Comments (36) (Please sign in to comment)

1. 

   masterskrain said, 4 months ago

   Seriously, all kidding and arguing aside, who IS going to pay for several Hundred Thousand full-time guards in the schools?
   Figure $10 an hour per Guard X 8 hours a day X 5 days a week X 40 weeks a year, and that’s a MINIMUM of $16,000 Annually PER GUARD, and, that’s assuming that you could even hire qualified people for $10 an hour.
   Multiply THAT out by Approximately 125,000 schools in the U.S., and that figure jumps to $2,000,000,000 PER YEAR, AND, that is assuming only ONE guard per school!
   Just a little food for thought here…
2. 

   Chillbilly said, 4 months ago

   Do you REALLY want people who make poverty wages guarding your children with firearms?
3. 

   masterskrain said, 4 months ago

   @HOWGOZIT

   It seems to be a key part of the N.R.A.’s plan to “Safeguard” communities…
4. 

   Larry said, 4 months ago

   Armed guards is a totally unrealistic suggestion; the cost would be tremendous. Each school would have different requirements but I doubt that only one guard would suffice.
   .
   Would the sort of metal detecting door, that the banks use, be of any use here?
5. 

   ARodney said, 4 months ago

   In his 2012 budget, Obama requested 12 million for school security in dangerous schools, including the armed guards the NRA says it wants. The GOP, of course, zeroed out the request. Now the NRA is blaming Obama, of course, since they can’t blame the actual guilty party.
6. 

   The Wolf In Your Midst said, 4 months ago

   I think I’ll use a conservative argument for this idea.
   You want armed guards for your kids? Pay for ’em yourself.
7. 

   Bruce4671 said, 4 months ago

   @masterskrain

   Well, one must think rationally. Is it really necessary to have a full time guard in every school? And why don’t we just have (as Obama has written an executive order to explore) more “resource officers” available?
   
   The Sheriffs department where I live assigns officers to rotate between schools on an arbitrary schedule. One never knows for sure IF or WHEN an armed police officer will be on the grounds.
   
   Most criminals would rather NOT take the chance.
   
   Have there been shootings in Fla schools? Yes. The most recent was a fired teacher coming back to school to shoot the one that fired him and then himself in 2012. Then you have to go back to 2008 where one teenager shot another during an argument.
   
   But all the gyrations currently going on will not eliminate violence in schools and kids getting shot.
   
   So hire a few more police officers, paid for by property tax at the local level, increase the presence with more visibility during peak activity school hours. The cost is not that out of reach.
8. 

   masterskrain said, 4 months ago

   @Bruce4671

   I’m not disagreeing with that concept at all.
   The whole point is that some in the N.R.A., and elsewhere think that having full-time, armed guards in EVERY school, and some say, in EVERY classroom will stop school violence.
   My point was that the expenses would be totally astronomical for that particular solution. Unfortunately, a LOT of the people who want the guards in the schools are also the exact same people who are opposed to ANY new taxes. So, how to pay for the guards they want?
   ANY kind of a knee-jerk reaction to a crisis is usually not a good thing. Sitting down, and rationally working out a solution is almost always the best course to take in the long run.
9. 

   Bruce4671 said, 4 months ago

   @masterskrain

   There are more of US than THEM…LOL
10. 

    1opinion said, 4 months ago

    @masterskrain

    “ANY kind of a knee-jerk reaction to a crisis is usually not a good thing. Sitting down, and rationally working out a solution is almost always the best course to take in the long run.”
    Agreed. TSA, Iraq war, patriot act, etc. etc. Bad solutions.
11. 

    Radish said, 4 months ago

    
12. 

    I Play One On TV said, 4 months ago

    Some localities are depending on people who have plenty of time during the day, and large personal arsenals, to volunteer to guard the schools. I can’t wait to see how that turns out.

    In my area of Virginia, some counties are large, but populations are so small that some have only one high school in the whole county. Many of them have resource officers in school, who at this time do not carry guns.

    In the past year, three of them have pleaded guilty to sex with underage students. One of them took the 16-year-old girl out of state.

    Under these circumstances, I worry whether this idea will be one of those that sounds good but works differently.

    Regardless, it’s not like my concerns will amount to anything. I write to my congressman, but he’s just a footsoldier who goose-steps to the party line. He will always choose to vote the way his party’s leaders and lobbyists tell him; representing his constituents is a lower priority.
13. 

    M Ster said, 4 months ago

    @masterskrain

    The yearly cost would be closer to $8 billion because typical pay for an off-duty police officer is $40/hour.
    *
    If we are to put armed guards in every school, they must be well-trained so as to minimize shooting innocent bystanders, which there are a lot of in schools. They must also know when to keep their guns holstered, such during school fights where no one else has a gun. And we must filter out people with drinking problems, short tempers, mood swings, etc.
    *
    Just knowing how to shoot isn’t enough.
14. 

    sclark55 said, 4 months ago

    Why can’t you on the left (like Thompson here) think about decisions being made LOCALLY? Who said it should be a national law? Admittedly though, LaPierre put forth the idea on something of a national stage, but it needs to be implemented locally. It’s a simple concept: Big, far-away govts aren’t good for us.
15. 

    masterskrain said, 4 months ago

    @sclark55

    So the costs can be added to your State Property tax bill, as an increase in the School Funding part of your taxes?
    Or voted on in a bond issue as part of the School System’s budget for each year?
    You are STILL going to pay, either to the federal Government, or to your state or county Government…
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