An Oregon high school teacher is suing for her rights to bring a gun to school. She purchased the gun primary to protect herself from her ex-husband. The teacher also tells the reporter that she is exercising the Second Amendment, which is the right to bear arms, as well as to protect her students. Does anyone see something wrong with this picture?
It is true that the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution allows rights for people to carry weapons. However, we are talking about school districts here. If this teacher is allowed to bring guns to school, wouldn't it influent kids to bear weapons too? Well, not that some of them are not doing it already. The point is that schools have been promoting anti-violent and anti-guns campaign for teens. Yet, a high school teacher might be permitted to have a gun in school. It would be so ironic if this teacher wins the case.
Teachers are workers and they have rules they need to follow. This is like how kids cannot say certain thing in school while we are protected by the First Amendment. If this teacher wins the case, perhaps we should sue the school district as well for our selfish reasons. Maybe we'll even win some money for college. (Hmm...)
This high school teacher obviously feels threaten by her abusive ex-husband. But there are many other women who went through similar situations and managed to protect themselves without having a gun. Are weapons the only defense against violence? So, you need to deal violence with...violence in return?
Here is a video from CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/education/2007/10/08/intv.or.armed.teac...
Here is an article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7003028.stm
wow seriously, that teacher is an idiot. what would make her think she could bring a gun to school. maybe keep it in the car but even that is not a good idea.
When you create a weapons free environment, you ensure that only those who care about policies and laws will be unarmed. The criminals, who do not care, will be the only ones armed, and that ALWAYS leads to trouble.
Just last week there was another school shooting, in Ohio this time.
If you are so permitted by your state to carry a concealed firearm, you should be able to carry it anywhere, including your place of work.
Remember that no student is old enough to legally own a firearm, nor are they old enough to legally carry one. Therefore, allowing people with a concealed carry permit to carry if they so choose will not affect the ability of a student to be armed. It wouldn't even affect the ability of the anti-gun person to be armed as they are not REQUIRED to.
However, the anti-gun lobby is very strong, mostly because rather than relying on information, they throw out inflated and phony statistics, then hide behind children.
The truth is, weapons free schools make the schools MORE dangerous for our kids, not less.
NEW SCHOOL SAFETY REPORT PAINTS GRIM PICTURE OF SAFETY IN AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
A new report entitled “The State of School Safety in American Schools” speaks of sexual assault, violent cliques and violent parents as commonplace in suburban, urban and rural schools nationwide.
The report was developed by the SERAPH Research team of SERAPH.net a group composed of educators and crime researchers. The team used interviews with 1,520 educators, 925 law enforcement officials and numerous scientific studies to create a detailed assessment of problems facing American schools.
“In 2000,” states research team leader Dale Yeager, “The United States Human Rights Projects' - National Campaign to Fight for Children asked SERAPH to create a detailed report on school safety for select members of the U.S. Congress. Because of the misconceptions about school safety by the public and many legislators we felt that releasing this years report to the public would assist in educating people about the problem.”
The report is available online at http://www.seraph.net/services_school_safety.html
The report covers many areas not traditional discussed in school safety research such as: Young Children and Aggression, Educational Philosophies and Student Aggression, Health Issues and School Safety, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Piercing and Tattoos, Girl Aggression, Sexism and School Safety, Youth on Youth Sex Aggression
“The issue of school safety affects everyone in society. Juvenile crime, domestic violence, poverty are all tied to school safety issues. The report will provide factual information to the public so that they can understand the complexity of the problem and provide information to legislators so that they can assist schools in preventing and managing school safety issues.”
First let me start by saying that I can see the problem with a teacher bringing a gun to school in that she would have to hyper-vigilant to prevent the students from getting their hands on the gun. However, that is my only concern. If nothing else, the school should permit the woman to carry a taser.
Regarding the ability of a gun to influence the children, these are high school kids, not 5 year olds. Medford is a pretty rural district, chances are these kids are no stranger to guns, especially hunting rifles. Aside from that, this woman is not asking to carry so she can be cool, she is trying to protect herself. Restraining orders, while very nice, are about as effective at protecting a person from a determined attacker as a Tulip is, i.e. they are useless. Also, schools in this country, despite advertising themselves as safe places for our children, have proven themselves horribly ineffective at protecting students from an armed attacker.
If her Ex-husband decides to kill her, he may choose to do it at a place he knows she will be (school). He will ignore any restraining order, he will ignore all prohibitions against guns on school property, and he will march into her classroom and gun her down, and probably anyone else who gets in his way. Should she not have the right and ability to protect herself and her students from a known threat without having to lose her job (it is not like it is her fault he is a psychopath)?
Yes, many women have had abusive men threaten them, and many of them got a restraining order and did not get a gun. And many of them are killed every year despite the magical restraining order. Think about it, if a man is willing to commit murder, really, how much is he going to respect a restraining order. By the time a woman realizes she is in danger, it is too late to call the police and expect them to arrive in time.
And yes, sadly, violence is, except in very limited circumstances, the only defense against violence. Even Ghandi recognized that there are times when violence must be met with violence. Gandhi pointed out three possible responses to oppression and injustice. One he described as the coward’s way: to accept the wrong or run away from it. The second option was to stand and fight by force of arms. Gandhi said this was better than acceptance or running away. But the third way, he said, was best of all and required the most courage: to stand and fight solely by nonviolent means. The third way is great, but if her husband walks into her classroom with a gun, she is not fighting oppression or injustice, but for her life.
WTF?! Ouch, that's scary. I feel bad for the woman but then again, why bring a gun to school where someone else could find it and use it for other things? >.>
Why didn't she get a restraining order on him in the first place?!