[BangBang]

Florida voted down an assault weapons ban this week. They are also attempting to allow teachers to carry in school....


TALLAHASSEE Facing anguished relatives and classmates of shooting victims, two House and Senate committees advanced legislation Tuesday to create a new statewide program to put armed teachers in classrooms — over the vocal opposition of teachers, parents and many Parkland residents.
In the House, the Appropriations Committee voted along party lines to approve the measure to train teachers to carry guns in class under the direction of local law enforcement — if superintendents or the school board approve.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a similar bill, but required that both the sheriff and school district officials in a county agree to the program before it can be adopted.


“The last line of defense would be a highly trained person in the school,” said Rep. Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, referring to teachers with guns.

The $67 million “school marshal” program is the most controversial aspect of HB 18-06 and SPB 7026, the nearly matching legislation crafted by lawmakers to respond to the killing of 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Feb. 14.



The bills also impose a three-day waiting period for gun purchases, raise the age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 and give police more power to seize guns from people who threaten themselves or others.

“The reality is, we should have acted this comprehensively long ago,” said Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, the sponsor of the Senate reform package.



These bills have passed in both house and senate committees and now advance for a full vote next week. Gov Scott is not a fan of arming teachers but if he veto's it there may be enough votes to over ride his veto.



Florida legislators advance bill to arm teachers | Miami Herald


Don

Read more here: Florida legislators advance bill to arm teachers | Miami Herald

Read more here: Florida legislators advance bill to arm teachers | Miami Herald​

 

[Yissnakk]

The School Marshall program should have been enacted long ago...the rest....????

If you are going to strip "adults" (18yo's) of their constitutional rights due to the actions of one person under the age of 21, what else is on the table for "reevaluation"? Maybe they should push the age of consent (legal consent) to 21 too. Why can an 18 year old shackle themselves with college loans, serve on a jury, or join or be drafted into the military at the age of 18 but do not enjoy the other rights and "privileges" of an adult? Basically that is saying that its okay for the government or financial institutions to take advantage of the naivety of youth but that same person does not have the right defend themselves??

Why 21? Why not 45? What other madness can be thought up to punish the majority for the misdeeds of the minority? I get doing that in the Army...but on a country level? There are names for that type of government, and they used to be considered bad...

 

[53rdcard]

I also heard that one other thing FL is doing is making a anonymous, but we still know who you are, hotline where you can report someone you have "concerns about" so they can be investigated. Im sure that will work, after all, nobody called 911, 34 times on this last shooter for domestic disturbance calls, nor did they report him saying he wanted to be a professional school shooter to the fbi. Tip line, yep, that will work.............

but really, all we needed to do was make it where he couldnt get the gun till 21, after all, his commitment to kill people would have surely gone away once he couldn't get a gun to do it with. Being that no other method of killing exists. And that 21 year thing would have also worked in vegas im sure, he was only 64, that would have helped right?

Now i will say, i do agree with one thing i heard the gov say he wanted to do, he claims FL has extra budget this year, and plans to fortify the schools with metal detectors, bullet proof glass and doors, and better locks. Doing that, may, have done something, if the killer cant get in, and the bullets cant either, then his or her options are limited. even setting fire to the place wouldnt do much good, those buildings are not exactly easy to burn, and emergency services would be on the way well before the people inside would have to leave.

 

[BangBang]

The start up cost will be $67 million but the total budget for the Marshalls program is $400 million dollars. The additional money is for hiring (10 marshals per school = 37000 new marshalls), fortifying the schools, and $100 million to educate and hire people to identify mental problems developing in students.

"The bills also call for allocating $400 million to pay for the components of the plan, including $67 million to fund the marshal program, $100 million to increase mental health assistance in schools, $75 million for “safe schools,” $90 million to make school buildings more secure and about $25 million to create crisis and action teams at the Department of Children and Families."



Don

Read more here: Florida legislators advance bill to arm teachers | Miami Herald​

 

[Yissnakk]

The start up cost will be $67 million but the total budget for the Marshalls program is $400 million dollars. The additional money is for hiring (10 marshals per school = 37000 new marshalls), fortifying the schools, and $100 million to educate and hire people to identify mental problems developing in students.

"The bills also call for allocating $400 million to pay for the components of the plan, including $67 million to fund the marshal program, $100 million to increase mental health assistance in schools, $75 million for “safe schools,” $90 million to make school buildings more secure and about $25 million to create crisis and action teams at the Department of Children and Families."



Don

Read more here: Florida legislators advance bill to arm teachers | Miami Herald​

Well that puts a different spin on the whole thing. Why not just, I don't know, train and arm EXISTING STAFF?? You know? Those same people that throw themselves between their students and armed assailants even when they are unarmed?? Train several willing and able bodied teachers in room to room and movement to contact tactics as well as other accuracy training, then give them a bonus to perform this duty. Regular training and a bonus wouldn't be even half that expensive!

 

[BangBang]

#1, they don't think there will be enough volunteer teachers to fill the need.

#2, they want the marshalls to be full time security not teachers there "in case".

#3, there will be extensive training involved including 132 hours of training with both handgun and rifle.

 

[Aberdog1]

The start up cost will be $67 million but the total budget for the Marshalls program is $400 million dollars. The additional money is for hiring (10 marshals per school = 37000 new marshalls), fortifying the schools, and $100 million to educate and hire people to identify mental problems developing in students.

"The bills also call for allocating $400 million to pay for the components of the plan, including $67 million to fund the marshal program, $100 million to increase mental health assistance in schools, $75 million for “safe schools,” $90 million to make school buildings more secure and about $25 million to create crisis and action teams at the Department of Children and Families."



Don

Read more here: Florida legislators advance bill to arm teachers | Miami Herald


​

If it just saves one child's life the money is well spent..

 

[Fishinkeylargo]

Do the Bills they are trying to pass still include banning bump stocks?

 

[Rickenbacher39]

No one will ever stop school shootings.
The best chance we have is to take the steps the Israel has.
Since the inception of their plans there has been only two attempts resulting in the deaths of the terrorists.
But NOOOOoooooooooooooooo.
Arming trained teachers or having trained armed guards or police at schools just isn't politically correct.
What it amounts to is that our country would rather not offend anyone instead of saving a child's life.
OH.......and the fact that politicians can use any child's death to further their agendas and goals.
And we have enough Snowflakes to believe them.

 

[BigBlue]

The teachers union is as left wing as they come so of course they are against anything except a complete ban on guns. Individual teachers may be of a different opinion and be willing to defend their students and themselves.

 

[Justice06RR]

#1, they don't think there will be enough volunteer teachers to fill the need.

#2, they want the marshalls to be full time security not teachers there "in case".

#3, there will be extensive training involved including 132 hours of training with both handgun and rifle.

It seems maybe hiring armed security should be a cheaper option, in case there are not enough volunteers/faculty in a particular school.

132hours is also quite a lot of time. I've done some serious training myself (IDPA, 3Gun) and I don't even think I have 132hrs total.

 

[230JHP]

No one will ever stop school shootings.
The best chance we have is to take the steps the Israel has.
Since the inception of their plans there has been only two attempts resulting in the deaths of the terrorists.
But NOOOOoooooooooooooooo.
Arming trained teachers or having trained armed guards or police at schools just isn't politically correct.
What it amounts to is that our country would rather not offend anyone instead of saving a child's life.
OH.......and the fact that politicians can use any child's death to further their agendas and goals.
And we have enough Snowflakes to believe them.

Don't forget litigation.

If a nut job kills a bunch of kids, the school district wrings its hands and makes sympathetic noises.

If an armed teacher so much as scratches a bystander while stopping a nut job from killing a bunch of kids, you can bet there would be an army of lawyers ready to make the district pay for the injury, AND for the PTSS and psyche trauma of seeing a teacher defend kids with a gun.

On principle, of course. Not because they need to make the payments on their Mercedes.

I'm cynical enough to believe the state law will sound really nice, but will punt the actual decision to local school districts.

Local school districts will, on the advice of their lawyers, decline anything that might get them sued. Even at the potential loss of students' lives.

 

[BigBlue]

Local school districts will, on the advice of their lawyers, decline anything that might get them sued. Even at the potential loss of students' lives.

That's par for the course. If the school district decides to do nothing to protect the students they have no culpability, but if they hire armed guards or arm the teachers they'll potentially face an army of lawyers.

 

[ozzy]

Only one way to fix it.........Private Sector.

 

[pegasus]

Well that puts a different spin on the whole thing. Why not just, I don't know, train and arm EXISTING STAFF?? You know? Those same people that throw themselves between their students and armed assailants even when they are unarmed?? Train several willing and able bodied teachers in room to room and movement to contact tactics as well as other accuracy training, then give them a bonus to perform this duty. Regular training and a bonus wouldn't be even half that expensive!

But the FOP and the national school resource officers association said that was a bad idea. Their suggestion was, of course, hire more school resource officers.

Don't forget litigation.

If a nut job kills a bunch of kids, the school district wrings its hands and makes sympathetic noises.

If an armed teacher so much as scratches a bystander while stopping a nut job from killing a bunch of kids, you can bet there would be an army of lawyers ready to make the district pay for the injury, AND for the PTSS and psyche trauma of seeing a teacher defend kids with a gun.

On principle, of course. Not because they need to make the payments on their Mercedes.

I'm cynical enough to believe the state law will sound really nice, but will punt the actual decision to local school districts.

Local school districts will, on the advice of their lawyers, decline anything that might get them sued. Even at the potential loss of students' lives.

That's par for the course. If the school district decides to do nothing to protect the students they have no culpability, but if they hire armed guards or arm the teachers they'll potentially face an army of lawyers.

Only one way to fix it.........Private Sector.

Absolutely correct. When I was school security through a private agency, that issue was raised by someone in the district. Why can't the school hire their own security cheaper than the agency? The answer was liability, and at the time the local police didn't offer to specifically guard the schools (they do now)

 

[Echo40]

It's ridiculous how much opposition they're facing, it really illustrates just how brainwashed certain folks have been by anti-gun rhetoric.

Furthermore, I'd love to know what the nay-sayers plan to do to protect their children... More "Gun Free Zone" posters? Perhaps pushing for the ban of "Assault weapons" and high capacity magazines regardless of how long that would take to pass? Oh, I know, standing in front of news cameras and saying, "We gotta do something!" without offering any suggestions?
Here's an idea, since all of the above have proven strangely ineffective in spite of all the thought which was clearly put into them, how about trying something that's actually new, proactive, and has proven highly effective at preventing shootings elsewhere like armed guards?

 

[NotSo]

Quote from the OP:

“The last line of defense would be a highly trained person in the school,” said Rep. Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, referring to teachers with guns.

The last line? When there's nobody in front of you, it makes you the first line too.

 

[pegasus]

I look at armed school staff in the same general vein as concealed carry in general. Just because you might have an automatic defib machine or a fire extinguisher doesn't mean that the FD or the PD or a official school resource officer isn't needed at all. It's just a supplement if the circumstances warrant it until the professionals arrive. States should pass legislation if they haven't already that reflects this r/t potential liability, like a Good Samaritan law for people giving first aid, CPR, or using a port. Defib machine if you've had the training for it.

 

[olfarhors]

Well as I can speak with a little authority here.
I agree , like a Fire extinguisher the purpose of having trained. armed people on scene is just like having a fire extinguisher!
you need to use it immediately, not 10-15 minutes later when the fire has involved the entire room.
much like police they are great usually, they just are normally very late to the party.
Clean up on aisle 6 is kind of how that ends up.

 

[olfarhors]

I saw a Safety Zone just today!