Texas school district letting teachers carry guns

HARROLD, Texas — A tiny Texas district will allow teachers and staff members to carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings when classes begin this month, provided the gun-toting employees follow certain requirements.

The small community of Harrold in north Texas is a 30-minute drive from the Wilbarger County Sheriff's Office, leaving students and teachers without protection, said David Thweatt, superintendent of the Harrold Independent School District. The lone campus of the 110-student district sits near a heavily traveled highway, which could make it a target, he argued.

"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying 'sic 'em' to a dog," Thweatt said in a story published Friday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Web site.

Barbara Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of School Boards, said her organization did not know of another district with such a policy. Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based school security expert who advises districts nationwide, said Harrold is the first district with such a policy.

Trustees approved the policy change last year. For employees to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations; and must ammunition designed to minimize the risk of ricocheting bullets.

Officials researched the policy and considered other options for about a year before approving the policy change, Thweatt said. The district also has other measures in place to prevent a school shooting, he said.

"The naysayers think (a shooting) won't happen here. If something were to happen here, I'd much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them," Thweatt said.

Texas law outlaws firearms at schools unless specific institutions allow them.

Congratulations, Harrold, Tx! Are you Listening, Atlanta, Ga?

Finally, a school district gets it right, and gives the teachers a chance to protect the lives of students. I hope the mayor of Atlanta

The Texas school district in Harrold is on the right track. With law enforcement officers potentially thirty minutes away, the school district has recognized that armed teachers just might be the best defense against an attack.

As I have written in the past, just one gun may be all that is needed to end a threat. History has shown us the absence of guns has not stopped an attack once it begins.

Now if we could only get the officials of Harrold, Texas to discuss their decision with the mayor of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin, who is absolutely certain that the best way to protect me is to disarm me, a logic which I do not grasp.

Recently, the state of Georgia passed and signed into legislation House Bill 89, which allows those with permits to carry concealed weapons to carry their weapons in locations that years past were off limits. Many of these laws were passed after the end of the Civil War, to prohibit blacks from having weapons in public.

Some of the locations that we could not carry concealed weapons included near bus stops(define near for me please), and restaurants that served alcohol.

The new law was debated and specifically passed to allow people such as myself, who have passed a background check, been fingerprinted, and signed affidavits regarding our backgrounds to carry concealed weapons into restaurants serving alcohol (it is illegal for us to consume alcohol at a restaurant while I carry), and to ride mass transit(an area known for easy prey of victims as we were certain to be unarmed).

When the law became effective, the mayor of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin declared the airport a gun-free zone and threatened to arrest anyone with a concealed weapon. She has also dragged the TSA into the arguement, asking them to declare that the non-sterile areas(those you enter prior to going through the metal detectors) as the domain of the Feds, and subsequently not subject to Georgia State law.

A lawsuit has already been filed on behalf of people like myself, who have every right to protect ourselves against the threat of predators. Georgiacarry.org has taken the initiative and is working diligently to protect my Second Amendment Rights. In fact, with less than 2500 members, they have overturned more bans unconstitutional under Georgia law than any other gun rights group in Georgia.

If you have been to the Atlanta Airport, then you will understand why a law-abiding citizen would appreciate the opportunity to protect themselves. Row upon row of vehicles where predators can lie in wait for you where the predator knows you are unarmed is not a comforting feeling. Driving home from the airport without your gun is an option many of us would choose to not make.

There are also many areas where it would take more than thirty minutes for the police to locate and respond to your call for help in the Atlanta Airport Parking lots. So if the school district in Harrold, Texas, recognizes that thirty minutes is too long to respond to an immediate threat, why doesn't the city of Atlanta?

Congratulations, Harrold, Texas. I would wager that if a predator wants to attact students, your school will not be one they will target.

By: EJ Moosa, The Naked Truth

International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) backed by Pro-Gun Control Institutions

Why does a new report from the International Association of Chiefs of Police read like every gun-ban strategy we’ve heard for the last 10 years? I’m going to describe a group that recently demanded enactment of a sweeping federal gun control agenda.

Let’s see if you can guess who it is.

The group has 22,000 members in more than 100 countries. Membership categories include “city managers, highway safety specialists, psychologists, attorneys, coroners and management analysts,” among others. The group has offices in Europe and the Caribbean, and the group’s website describes its governing board in your choice of English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.

Why does a new report from the International Association of Chiefs of Police read like every gun-ban strategy we’ve heard for the last 10 years? To find out, all one has to do is follow the money.

Is it a new United Nations disarmament agency? No, the group is the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), headquartered in the nation’s capital. And the story behind the report is a shadowy web of huge donations, made by an activist foundation in the Midwest, leading straight to puppet strings that control the agenda of gun ban groups, the IACP and even New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

The IACP report, called “Taking a Stand: Reducing Gun Violence in Our Communities,” is nothing more than a rubber stamp, bought and paid for, of the pre-existing agenda for gun ban groups. It is a blueprint the enemies of freedom plan to pursue after the 2008 elections–if they win total control of the White House and Congress.

What compelled the IACP to issue this sweeping report? Follow the money. A note on the cover proudly declares that the report was issued “with support from the Joyce Foundation.”

That’s a familiar name to longtime readers. The Joyce Foundation has pumped tens of millions of dollars into the coffers of gun ban groups over the years. The Violence Policy Center (VPC), an unashamed promoter of a total ban on handguns, collected more than $1 million of Joyce money just in 2005 and 2006. In 2000, the Joyce Foundation paid a VPC advisor and former Handgun Control, Inc. board member to edit a “Second Amendment Symposium” issue of the Chicago-Kent Law Review. That slim volume contains nearly half the anti-individual rights articles ever published on the Second Amendment.

The IACP newsletter proudly notes that the Joyce Foundation has “made more than $30 million in grants to groups seeking public health solutions that offer the promise of reducing gun deaths and injuries in America.”

This year, the Joyce Foundation invested heavily in IACP. They paid IACP over $500,000 to host “The Great Lakes States Summit on Gun Violence,” and then to issue the report from the conference. That comes out to nearly $11,000 per page, but the Joyce Foundation got what it paid for–no surprise given the report’s thank you to Joyce Foundation Communications Director Mary O’Connell for “her editing, writing and consistent work to produce this report.”

By: Guncontrolkills.com