More guns in schools
The more guns in schools argument is ludicrous on its face. It's a discussion that we shouldn't have because it's an idiotic idea.
That said. . .
According to Department of Education statistics, there are 98,200 K-12 public schools in the US. These schools employ 3,200,000 - that's three million two hundred thousand - full-time equivalent teachers. For arithmetic convenience, let's round that number down to three million.
The buffoon-in-chief, on orders from Putin and the domestic terrorist organization known as the NRA, proposes that 20% of those teachers be armed - not any old teacher, mind you, but veterans and those who undergo training.
Let's see. 20% of 3 million comes to 600,000 armed teachers in those 98,200 schools, for an average of just over 6 armed teachers in every public school.
For shits and grins, let's assume that every single one of those teachers gets a Glock 19. You can get a new Glock 19 for around $500 each. Sure, there are bulk discounts, etc., so let's plan on $400 per gun. Oh, and BTW, the Glock 19 is a favorite among school shooters.
Back to the arithmetic. That comes to $240 million. Or, put another way, that's a quarter of a billion dollars to arm the teachers. To say nothing of training and bullets. Who's going to pay for it. After all, most school districts don't have enough money to buy construction paper and crayons, much less weapons of moderately mass destruction.
I found a forum on the internet where one commenter observed that Glock produces about a million guns a year. I don't know how many Glock 19s they make every year,. but it looks like it would take several year to gear up to arm those 600,000 teachers. In the meantime, how many school shootings will we have to endure. As opposed to instituting an assault weapons ban today.
Some more observations. Relatively speaking, there are not a lot of veterans who become teachers. Based on a quick search on the internet, I'm guessing the number is in the tens of thousands. And let's not forget that not all veterans are combat veterans. Another poster here at DU observed that he fired weapons twice in his military service. During basic training and then once more for some certification. Not in combat. Not battle tested. Not an every day thing.
And, I know this may be hard to believe, but many teachers - maybe even most - have not fired a weapon, have no interest in firing a weapon and do not consider "packing heat" part of their personal ethos/philosophy or as part of their teaching duties. They want nothing to do with weapons.
One more observation regarding the hapless deputy who was on duty at Parkland and who was excoriated by the sheriff. Sure, it would have been quite something if this deputy entered the building, sought out the shooter, and killed him. Let me ask some questions. Let's say there was no deputy on site but that the police were called to the scene immediately. (Maybe they were - I don't know how long it was before they were on site.) Would they have gone in immediately, with no ballistic protection (I'm guessing the deputy on duty was not so attired), armed only with a hand gun? Or, as painful as it might have been, would they have tried to identify where the shooter was and then develop a plan to capture or kill him? All while making sure they were as safe as they could be with ballistic vests and other gear. And how long would it take? How long did it take in this case? Same thing with soldiers in battle. If a squad comes under fire, do they all run headlong toward the enemy, or do they try, in very trying circumstances, to develop a rational plan that would minimize any further losses and yet achieve their objective?
Now consider the hapless armed teacher. Same questions apply, this time with someone whose experiences with guns is extremely limited. Can they respond quickly? Can they respond safely? Is it their duty to risk their lives when all they want to do is teach Hawthorne, algebra, or chemistry? And what happens, in a large school, for example, when teachers may not all know each other. Who's the killer and who's the "good guy with a gun"? (A kid in Parkland was almost shot because he was dressed similarly to the shooter.) And what happens when police come on the scene and can't distinguish who's who, all while guns are blazing, people are screaming and dying?
What's more horrifying is that we're even having this conversation.
Rant over.
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