Teachers Carrying Guns: Nebraska Senator Mark Christensen Introduces Bill To Keep Schools Safe

LINCOLN, Neb. — A Nebraska lawmaker has introduced a bill to allow school administrators, teachers and security staff to carry concealed handguns in schools.

Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial introduced the bill two weeks after a 17-year-old killed his vice principal and shot his principal before killing himself.

Christensen says he has always opposed a ban on handguns in schools, but he had no plans to introduce his bill until the shootings on Jan. 5.

He says many schools don't even let security officers carry guns, leaving students and school employees "helpless in the face of a shooter."

The National Conference of State Legislatures says 42 states and the District of Columbia have banned guns in schools, but it could not say whether any states allow them.

Comments

[cmbaba]

01:42 PM on 01/24/2011

I think they should all carry guns when they are debating bills etc on Capital Hill. And inside court hearings too. Maybe he and other public officials would be less inclined to support such a measure when it's their a** on the line.

[ProfessorDuh]

08:46 AM on 01/24/2011

Back in the late 1930s, songwriter Harold Rome penned a satirical song "(When I Grow Up) The G-Man Song," wherein a barely pubescent protagonist sang: "Gee, but I'd like to be a G-Man and go Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! I'd be a brave gang-busting he-man and go Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! I'd put on disguises of all different sizes and would I win prizes for telling who spies is!"
Americans have a right to own guns to protect themselves, but a disturbing number of them seem to be irrational gun fetishists who talk about America as if it's one big running gun battle, and who regard gun ownership as a panacea for all their problems. It isn't. Few of life's problems can be solved with a gun, and only extremely immature people think otherwise. A feverish obsession with guns reveals that the person obsessed is compensating because he feels so frightened, powerless and small. The fact remains that guns belong in the hands of adults, and not those of children, whether chronological or emotional.

[WorriedNeighbour]

12:46 AM on 01/24/2011

Classrooms will not be safe until everyone is carrying. The teacher should be carrying so they can shoot the shooter. The kids should be carrying so they can shoot each other if one of them is the shooter, or the teacher if he/she is the shooter. Probably should have an armed, impartial patriot in the room too, in case there is any confusion. Obviously, more guns = more safety!

[ProfessorDuh]

08:42 AM on 01/24/2011

Yes. And when the police arrive, they can shoot everybody. Just to be on the safe side.

[Angel R1240]

10:56 PM on 01/23/2011

What are you kidding me? What's the answer to stop kids from carrying guns to school, give guns to the teachers. This is got to be a joke. Why are people in this country obsessed with guns? I don't understand. If we keep giving people guns and ways to buy guns we will wind up killing more and more people. The NRA can't have this much power. I hope that this bill does not become law. It's a bad idea and it will lead to more deaths it will not help.

[YOUIDIOT]

09:28 AM on 02/08/2011

Look up and research school or university shootings in Utah and get back to me. bet you find that not only teachers but students can conceal carry. and yet you hear of no school shootings. a shooter is going to be less likely to shoot the hell outta a place when someone else could be shooting back to the math....

[medic628]

08:13 PM on 01/23/2011

This is not a good idea. There are teachers out there who are good at what they do and lets leave it that way. To put weapons in their hands would complete the introduction to the prison system that we are supplying our kids today.

[Michael Mouton]

08:11 PM on 01/23/2011

Conservati­ves are amazing. If there had been a high profile case of someone saving a politician­'s life due to conceal carry laws, liberals would've put their tails between their legs and hid. But in a case where a man shoots a politician using a weapon and a clip he had due to the liberalizi­ng of gun laws, Conservati­ves argue for the increased liberalization of guns.

[genrel1248]

08:02 PM on 01/22/2011

Everybody should be packing! We could all police ourselves. Think of the savings to gubment budgets if we no longer have to provide internal securtiy. That frees up a lot of money for worthwhile projects like invading Iran!

[farmilyman]

04:50 AM on 01/22/2011

Have we gone mad in this country? Next it will be all doctors and nurses should have guns.

[WorriedNeighbour]

12:50 AM on 01/24/2011

Yes you have. Actually, it has been awhile already, but the symptoms weren't as obvious because they kind of crept up on you. It was easier to see from the outside. Partly because you have a nasty habit of bringing those guns with you when you go to 'foreign' countries.

[farmilyman]

06:33 AM on 01/24/2011

It's mainly corrupt politicians falling all over themselves to get the NRA endorsement and money for their campaigns causing the problem.

[mando45]

12:17 PM on 01/21/2011

This is an insane idea. The gentleman who was carrying a gun in Tucson was a breath away from shooting one of the heroes who disarmed the assassin. If everyone in that situation had had a pistol and drew and fired in response to the first shot, don't you think in the confusion that it would become difficult to tell the good guys and the bad guys apart. Everybody carrying guns will only create bigger gunfights and more deaths. Insane! And in a school? Educators teach their students, not shoot them. Our modern interpretation of the Second Amendment is based upon moneyed interests and certainly not in the interests of our citizens, most especially of our children. I must repeat, this is an insane idea. I have every confidence that this measure will not pass because the good people of Nebraska are more intelligent than this.

[dgranna]

09:35 AM on 01/21/2011

Interesting that the government eliminated the "board" of education, but is introducing a potential blood-bath.

[SimianNation]

11:17 AM on 01/21/2011

Is this a drunk posting? The GOP are the ones that wish to do away with the Board of ED.

[dgranna]

12:26 PM on 01/21/2011

The "board" of education I speak of is good old fashioned spanking. Teachers can't spank, but might one day be able to shoot? Insanity.

[hagagaga]

08:40 AM on 01/21/2011

I don't have any problems with people who can legally carry elsewhere carrying in schools if they want to. The only armed person in the high school I'm posting this from is the police officer and he's able to handle most situations, but the Constitution doesn't provide exceptions.

[WorriedNeighbour]

12:37 AM on 01/24/2011

Is that constitution infallible? Americans talk of the constitution as if it was written by God himself! If the constitution contained a clause that stated you must crawl on your knees half of every day, would you stick with that too? There are just some things those guys might have been wrong about when they wrote that thing. And some things have changed a bit.

[onlyaquarterdelusional]

08:29 AM on 01/21/2011

Without even knowing a single thing about Sen. Christensen I would bet the ranch on the fact that he is a Republican. The NRA will probably be funneling him campaign cash and encouraging him to run for Congress. How much profit in all those new gun sales? Besides with the example this sets at schools, you have a new crop of customers every generation. After the shootings at Virginia Tech, the NRA stated that if all colleges permitted concealed firearms, someone could have killed the shooter before he killed so many. College students, alcohol and firearms, what a combination. Even coming from the NRA, that attitude is as dumb as dirt.

[c-tom]

01:52 AM on 01/21/2011

Unless teachers are a lot more stable then when I was in school the idea of arming them is really terrifying.

[Mark0]

10:52 PM on 01/20/2011

In spite of mass of rhetoric in some of the comments here, it is worth noting that proposed legislation does not require anyone to carry a firearm, or take on security duties.

It only allows teachers the option to carry a firearm, if they so choose, and if they have a permit, rather than denying them any choice at all.

[marknez21]

09:24 PM on 01/20/2011

Ban guns, PERIOD.

[hagagaga]

08:33 AM on 01/21/2011

I think that conflicts with "shall not be infringed."

[Chris O]

11:57 PM on 01/21/2011

Only if they are not "part of a well regulated militia" Don't really see that many gun toters being part of said militia.

[YOUIDIOT]

09:39 AM on 02/08/2011

WOW who deleted my comment i must have had a damn good point that no one wanted to hear.. crack me up anti-gun people.