Guns In Schools: Inherently Dangerous?

One has to wonder whether the Brady Campaign is of the opinion that armed security guards in school are an inherent risk, considering their latest blog post:

I urge everyone, regardless of your point of view on the subject, to watch this short video.

The video clip shows a Federal law enforcement agent, doubtless fully trained in firearm safety, shooting himself in the foot in front of a stunned classroom full of people.

This reinforces the point that guns in school are inherently dangerous. Even trained law enforcement officers can have potentially serious accidents.

Paul Helmke is correct to point out that being in possession of a badge doesn’t automatically make you a safe gun handler. But one wonders why he then goes onto say “any guns [in schools] should be in the hands of trained law enforcement officers.” What magical properties does having a badge imbue its possessor with?  Studies have shown that gun owners are far less likely to mistakenly kill someone than police officers.CITE

In my training, I was told that my pistol should never leave its holster unless I’m actively defending myself, engaging in draw and fire practice at a range designed to handle that safely, or removing and unloading it for safe storage.  Clearly someone either never bothered to tell the DEA agent that basic rule, or he chose to ignore it.  Perhaps he believed his wonderful training would prevent an accident while carelessly handling a firearm in front of a group of students.

My solution to these problems is to reinforce, over and over again, the rules of safe gun handling, for both people licensed to carry guns, and for police officers.   The more you reinforce the rules, the less the likelihood of poor judgment leading to careless mistakes will be, for all classes of gun carriers.

I’m not honestly sure I understand the Brady position, which seems to be that even trained police officers can exercise poor judgment and have gun accidents, which is why only trained police officers should be allowed to carry guns in schools.  Does that make sense to you?   Me neither.

4 thoughts on “Guns In Schools: Inherently Dangerous?”

  1. Let me throw something off the top of my head and see if it’s a bad idea or not.

    You should be able to buy a firearm so long as you are legally allowed (and in Robb’s little utopia, *any* firearm you want). No licensing needed of any sort.

    If you use your firearm in self defense, you must prove that you have taken a minimum of firearm safety related courses. These could be trips to the range on a regular basis, online tests, classes, etc. Otherwise, any discharge of your firearm can be considered negligent and you can be legally at risk because of it.

    Again, anyone can own a firearm. This isn’t to prevent that. But it should be known that owning a firearm requires responsibility and not taking that responsibility seriously can put others at risk – something you can be charged with if the time comes.

    Does that make sense?

  2. Of course that argument does not make sense, Sebastian. But, then again, neither do most of the hoplophobe arguments out there. That video simply goes to prove that idiots are everywhere, and unfortunately, idiots occasionally handle firearms. The accident in question could have taken place anywhere, and it was only by sheer chance that it happened to occur at a school. By my estimation, he violated three of the four rules, and all four if you want to be generous, and that kind of stupidity is always going to come back to haunt you. At least it was him he shot… maybe that will teach him the lesson, without hurting or killing anyone else due to his inherent idiocy.

  3. Paul goes on to say in the same blog that guns are too dangerous to have in school, except by..wait for it…LAW ENFORCEMENT!

    We’ve been laughing at Lee Paige for years! Now, we’re laughing at Helmke!

  4. Well it seems Helmke and Lee are on the same Paige. You know what they say about birds of a feather. I must assume it applies to morons of an opinion also.

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