COSHOCTON, OHIO — Ohio school superintendents are increasingly implementing concealed carry programs into their schools. District by district, each school is deciding how it wants to implement new concealed carry policies for faculty and staff. With some counties, like Coshocton, hoping to have a faculty member carrying concealed in each school, it has raised concerns as some communities claim they had little or no notification of those changes.
via the News-Messenger
“Five years ago we probably wouldn’t have considered it, and even three or two years ago I would still have been saying this is not the direction we want to go,” said David Hire, Superintendent of Coshocton City Schools, who hopes to have armed staff members in his schools by year end. “But we’re living in a society where this is becoming almost weekly or every other week where there is some event somewhere around the country.”
In previous articles, we mentioned that some counties are taking proactive measures; not just by allowing faculty to be armed, but giving them additional training to prepare them.
This makes the most sense.
In all honesty, we’ll likely hear plenty of parents, other teachers, and media pundits lambaste the notion that teachers should be given guns to protect themselves and students. After all, when a teacher signs on to instruct children, he or she likely has absolutely no preconceived notion about having to also fight.
But, here’s the thing: teachers aren’t being required to carry concealed in the classroom. In an increasing number of Ohio school districts, they are being given the option and, when possible, additional training that will enable them to make terribly difficult decisions.
There’s been a real lull in school shootings. No one in the gun community is complaining about that, I can assure you. But we know they will happen again. There’s not a single law in existence nor a policy that prevent some horrible person from attempting to take the lives of innocent children and faculty.
When that moment happens, every student and teacher will be forced to make difficult decisions. And they won’t have the option to ‘opt-out’.
The armed faculty member that is there and ready to respond will buy the rest of those children and administration time.
Time is the most valuable precious commodity we have. Buying even several minutes to allow law enforcement to respond can mean the difference between another unanswered tragedy and an averted crisis.
There’s going to be a hard decision for Americans to make. Regardless of whether or not you stand for the right for teachers and faculty to be armed or believe that guns have no place in school, you have to acknowledge the reality that another tragic shooting will occur at a school.
Should we prepare for it?
Many Ohio school district superintendents are overwhelmingly saying yes.
