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The Death Of Teachers Gun Carrying Bill! |
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Written by Steve Sanson
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Wednesday, 18 April 2007 |
Nevada Senate Bill 286, sponsored by Nevada Republican State Senator Bob Beers died on the floor of the State Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee on Thursday, April 12.
This Bill if passed would have allowed all Nevada teachers to carry concealed weapons on school grounds.
Earlier this week I placed a phone call to State Senator Bob Beers to find out the motivation behind arming teachers in our schools.
Senator Beers returned my voice message and we set up a phone interview. Mr. Beers was unavailable at the scheduled time for the interview and never returned the voice message I left for him.
I contacted Clark County School Police Chief Hector Garcia by phone and discussed Bill 286. Garcia said that he is opposed to this Bill and he testified against arming teachers.
Garcia said that the Nevada Association of School Administration, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (the largest police department in Nevada), and Washoe County also testified against this Bill.
Garcia said that a Police Officers job is to keep weapons out of schools. Garcia was concerned about the training the teachers would have to go through in order to carry weapons on school property. The training would have to be mandatory, twice a year which would take away from educational curriculums.
Garcia explained the levels of force: command presents, verbal communication, hand to hand techniques, and impact weapons such as (pepper spray, and batons). In police training all the above techniques need to be exhausted before deadly force can be taken.
Garcia was concerned on the storage of weapons on school property. The procedures that are in place right now include the school going on Lock Down (all teachers class rooms being locked with a teacher inside with the students).
If teachers are allowed to have weapons on school property teachers would abandon their classrooms leaving students unattended.
Garcia was concerned that when a Police Officer responds to an emergency on school property that the Police Officer would not be able to detect a criminal from a teacher with a weapon.
Some questions Garcia has are: "Do teachers have the experience to make a life threatening decision?", "Can they press the trigger?" and "Would a teacher be able to shoot a weapon accurately without taking an innocent life?"
These were some questions I was going to ask State Senator Beers before the Bill was voted on:
Would it affect our current concealed weapons law that does not permit concealed weapons and any weapons on school grounds unless you are a Police Officer?
What if a teacher is overpowered by a student and the teacher's weapon is used to take a life or hold a school hostage?
Would a janitor, school maintenance, or administrative personnel be allowed to carry a weapon on school property?
Where would this budget come from to train teachers that would allow them to carry concealed weapons?
Wouldn't a metal detector and increasing our school police be a positive outlook in school security?
What if there was an accidental discharge and a life is taken, a weapon gets stolen, or a teacher misplaces a weapon?
What if a teacher uses a weapon to intimidate unarmed students or a mentally unstable student?
I don't know about you but I am against teachers having concealed weapons on school property. Teachers should concentrate on educating our students and not worrying about shooting them.
E-mail: SteveWSanson@cs.com phone 702 283 8088
Website: www.VeteransInPolitics.com.
Listen to Steve Sanson weekly every Saturday LIVE at our PERMANENT NEW TIME at 2 PM Pacific time on "Face the Tribune" at www.AllTalkRadio.net.
On April 21st the guest will be Former Army Ranger Nick Starling representing Veterans Alliances in Learning Opportunity Regiment (VALOR) and Marine Corps Vietnam Veteran Dan La Grand with the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 April 2007 )
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