Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Arming teachers

Currently, there are twelve shall issue states where the law allows teachers with concealed weapons permits to carry weapons at school. How many shootings have taken place on campus while students were present in those states since those laws were passed?

Hypothesis:
Does allowing teachers who have concealed weapons permits affect the number of school shootings?

Methods:
I wanted to control the variables, so here is how I made sure that there were as few variables as possible:

Any shooting that happened before the law passed was excluded, as were shootings that took place while there were no students or teachers present (like nights and weekends), shootings by police officers where the subject who was shot was not armed, or shootings that took place off campus (such as the street in front of the campus). 

I also excluded shootings that occurred at colleges, because I think that college carry includes the possibility that students are carrying, and that is outside of the scope of what I wanted to study with this post.

These exclusions eliminated

I looked up each state, when the law arming teachers passed, and then looked up when and where school shootings took place.

This is what I found:

Ten states have armed teachers on campus, and have not had a single recorded school shooting since the law arming teachers was passed: Alabama, Kansas, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

Mississippi(1) and Oregon (1) each had one shooting that fit the criteria.

Conclusion

Twelve states. Two shootings. We need to stop making decisions based upon "common sense" and on emotion, and instead look at the data. Look at what the facts are telling you. We know that the current scheme of "gun free school zones" isn't making our schools gun free or shooting free. Perhaps there is a better way.

Teachers have been finger printed and background checked.
People with concealed weapons permits have been fingerprinted and background checked.
In fact, teachers have been more thoroughly checked out than have police officers.
In the state of Florida, a police officer is required to demonstrate proficiency with a firearm by putting 32 out of 40 rounds on target in a certain set of conditions. So perhaps a teacher with a CCW permit who can pass the above test could carry a firearm on school grounds.

Here is that qualification test:
  • 4 rounds at less than 3 yards in 8 seconds from holster
  • 6 rounds in 3 seconds at 3 yards
  • draw and fire 6 rounds in 12 seconds at 7 yards
  • draw and fire 3 rounds in 5 seconds at 7 yards
  • draw and fire 12 rounds in 45 seconds with a mandatory reload at 7 yards
  • draw and fire 6 rounds in 30 seconds at 15 yards
A passing score is hitting the target 32 out of 40 times. A hit is any hit inside of the torso or head (4 or 5 zone) of a B21 target. The B21 target is a target designed for 25 yard shooting, and is being used here at ranges from 1 to 15 yards. It is difficult to miss.

For those of you who do not shoot, this is a pretty easy standard to meet, but if teachers could meet this standard and have a concealed weapons permit, what is the difference between a them and an armed school resource officer?



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