shot.

Secondly, I just ask that gun owners practice responsibility and accountability. In my opinion if their gun is stolen, or their gun is left unsecured and is used by a child, then the gun owner who was responsible for securing that weapon should likewise face strict punishment for whatever crime their firearm was used in. It goes both ways, with power comes responsibility.

[oogabooga]

12:25 PM on 08/16/2008

If the students know their teacher is packing heat, will that make them study harder and get better grades?

[lisakaz2]

03:42 PM on 08/16/2008

Or try to overcome said instructor and shoot him/her.

[SpoxLogic]

12:26 PM on 08/16/2008

The problem with the kids today is that they have an over inflated sense of entitlement to material things. Everything they want, it's given to them. If their parents can't give it to them, some look to doing illegal activities to acquire it.
Therefore, they grow up not knowing how to deal with disappointment or how to handle rejection, failure or just someone saying "NO!" That's why they blame this group or that group for their sorry lot in life, have no respect for their elders and feel as if no one should question them.

So, basically, I blame the parent, who unwittingly or wittingly sometimes, raise mal-adjusted children.

[k6007]

12:09 PM on 08/16/2008

So now I guess the 'bad' ones will have to shootthe teachers first?