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Should All Schools Have Armed Guards?Community comments after NRA suggestionRelated Content
ANCHORAGE - For the first time, Friday, the National Rifle Association’s CEO spoke in length to the media since the Newtown murders a week ago. In a speech, Wayne LaPierre blamed school shootings and similar violence on the media, video games and the lack of a national database of mentally ill people. He said the solution to the problem of protecting our children in schools is to put police officers, and even armed citizens, into every school in the nation. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” said LaPierre. For people who are questioning the push of the NRA to put armed guards in schools, LaPierre had this message: "Why is the idea of a gun good when it's used to protect the president of our country, or our police but bad when it's used to protect our children in our schools" The nation is divided on whether having more guns around children is a good idea, but, after hearing LaPierre’s comments, many Anchorage parents said they would like to see an armed officer in every school. "I think it'll deter anybody if they walk in and see somebody with a gun standing at the front door as the little kids walk in; I think it would deter them from coming in with a gun and hurting somebody,” said Misty Dawn Crim, a mom of a student at Taku Elementary. Derek Hsieh, president of the Anchorage Police Department Employee Association, isn't convinced the idea can be made reality. “I understand the concept, but from a practical standpoint that'd be extraordinarily difficult to do,” said Hsieh. The Anchorage School District currently has 16 fully sworn police officers, plus two supervisors, based at Anchorage high schools. They have specialized training to deal with active shooter situations. “Additionally they have the core police officer training as well that involves, in most cases, hundreds of hours of firearms training before they are even put into the school,” said Hsieh. So why not train more? “That is certainly a possibility, but there's a cost associated with that, and I think the community needs to weigh in a dialogue and find out where the balance really sits,” said Hsieh. Some parents think the cost is worth it. “We can afford it, we'll make it work, we make everything else work -- we can afford it,” said mom Misty Crim. The ASD and the APD released a joint statement today saying they welcome suggestions on how to improve safety but they will not comment on each new idea advanced in the media. |
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steve said on Wednesday, Jan 9 at 4:36 AM
cmon guys, this is Alaska for christ's sake... theres plenty of teachers that use firearms regularly. make it an option for those teachers that want to, to carry a concealed firearm on thier person on the condition that they A. complete a psych eval, B. register thier fingerprints with APD and the school, so the school and APD know which teachers have which guns, and spread thier classrooms evenly thoughout the school... hell, pay em more for it too... then give them an enormous raise just because they are the ones educating our children and we want them to be happy so they are more willing to do a good job... oh look, thats ANOTHER good idea from me to day.... i should run for mayor....
110912511Anonymous said on Monday, Dec 31 at 10:41 AM
Its a numbers issue. There are 100,000 schools in the country. If 1 school shooting took place every year, the chances of it being any 1 school on a given day is 36.5 million to 1. Chances of being killed in a car accident in any given year is 6500 to 1. So Risk Management 101 says your going to spend how much to protect against a 1 in 36.5 million chance?
110306395sam hall said on Thursday, Dec 27 at 10:32 PM
most teachers and school adminstrators are not goin to be crack shots as to being able to stop a person with a military style very high capacity magazine. Take also the situation with many students particularly very young in age students in that same room. that situation is somewhat like in the theather shooting unless someone there was a crack shot with a clear path to the shooter more innocent people would have been keilled in the mass confusion of the situation. The best solution is ways that no one with a gun is able to get into those types of placeswith ways to spot them as they try to enter those places...anyhere where there are a number of people gathered. for situations that do that do not by their purpose have to do with shooting guns.
110110996Anonymous said on Thursday, Dec 27 at 12:15 PM
that would be GOLD to advertisers...can you see the commercials? good idea...
110078946soldiers to kids in schools said on Wednesday, Dec 26 at 12:10 PM
I dont wanna grow up Im a toys are us kid...lol...
110024762Anonymous said on Sunday, Dec 23 at 10:58 PM
you put the soldiers that came back and are ok for work and unemployed then you take care of two problems...let them wear fatigues to work...the kids will have a better sense of security and might annoy them with a thousand questions...boo hoo...get on it!
109908216TedtheBear said on Sunday, Dec 23 at 7:01 PM
There is a difference between a police officer and an "armed guard". And the police officer definitely cost whole lot more then an "armed guard" who may be a refugee from convict row or mentally ill but fuctional.
109899621thomas kyte said on Sunday, Dec 23 at 3:09 AM
I beleive that every school should have a pre-determined number of teachers and facality staff that should be trained in preventative methods to keep the students safe. I think that this class should be taught to them and possilbly allow these select teacher to have either concealed carry or concealed weapons at their disposal should they need them.
109856515Raydios said on Saturday, Dec 22 at 5:38 PM
Once the lid was opened on Pandora's box of personal deadly force weapons, only the fear of retaliatory deadly force has been able to keep the evil in the world at bay. History shows that even the likelihood of there being a "goodguy" willing and able to stand their ground is a significant deterant to all but the most irrational of evildoers. Allow any properly veted weapon owner to openly or concealed carry in and about school grounds and these events will dwindle to exceedingly rare occurrences. No cost the the taxpayer...
109841686Anchorage Scanner said on Saturday, Dec 22 at 3:04 PM
So far I love the comments. In reality though, compare how many alaskans died in schools over 10 years, to how many died in alcohol related accidents? The Alcohol makers have plenty of $ while the schools do not... are we only worried about the children (How many were murdered in 10 years in Anch?) or all of our citizens? How many vets or others, myself included and about 500 armed security officers, would take the training for free to take turns protecting our most valuable resource- Without $100,000 a year cost to the city? Perhaps after a year they could join APD totally, or AST, or VPSO's, or Corrections...
109835606umm said on Friday, Dec 21 at 10:14 PM
politicians don't send their kids to the public schools, and it's not because of fear of shootings.
109795471Anonymous said on Friday, Dec 21 at 9:27 PM
There's money available for bridges to nowhere, and port expansions that are useless due to faulty engineering, and ferry boats that sit at the dock month after month, and money to study all of the above again and again, and money for a non-existent gas pipeline and... and.... I think the point is quite clear. Hire retired vets, who need the work and have the training already! Lock to entrances so nobody gets in unannounced. Once one of our politicians loses a kid to a shooter it will be SO easy to find the money.
109794086yo said on Friday, Dec 21 at 9:13 PM
arm the kids, have gun safes in the rooms, if there is a threat arm the entire class. little kids get .22 or .410. then they can learn gun safety, know guns are not toys and protect themselves.
109793736Jakethemistake said on Friday, Dec 21 at 7:51 PM
What cost or should i ask who is going to get the other 90% they don't need? I was taught in school.I shot skeet in competition .Handgun ,shotguns and blackpowder.Everything but red tape!
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