DeVos: Trump's plan to arm teachers 'mischaracterized'

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill




BY JOHN BOWDEN - 03/07/18 11:11 AM EST

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos defended President Trump's plan to arm some teachers to protect students from shootings in remarks on Wednesday after visiting the site of the Parkland, Fla. high school massacre.

"Let's be clear. I think to say 'arming teachers' is an oversimplification and a mischaracterization, really," DeVos told reporters after meeting with students and faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. "The concept is for those schools and those communities that opt to do this ... is to have people who are expert in being able to defend, and having lots and lots of training in order to do so."

"Polk County [Florida] is a great example here," she added.

"They are required and requested to do training that is above and beyond what the deputies in that country are actually trained to," she continued. "So the standards are actually very, very high, and I think that's a model that can be adopted and should be an option for schools, for states, for communities. But it's certainly not one that needs to be required or mandated for every community." DeVos noted that she did not discuss the proposal with them during her visit with Parkland students earlier in the morning.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/377164-devos-trumps-plan-to-arm-teachers-mischaracterized

[lark]

1. Betsy DeVos is every bit as much of a non-caring oligarch as drumpf is.

This is still a totally stupid plan that will 100% up the body count of people killed in school shootings and will themselves be the first targeted and killed by police.

[Botany]

2. So the gun packing teachers will have more training then the police?

"They are required and requested to do training that is above and beyond what the deputies in
that country are actually trained to," she continued.


********

https://www.vox.com/2018/2/25/17046184/arming-teachers-trump-quote-school-shooting

Trump wants to solve school shootings by arming teachers with “military or special training.” There aren’t many of them.

[DFW]

3. Mischaracterized HOW?

Did she mean they will be trained in Karate, Kung Fu and ninjitsu and the use of a crossbow instead of trained in the use of firearms?

[Botany]

5. New Teacher training school

[niyad]

4. is this the second public school she has visited? I am sure they were just thrilled to

have that ignorant, pretentious twit there.

[appalachiablue]

13. Betsy DeVos Visits Parkland Students, Some Didn't Want Her There

She wore daywear pearls...

[niyad]

17. what in the F****** hell was she smiling about????

[appalachiablue]

18. It's what she does. And why did she show up the very day students returned

to school after the massacre? Empowered, clueless and entitled, like so many others in charge. For now.

[Frustratedlady]

6. No! We understood it clearly. You are pushing off your responsibility to get a handle on guns...

to teachers who are there to teach and nurture the children.

In the Florida situation (and any in the future), if a teacher had been given the responsibility to take down the shooter, he would have been known to the killer. After all, the shooter was a former student and would have found out who/which teachers were armed. They would have been the first to go. You arm that teacher and you put a target between their eyes.

I have teachers in my family. None of them want any part of this suggestion. They dearly love their students and have enough to worry about without adding armed teachers. As one daughter said, "I don't know of any teacher in the building I'd want to be armed." She would rather not have another gun to contend with. If you are a teacher and look up to see an AR15, you don't know what your reaction will be. Will I be cool and calm enough to carry out my duty? Can I kill another person, no matter the circumstances? If I were to kill the alleged shooter, could I live with myself the rest of my life? She didn't join the military, she went to college to train on how to be the best teacher she could be.

Those mass-killer guns should be banned immediately. All other equipment and ammunition used to kill masses of people should be banned. Anyone found to have possession of this equipment should be fined a hefty fee...no grandfathering. They are used to kill people, not deer or any other animal. Enough!

NOTE: Besides, I wouldn't take any suggestion from Betsy DeVos to begin with.

[murielm99]

10. This is the first thing I thought about.

I have lived in my community for forty years. I have taught here and been a public librarian. I have seen most of the people here grow up. The community is rural and agricultural, so most of us have guns.

I was thinking about the high school, and the two male teachers who would most likely be the armed teachers. Yes, they would be targets. But I was thinking about them by name, and about how well we all know them.

Then I thought about a few types of people who would be likely shooters. I did not single out anyone by name, just type. I imagined one of them going into the school, and confronting or being confronted by our athletic director or history teacher. The teacher would be thinking, "OMG, that's Andrew. He flunked fifth grade twice. He slept through my classes or sat in detention. He never graduated. He's a mess, but I can't shoot him. I know him."

The teacher would flinch. The teacher would die. And for what? Thoughts and prayers?

Personalize it, if you can. Think about losing people you know.

[Frustratedlady]

12. The one and only time I ever shot a gun was when I was probably 14.

My brother was going hunting and I tagged along because it was a beautiful day. We lived on a farm that had a lane between two fields. As we strolled along, we were betting each other they couldn't hit the side of a barn. My brother gave me the gun and pointed to a squirrel lying on a high branch in a walnut tree. I took aim, shot and the squirrel dropped from the limb into a bed of tall grass. I was sick, doubled over clutching my stomach and bawled my head off. What was I thinking? I suppose I thought I'd miss, but that thud, as the squirrel fell, was something that haunted me for days. Last time I ever held a gun of any kind.

No, my girls would never kill anyone without consequences. I don't want that for them or their children/students. They carry enough of a burden for the children who have no home life or are having problems with certain subjects or personality conflicts with fellow students. I have no doubt they will do whatever they can to protect their students, but shooting won't be a part of it.

[Demit]

7. They are "required and requested." Well, which one is it?

And is the "they" really teachers? Teachers get firearms training beyond what sheriff deputies get? Do they get paid more for this?

I think it is stupid for us to be talking about arming teachers. It's an absurd idea on the face of it, and it was broached in a calculated attempt to move the conversation away from gun control. Talking about it, even if only to ridicule it, means we're not talking about banning battlefield weapons anymore & that's mission accomplished as far as the NRA and their acolytes are concerned.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Who will underwrite the liability for the teachers, schools, and taxpayers?

It's not a certainty in a shootout that only the bad guys get shot. There can be mistakes, collateral damage, and subsequent lawsuits.

[ET Awful]

9. Oh come on Betsy, there aren't any grizzlies in Florida, why do teachers need guns there?

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jan/18/betsy-devos/education-nominee-betsy-devos-says-wyoming-school-/

[usaf-vet]

11. She wants to hire her brother's mercenaries (Blackwater)

This is the direction that this has been heading. DeVos and Eric Prince (brother and sister).

Yet another intentional way to bleed money from taxpayers to further enrich themselves.

[appalachiablue]

14. A lucrative job creator/business opportunity with ample contracts & supplies.

$$$$$$$$$

[appalachiablue]

15. Toons From Europe: (credit syringis)

Should Teachers Be Armed?





School Staff in US




Prototype of Future Schools

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

16. Hmmmm still sounds to me like "arming teachers" - whether or not training required. What a

pointless statement.