West Virginia’s Republican-controlled House of Delegates voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to allow teachers and other school staff who undergo training to carry guns in K-12 public schools.
The bill, which now heads to the Senate, would allow teachers, administrators and support personnel with concealed carry permits to volunteer to bring a firearm into school with the intention of using it to defend the school in case of an active shooter event. Designated a “school protection officer,” the staffer wouldn’t receive any additional compensation for doing so.
Supporters say not every school system in West Virginia can afford to hire a full-time school resource officer. This program would provide another option.
Before the vote, Republican Del. Dave Foggin of Wood County, a physics teacher, said he can’t think of anything worse than shooting someone in his classroom. But he said if that person came into his school trying to hurt his students, he would do it.
Sorry… why is it “hide and die?” Are you under the impression that it is impossible to hide from a mass shooter?
He’s already completely ignored the “don’t let a potential mass shooter have a gun” option.
It’s fucking infuriating that “more guns” is the only option that can get any traction.
This is America. I have no hope of that ever happening. Too many people are too in love with The Precious.
That’s already not an option. There are more guns than people in the US. Guns have been so engrained into our culture for so long. You will no eradicate gun ownership in the US without starting a civil war
If only there were options other than “ban all guns” and “free guns for everyone”. I didn’t say eradicate gun ownership in my first comment.
Gun ownership has been going down for years. The reason there are so many guns out there is people who own dozens or hundreds of firearms.
Hey, specifically to address the hide question and no other part of the conversation: I’ve worked in a lot of schools. So, in many classrooms, it’s absolutely impossible to hide effectively. I told my last room if something real happened we just needed to take our kids and run. It was a death trap in a shooter situation. Some examples would be doors in-between rooms, doors that don’t lock, doors that do lock with glass panes, outside doors that were mostly glass. Single-exits with no locking doors and no windows so you’d be trapped. I hate having to think like this. Certain rooms are insanely vulnerable. I’ve consulted in a middle school that was like a fortress too. But all the elementary schools were pretty much the same.
Sounds like there’s nowhere for a teacher to hide a gun either in that case.
Also, students in Uvalde literally talked about hiding from the shooter.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/s-time-die-students-describe-harrowing-moment-gunman-entered-uvalde-te-rcna30617
Not only did they hide from him, they hid from him in the cafeteria. And they still survived.
So I’m still suggesting maybe “hide and die” isn’t the only option other than “teachers with guns.”
Yeah there’s no place for a gun in a school. Even on the best days staff are all over the place. It’s a bit of organized chaos, ya know. And some schools are really small. So if someone comes in the front door your chances of getting to safer spot are slim. My last one was literally a hallway and booking it out the back door was our crisis plan (like I said, death trap).
You don’t hide a gun, you carry it. Tucked away inside your clothing hidden in a way that nobody should be able to see it. A gun hidden away during an emergency is useless.
Can you show me where the law says the gun has to be carried? Because the article just says it has to be “concealed on campus.”
Are you saying that every single teacher permitted to carry a gun in school will definitely have it tucked inside their clothing hidden away where no one will be able to see it? Because the law sure doesn’t say they have to.
Are you also saying that it is impossible for a student to be able to get a gun away from a teacher if the teacher believes the gun to be hidden under their clothing? Is there at least a chance that a student could do that?
The summary of the bill is
Good job. You read a one-line bill summary. Now read the article OP linked. Specifically this part:
Here’s the actual bill text, not someone at AP New’s interpretation of the text. The firearm should be concealed while they’re on campus, not hiding it on campus.
https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4299 eng.htm&yr=2024&sesstype=RS&i=4299
Where in this text that mentions concealed is either immediately preceded/followed by carried, or in a sentence about it needing to be carried.