Thursday, October 30, 2008

Harrold Texas - Trendsetter

We talked before about the Texas school where teachers are now armed. Here's a video produced shortly after the new rules went into effect. The folks interviewed are a bit ingenious, but they do cover most of the issues. What do you think? (H/T to Patrick)

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

9 comments:

  1. What do you think?

    What harm could come from it?

    Do you think any of the objections were even remotely reasonable?

    "I hope they aren't giving guns to psychos!"
    WHAT A DUMBASS! So he trusts teachers and staff to watch his fucking kids for a huge part of the day and that's totally cool, but as soon as guns come up suddenly he's worried about teachers being psychos???? he's either a moron or the worst Dad in the world for leaving his kids with people who he KNOWS are psychos.

    The other woman talking about "Working with the children"

    Of course this doesn't amount to jack shit if the attack comes from OUTSIDE the school (Dunblane Massacre comes to mind....but on a more common note is Gang activites inside schools. Gang murders in schools happen far more often than school shootings, and kill more children....but they never make the news....why do you think that is?)

    But also schools can't keep their students from dropping out and getting pregnant and doing their homework and not doing drugs....yet she thinks they can be effective against the rare school shooter?

    What do you think, Mike?

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  2. Mike,

    When this first broke as news, wasn't some of the comments along the lines of the teachers are going to shoot everyone? No one has been shot.
    We heard that teachers are going to leave their guns and kids will find them, none reported and don't think it wouldn't make the evening news if it happened.
    How about teachers will get upset at a student and shoot them, hasn't happened.

    Firearms don't have magical properties to turn otherwise normal people into raving lunatics.

    You've 3 kids; would you want them going to a school 30 minutes from the sheriff's office knowing there nothing the teachers can do against a criminal but call & wait?

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  3. only in texas!

    my favorite part is, whenever they go to the male 'in the field' newscaster, the channel 25 logo in the background looks like someone has already taken a shot at it.

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  4. "only in texas!"

    Actually its been going on in Utah and I belive Oregon for a good while now.

    Of course no incidents have happened.

    On another note my gas stove hasn't blown up my house either.

    Moral of this story. Don't be an idiot!

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  5. Are the teachers in Utah and Oregon carrying? I hadn't heard that. I thought Harrold was the first.

    I laughed out loud at those characters on the video. Could they have found funnier people to interview?

    It seems obvious to me that there won't be any accidents or problems resulting from this new law, other than the ones I've often raised. Where is this leading our society? What kind of message is this to students? Especially in a place like Harrold where the likelihood of a tragedy is low, at least according to some, shouldn't we try to educate and nurture the young people and not teach them that the answer is in being armed?

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  6. Mike,

    At the end of 1998, most people wouldn't have said that a community like Harrold Texas would be the location of a shooting....but a couple of months later, that changed.

    The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, near Denver and Littleton

    Nearly 10 years later, another unlikely place--
    The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting consisting of two separate attacks approximately two hours apart on April 16, 2007, that took place on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia. The perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded many others[1] before committing suicide. The massacre remains the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in United States history, on or off a school campus.[2]

    Blacksburg is an incorporated town located in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 39,573 at the 2000 census.


    Can you predict with any confidence where the next shooting will be? Neither can I.

    What kind of message is this giving our kids? I would say that it recognizes reality.
    Message #1 - The government can not protect each individual. Not only can the government not protect each individual, but court case after court case has found the government does not have a responsibility to protect an individual.

    -Think about that in relation to gun bans: the government says we can't/won't protect you but we won't allow you to protect yourself.

    Message #2 - Self reliance is not wrong. In today's society the perception is that that government will be there to pick up the pieces after every problem. People yelled loudly that the government didn't evacuate them before Katrina, that the government didn't feed them after Katrina.
    I was overjoyed to hear the government finally stopped paying hotel bills for Katrina evacuees 2 years after the hurricane struck. 2 years!
    Is it wrong to say, in some cases you have to look after yourself?

    Message #3 - Be prepared. The district recognizes how remote the possibility is but is making plans. This isn't the first line of defense, but the last. They've prepared for security by having access controlled doors, closed circuit cameras. If there had never been an attack, I could see the district being dismissed as paranoid but now I see them as prepared.

    Message #4 - We have rights and responsibilities, not exercising either is wrong. The right to keep and bear arms is as fundamental as the right to free speech. Exercise it or loose it. But with that right comes the responsibility of exercising it safely. The district imposed not only the state requirements (10-12 hour CHL class with proficiency test) but an additional training requirement.

    All in all, I like the messages it sends.

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  7. Yep Mike,

    Nothing ever happens in schools, right?

    Gunman Arrested After Holding Fifth-Graders Hostage in Maine

    Friday, October 31, 2008

    STOCKTON SPRINGS, Maine —

    Police say a gunman held 11 fifth-graders hostage at an elementary school in Maine but he was taken into custody without any harm to the children.

    Chief Deputy Robert Keating of the Waldo County Sheriff's Department says the students who were held hostage in a classroom were removed from the school.

    The gunman was in custody, but his name wasn't released.

    Stephen McCausland of the Maine Department of Public Safety says the incident unfolded Friday morning when the gunman walked into the classroom.

    State and local police responded and the man was taken into custody.

    The school in the small coastal town of Stockton Springs serves kindergarten through fifth grade. It has about 80 students.


    Guess those Gun Free Zone signs must have been torn down before he walked onto campus, eh?

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  8. And Waldo County is pretty deserted place September on. Beautiful country, but sparse population, and I'm sure a LONG police responce time.

    Lots of guns too, Not much crime.

    And Mike, I know for a Fact Utah does not have "Gun Free Zone" status for at least their college, and many teachers and students carry on Campus. Not sure about lower schools, but I don't see why not.

    I thought it was Oregon where no state law forbids the carry of a lawful firearm. IIRC some Schools are Don't-ask-Don't-tell about carrying, others bind teachers to disarm through their union contracts.

    No School shootings have ever been committed by lawfully held firearms.

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