A School District That Gets It ?

[Ratickle]

AR-15 Issued to School Police in One Utah District

AR-15 rifles have been issued to school police in one Utah district.

The Granite School District Police Department said it has equipped all officers with the weapons in a bid to reassure parents.

Police Chief Randy Johnson said that the high-caliber rifles would help in "rapid response" situations.

"If we don't get in and stop the shooter, more people are going to die,” Johnson told NBC station KSL.

The department also installed a high-tech camera system in all the Granite District schools that lets them see what's going on from a dispatch center.

“Most shootings will be over very quickly and so if we arrive on the scene and we can hear gunshots, the officers are now being trained to go to the sound of the gunfire and stop the threat that is taking place,” Johnson said in a separate interview with The Salt Lake Tribune newspaper. “We know that we don’t have a lot of time to save people’s lives.”

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...istrict-n37921

[Ratickle]

My opinion is that this is a school district that finally gets it. If we can't protect our kids from a crazy idiot, how can we protect them against organized terrorists?

Norway, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the world, http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...s-circumvented , could have probably stopped the killing of most of the 77 people killed by that one scum-sucking maggot if they had one armed person on the island, or close with some type of monitoring such as the Utah School above is doing. In every country, city, or state that has the strictest gun laws, the crime rates seem to be the highest.

[fund razor]

I disagree with this completely!

(I think that they should get AKs rather than ARs. The shooter will be within 200 yards and hiding behind something, rather than out at 400 yards and in the open.)

[phragle]

Yes school shootings are bad amd make big headlines.... Not to trivialize the subject, but if you take the number of schools across the county that are open everyday, a shooting once a month at just one of those schools is a really really statistically small percentage.....

[old377guy]

AMEN

This is posted not in reference to the comment above but two comments previous

[Bobcat]

The last 6 or so shooters, have all been liberals....or from a liberal/dimocrat family....this is what happens when you don't spank or punish your children.

[rschap1]

I don't know about the trivializing the shootings by reminding everyone that the ratio shows a small percentage get shot up...
I know the point which you are making, but...one is too many. And being a parent, if that one happens to be where my son or daughter are, that one is WAY too many.

I really agree with the direction of armed staff.
FAR smarter approach than posting notice that even though you are a nutcase " this is a gun free zone".
I think the folks that feel asking politely to not bring a gun inside should post the same notice at their homes so potential criminals get the same info regarding personal residences as they do public places that are "safer" because no one else is armed to protect themselves.
Our school system just got granted a millage increase for building upgrades and safety improvements.
Buzzers installed where you ask to get the door unlocked when entering.
Seems like more than one shooter has blasted through glass and made entry w/o the buzzer being pushed.
I voiced my thought that an armed guard, armed security, or an actual police officer would be far greater safe guard and money better spent.
Off went the anti-gun people..."NO guns in the gun free zone school".
People are just stupid.
Asking nicely to not barge in with a gun after posting a sign saying "we're all helpless" is asking for it

[fund razor]

When you think about it, because it signals to whackos that it is a victim rich zone, "no gun" signs are less effective in preventing shootings than "no tornado" signs are in preventing storms.

[Ratickle]

It just seems to me that the problem gets politicized instead of doing a common sense solution. My gut says someday our schools will be targeted by radical terrorists just like our planes and twin towers were. If we can't protect our kids from single idiot crazies, how can we protect them from organized terrorist cells? This district in Utah seems to get it to me. Arming their police with proper weapons and putting real time monitoring in the schools to know what is going on seems to be a good start. I still believe there should be a minimum of at least one armed ex-military or policeman in every school protecting the buzz-in door system. Seems foolish not to.

If our school system went after a millage increase to make these types of solutions happen I'd vote yes.

[rschap1]

Details were not stated about what exact security measures the $$ were going for.
Just said "upgrades".
I wish it would have been more worthwhile, like an armed guard.

I think all the years and years of having a security guard in a bank happened for a reason.
Surprised the gun grabbers don't try to pass some legislation outlawing that too

[Ratickle]

I did a long interview with our school district about safety measure improvements about a month ago. Some of their ideas were a foolish waste of money, but at least they are talking to people about what can be done. This school district in Utah seems to be on the right track to me. I wonder what the cost of the security system to see what was going on back at their headquarters was? My video security and warning systems were really quite reasonable.