Colorado school district to arm school guards with assault rifles

[In Ogres We Trust]

Do a lot of schools in the US have security staff, or is it just ones in dodgy areas?

Most schools have a deputized sheriff on-site that's known as the School Resource Officer, and his job is, in addition to handling disruptive students, to assure that nothing happens (at least in my neck of the woods).

[Deleted]

This just in, hitting moving targets under stress is difficult. I suppose your alternative is to just let these children be shot so you're not as scared.

So train them more, put them under more stress training, 20 hours is not enough.

[Dystemper]

A ar15 is not , nor has ever been a "assault rifle".

[BuckSparkles]

I'm not afraid of police officers. I'm bothered by the message they're sending that people need to be afraid of school shootings, where they have as much chance winning the lottery as they do dying in that scenario. A kid is more likely to die playing football, but we don't stop people from playing that sport.

It's not that I fear the officers. It's that I'm bothered by the message that we ought to be fearful of one in a million events.

Do you think keeping a fire extinguisher is a problem?

You don't -fear-, you just are prepared.

I like our schools and universities to be prepared.

As somebody pointed at, would you rather have armed guards, or no guards to make you feel better?

[Schattenlied]

Why didn't you answer my question? I'm very familiar with what each item does. If they're cosmetic characteristics, as you said, then why does every single elite military force use these items? Wouldn't they just make the weapon heavier if they serve no purpose, other than cosmetic?

Protection from accidental burns, comfort, comfort, storage space.

They serve a purpose, but not one that changes the function of the firearm in any way, they are cosmetic in terms of danger, they make the weapon "look more deadly" but don't actually make it so.

I answered your question.

[p291u]

Assault Rifle is a term for a type of automatic rifles. These are semiautos.

It's intended. Many people deliberately use terms like this to confuse people. Average joe watches movies and plays games, he sees semi-auto AR-15s being described as Assault Rifles/Assault Weapons in the news/by politicians and he thinks they mean fully automatic. Of course, he thinks, citizens owning those should be restricted to very special circumstances. Many Americans are completely fooled by this, the language/wording is deliberate.

[Reeve]

You seem to have an irrational fear of officers and guns.

Given that Rich IS an officer, who uses guns, I doubt that.

[BuckSparkles]

Then you do not know me at all.

Can't say I do. You are just another face on the internet. Haven't really seen you in many topics I personally invest in.

[TZucchini]

Protection from accidental burns, Comfort, comfort, comfort, storage space.

I answered your question.

In other words, it makes the operator of said weapon more effective.

So not just cosmetic. Got it.

[In Ogres We Trust]

American police scare the shit out of me for all the wrong reasons, 20 hours is a fucking joke considering you are operating those weapons around children.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.2348489

Unless they're going with a policy of arming and training random members of the staff, the individuals in question are licensed LEOs with the State. Regardless, civilians in the US have more military and arms training and usage than the actual military.

[Reeve]

Do you think keeping a fire extinguisher is a problem?

Fires are common problems throughout the country (though less common than they used to be, thanks to better building codes and fire safety awareness campaigns). Dying in a school shooting is about as unlikely as getting struck by lightning.

As somebody pointed at, would you rather have armed guards, or no guards to make you feel better?

I would rather the guards to be armed appropriately to the level of the threat.

[Gheld]

In other words, it makes the operator of said weapon more effective.

So not just cosmetic. Got it.

The scenarios in which they increase the effectiveness of the shooter are non applicable to street crime and mass shootings. Very rarely do I hear about a school shooting where the shooter gave a fuck if they were going to have blisters on their hands the next day. Or stopped, crated their weapon and shipped it to Afghanistan in the middle of the shooting.

[Heltoray]

is there any other first world country where this is necessary or even imaginable? I think not.

[Kaleredar]

Kind of like trying to ban guns is a reactive solution?
What do you think would work better to stop school shootings, armed security guards or tougher gun control laws?

...Tougher gun control laws?

It's farcical to claim that gun control laws "don't work" when every other developed country in the world has both stronger gun control laws and less gun violence than the United States.

You know what that means? That the US is doing something wrong in how it treats gun control.

[p291u]

You still cannot convince me 20 hours of training is enough when their original training is already a joke, you also have to ask why they are no longer real cops and are content to work for less pay than real police, all that screams drop out to me.

http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/...Officers-Worth

Being a campus officer is far less demanding and dangerous than being an actual officer responding to calls in the general population. Just two very legitimate reasons why some people would take a pay cut to work security. I'm sure there are more. Calm the paranoia a bit.

[triplesdsu]

So train them more, put them under more stress training, 20 hours is not enough.

1) No one in your article had a rifle. 2)No one is saying they should only shoot for 20 hours and then never pick up the weapon again but ongoing training and the training required before being issued equipment are two radically different things.

[Schattenlied]

In other words, it makes the operator of said weapon more effective.

So not just cosmetic. Got it.

Minor comfort improvements don't make people more effective, at least not by any measurable degree, it's insignificant... Also custom making the firearm to the person using it (individual's stock length is fixed, a rifle type grip with a steeper angle) would do the same thing, but since it wouldn't look scary it wouldn't be an "assault weapon", it means nothing... All these things do is let the firearm comfortably conform to most users off the rack, it makes mass production of a universal rifle easier and more efficient.

Do some research, stop being ignorant.

[BuckSparkles]

Fires are common problems throughout the country (though less common than they used to be, thanks to better building codes and fire safety awareness campaigns). Dying in a school shooting is about as unlikely as getting struck by lightning.

I would rather the guards to be armed appropriately to the level of the threat.

So you want the guards to be the same as the shooter? To make it fair?

I don't.

Also, I feel a major fire that could cause harm is just as unlikely as a shooter.

[Reeve]

So you want the guards to be the same as the shooter? To make it fair?

I don't.

Also, I feel a major fire that could cause harm is just as unlikely as a shooter.

It has nothing to do with fairness. It has everything to do with creating an environment where we're telling people that their irrational fears are rational.

And major fires happen every day all over the country. Plus, fire extinguishers are for major AND minor fire emergencies. We keep a fire extinguisher in the school to deal with small fires quickly. We don't keep fire trucks in the school to deal with it. That's what we have a fire department for. We don't keep firemen in full equipment on hand to deal with fires. Perhaps by your logic we should?

School shootings are rare. School shootings that couldn't be resolved quickly without a rifle armed police officer are even more rare.

[zenkai]

...Tougher gun control laws?

It's farcical to claim that gun control laws "don't work" when every other developed country in the world has both stronger gun control laws and less gun violence than the United States.

You know what that means? That the US is doing something wrong in how it treats gun control.

Yeah if you take away guns the US will stop being violent /s