The Orangefield, Texas, independent school board is arming teachers as a first line of defense against intruders who may enter a school intent on doing harm.
The board made the decision Monday night, thereby joining two other southeast Texas districts in arming teachers. Those two are High Island ISD and West Hardin County CISD.
The Beaumont Enterprise quoted Orangefield school board president Ronald Risinger as he explained that the decision was simply a reaction to the fact that law enforcement response to some district schools would be seven minutes. Who would protect the students and teachers as those minutes ticked by?
Risinger and the board decided teachers and other school employees “will be first on scene in the event of an armed intruder,” therefore they should have the option of being armed to defend themselves and their students.
The district is now ascertaining which employees and/or teachers wish to carry guns and will allow up to nine employees and/or teachers to carry. Superintendent Stephen Patterson said that names of armed school personnel will be closely guarded; that they will be revealed to the public only in the event that one of them acts in defense of the students during an emergency.
On February 24, 2018–just 10 days after the heinous Parkland school shooting–Breitbart News reported that nearly one fifth of Texas school districts already allowed school personnel to be armed. Fox 5 reported that approximately 170 of Texas’ 1,000 districts allowed teachers and school staff to be armed on campus for self-defense.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.