More Teachers Authorized to Carry Weapons in Classroom

Miracles Boys33 · Sep 22, 2014

ALT LAKE CITY -- “Stop. Drop your weapon. Don’t shoot.”

Kasey Hansen yelled as she pointed the barrel of her loaded handgun at a target’s chest at a shooting range outside Salt Lake City.

Hansen, a special needs teacher in Utah, is prepared to take down any armed gunman that barges through the doors of one of her classrooms. Hansen carries her pink handgun “Lucy” with her every day in each of the 14 schools at which she teaches. The 27-year-old teacher works with elementary, middle and high school students with hearing impairments in the Granite School District. “I want to protect my students,” Hansen said. “I’m going to stand in front of a bullet for any student that is in my protection and so I want another option to defend us.”

Hansen is one of an unknown number of armed teachers across the country. Legally gun-owning adults are now allowed to carry guns in public schools in more than two dozen states, from kindergarten classrooms to high school hallways. Seven of those states specifically allow teachers and other school staff to carry guns in their schools.

A News21 examination of open records laws in those states found that those who do choose to carry their firearm into their classrooms are not required to divulge the information to principals, other teachers, students or parents. Only five of those states have completely open access to concealed carry permit information through public records requests. Some state’s laws completely seal off those records and others are silent on the issue.

That means there is no way of telling how many teachers are taking advantage of the option to be armed. School administrations can decide to gather the information, but it’s more of a “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation. There is no record of who has a gun in any school in any state.

After the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the threat of an attack by an armed gunman in elementary and high schools prompted five states to give school administrators the authority to arm their teachers. In 2013 more than 80 bills were introduced in at least 33 states related to arming teachers or school staff, but only Alabama, Kansas, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas enacted laws affecting public schools, according to a report by the Council of State Governments.

Connecticut law, which previously let school officials allow people other than police to carry in schools, was revised after Newtown, so that only officers can carry guns on school grounds. Georgia passed a guns-in-schools bill in 2014. The other states allowing guns in schools already had versions of such laws in place.

In some cases school districts and local school boards can designate school faculty to get specific training in order to carry; and there are a few states, including Hawaii and New Hampshire, that don’t set policy in state law. In Utah and Rhode Island anyone with a concealed carry weapons permit is allowed to bring a firearm onto public school grounds. Schools in some states, including Colorado and Arkansas, use administrators and other staff members as security officers so that they can be armed in the school. And most states allow guns in schools for approved programs and events sanctioned by the school.

In Utah, guns are commonplace in public. The state has issued more than a half million firearm carry permits. Residents with a permit can legally carry almost anywhere, from elementary schools to local restaurants and bars to municipal parks.

“I never really thought about it before Sandy Hook. It just killed me. It’s something personal when you mess with students or children. …It’s as if you were messing with one of our own.”

The Utah law that allows anyone with a concealed carry permit, including teachers, to carry on school property has been in place for more than a decade. A provision that would have restricted possession on school property was taken out of the bill.

Hansen got her concealed carry permit a week or two after Sandy Hook and participated in a free training course offered to teachers. She then bought her pink-plated Cobra 380 handgun, and started carrying it in her classroomsabout seven months ago.

“I never really thought about it before Sandy Hook,” said Hansen, who was teaching when she heard about the attack. “It just killed me. It’s something personal when you mess with students or children. …It’s as if you were messing with one of our own.” “I want to protect my students,” Hansen said. “I’m going to stand in front of a bullet for any student that is in my protection and so I want another option to defend us.”

Hansen is one of an unknown number of armed teachers across the country. Legally gun-owning adults are now allowed to carry guns in public schools in more than two dozen states, from kindergarten classrooms to high school hallways. Seven of those states specifically allow teachers and other school staff to carry guns in their schools.

A News21 examination of open records laws in those states found that those who do choose to carry their firearm into their classrooms are not required to divulge the information to principals, other teachers, students or parents. Only five of those states have completely open access to concealed carry permit information through public records requests. Some state’s laws completely seal off those records and others are silent on the issue.

That means there is no way of telling how many teachers are taking advantage of the option to be armed. School administrations can decide to gather the information, but it’s more of a “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation. There is no record of who has a gun in any school in any state.

After the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the threat of an attack by an armed gunman in elementary and high schools prompted five states to give school administrators the authority to arm their teachers. In 2013 more than 80 bills were introduced in at least 33 states related to arming teachers or school staff, but only Alabama, Kansas, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas enacted laws affecting public schools, according to a report by the Council of State Governments.

Connecticut law, which previously let school officials allow people other than police to carry in schools, was revised after Newtown, so that only officers can carry guns on school grounds. Georgia passed a guns-in-schools bill in 2014. The other states allowing guns in schools already had versions of such laws in place.

In some cases school districts and local school boards can designate school faculty to get specific training in order to carry; and there are a few states, including Hawaii and New Hampshire, that don’t set policy in state law. In Utah and Rhode Island anyone with a concealed carry weapons permit is allowed to bring a firearm onto public school grounds. Schools in some states, including Colorado and Arkansas, use administrators and other staff members as security officers so that they can be armed in the school. And most states allow guns in schools for approved programs and events sanctioned by the school.

In Utah, guns are commonplace in public. The state has issued more than a half million firearm carry permits. Residents with a permit can legally carry almost anywhere, from elementary schools to local restaurants and bars to municipal parks.

“I never really thought about it before Sandy Hook. It just killed me. It’s something personal when you mess with students or children. …It’s as if you were messing with one of our own.”

The Utah law that allows anyone with a concealed carry permit, including teachers, to carry on school property has been in place for more than a decade. A provision that would have restricted possession on school property was taken out of the bill.

Hansen got her concealed carry permit a week or two after Sandy Hook and participated in a free training course offered to teachers. She then bought her pink-plated Cobra 380 handgun, and started carrying it in her classroomsabout seven months ago.

“I never really thought about it before Sandy Hook,” said Hansen, who was teaching when she heard about the attack. “It just killed me. It’s something personal when you mess with students or children. …It’s as if you were messing with one of our own.” Teaching at multiple schools a day, Hansen drives around the school district in her white Mazda glamorized with eyelashes on the headlights. All of Hansen’s students have hearing aids or a cochlear implant, which could make an emergency situation particularly chaotic.

“I think every teacher should carry,” Hansen said. “We are the first line of defense. Someone is going to call the cops and they are going to be informed, but how long is it going to take for them to get to the school? And in that time how many students are going to be affected by the gunman roaming the halls?”

In the 10 years since teachers have been allowed to carry guns in Utah, no fatal K-12 school shootings have occurred. Some argue that schools aren’t falling victim to attacks because of their unique, additional security measures. Others think guns in classrooms present more risk than potential for reward.

“I don’t deny the fact that a gun could be used to protect students,” said Steven H. Gunn, a member of the board of directors of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah and a Holladay city councilman, “but a gun in school is far more likely to lead to the harm of an innocent individual than to the protection of innocent people.” “A teacher could begin returning fire to a person who is attacking the school and in the process, kill children,” said Gunn. “It’s just a very unhealthy, unsafe situation and teachers, unless they receive special training, simply wouldn’t know how to handle a crisis situation.”

Ten miles north of Holladay, volunteer P.E. teacher Ted Hallisey stepped out of his forest green Ford pickup truck at the south end of the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City. For Hallisey it was important to address the school gun rights issue at the place where rights are supposed to be honored and discussed.

“Everybody is focused on individual rights, ‘it’s my right to carry a firearm,’ but what about everybody else’s right to be in a safe gun-free environment, especially in schools?” Hallisey said. “How does that work where they say now your rights don’t matter anymore?”

As a teacher and kid’s health advocate, Hallisey believes there is too much risk in arming a teacher or staff member.
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http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investi...rs-authorized-carry-weapons-classroom-n208946

Xerobull · Sep 23, 2014

Wrong forum.

robbie380 · Sep 23, 2014

'murica

Phillyrocket · Sep 23, 2014

Sigh some kid is going to go digging around in the teachers purse or desk or something and pick up that loaded gun and kill himself or someone else.

God bless 'murica

likestohypeguy · Sep 23, 2014

I can't any teacher who elects to carry being any less well trained than a cop.

Let's see what happens!

heypartner · Sep 23, 2014

That's fine. Just let us know which schools allow guns because teachers need them, and watch your flock fly away to the school who doesn't allow guns.

This is great

Let's let the market decide this once and for all. Given a choice, the majority of parents will not pick the school that allows teachers to carry guns

Is this really an argument/up for debate

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