Richmond County school board members differ on Georgia gun law
By Tracey McManus, The Augusta Chronicle, Ga. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
This reversal from the long-standing push for schools to be gun-free zones made international headlines and posed serious questions to educators and parents. Would classrooms be safer if teachers toted guns at school?
"Not in the school house," Cain said. "I feel like we have so little concern for the next person's life, that lives aren't valued anymore. It's like we're turning into the wild, wild West where the way people deal with things is we pick up a gun."
Rep.
The law allows school boards to select certain people to carry guns. Those employees must be licensed carriers; undergo training for marksmanship and the law on use of force; and be willing to carry the gun in the first place.
The local boards will be responsible for all costs associated with training, equipment and liability insurance. Documents and meetings relating to personnel approved to carry weapons will not be open to the public.
"At the end of the day, I look at it that we have two things that dictate to us what we're going to do in relation to weapons," said Powell, the chairman of the
Williams said a gun on the hip could be dangerous for teachers and principals, who often hug their students or have to break up fights. He also said these educators do not receive the ongoing training law enforcement officers get on proper stance, shooting techniques and how to react in a crisis.
"Unless it's your area of expertise, unless it's what you're trained to do and it's your profession, it causes problems," Williams said. "In a school setting, teachers have too many other things to be concerned with without having to worry about doing the job of a law enforcement officer. Their job is to be concerned with teaching."
Board of education member
"I think it's a great idea," Dolan said of armed educators. "People go shoot up schools because they know there's no guns."
Board member
Board member
"The opportunity to do something or stop someone is not going to always have the right person in the right place with the right weapon," Padgett said. "It's kind of scary for me that we would arm people around kids. I prefer having trained security guards."
He said districts still have questions regarding financial costs that will be put on school boards and the extent of training the law requires.
"We're still exploring what this really means," Pauly said. "There are a lot of unknowns."
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