Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Senate passes school safety bill

Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves issued the following statement. 

SENATE PASSES PLAN TO STRENGTHEN SCHOOL SAFETY


JACKSON – Mississippi schools could offer firearm training to staff and strengthen campus security under a bill passed by the Senate today, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said. 


The plan, which is part of House Bill 1083, was proposed by Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg. The bill would apply to public and private schools, as well as universities and community and junior colleges. The bill heads to the House for consideration.


“This bill provides our school leaders with another way to beef up security at their campuses in a responsible manner,” Lt. Gov. Reeves said. “Coupled with the MCOPS program we passed several years ago, this is another tool to keep our children safe in the classroom.”


The bill allows school leaders the option to seek proper emergency response training through an approved course by the Department of Public Safety. Staff members could provide immediate protection before law enforcement arrives on campus. 

The effort is an expansion of the Mississippi Community Oriented Policing Services program, which passed in 2013. That program matched local funds to place more trained officers in public schools around the state. 

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just wait until one of these School Leaders shoots a student.

Anonymous said...

Gotta love euphemisms. "School Safety Bill."

Anonymous said...

I remember when kids would try to steal gum from a teachers purse. Or sneak out a feminine product so we could see what it looked like.

The times have changed.

Anonymous said...

This school safety bill is a clear message that Tate may be Washington bound. Does he have any NRA money in his war chest?

Anonymous said...

you make wise cracks, but that coach in Florida that gave his life shielding students from the gunman, had he been armed, far less lives would have been lost, if any at all.

Anonymous said...

Fort Hood has had a couple of mass shootings. Heck, if armed military bases cant stop it, how can we expect teachers to...

Anonymous said...

907... military members dont walk around armed all the time. Be informed...it's important

Anonymous said...

Fort Hood, as well as other bases are gun free zones.

Anonymous said...

Having a teacher constantly keep track of a loaded firearm in a classroom packed full of hormonally-imbalanced adolescents?

Sure. What could go wrong?

The same $30k-a-year wonders who get fired for fondling cheerleaders or sexting football players--or just hand out worksheets all day instead of actually teaching. The ones who have done such a bang up job multitasking as counselors, surrogate parents, standardized test proctors, curriculum differentiators, disciplinary administrators, etc., etc.

Here's one more thing for them to do: Be the split-second arbiter of life and death. Good plan? Great plan!

Besides, what choice do we have? Properly training and paying good SROs would require taxation, which the MSGOP has taught us is theft.

Anonymous said...

I remember when kids would try to steal gum from a teachers purse. Or sneak out a feminine product so we could see what it looked like.

What the...?

Where the hell did you go to school that kids were rooting around in teachers' purses to steal tampons? That shit makes these school shooter kids look halfway sane!

Anonymous said...

small private academy in the early 80's. yes, I'm 6:54

Anonymous said...

It will be interesting to learn how the gun got into the largest Birmingham school that has metal detectors and resulted in the " accidental" shooting death of a young girl bound for nursing school and the injury of a young man.

KF, could you find out what the " course" requirements are? Who came up with the program curriculum...Sgt Bubba or the FBI? How long does it last? Do you have to re-qualify periodically? What weapons are used /approved and incorporated into teaching the course? What exactly does it allow those who pass the course to do at our schools? What screening procedures will be in place? What are the qualifications of those teaching the course?

This strikes me as typical knee jerk legislation to placate " the base" without being given any serious thought about how it will be implemented. That always results in inadequate planning and " unforeseen" negative consequences and this time those negative consequences will be tragic and not just a financial boondoggle.

This should be called the arming our teachers bill...that much is clear despite the euphemisms so the details matter.

Your legislator's JOB is to be well informed and that requires gathering all the available factual information whether individually or systematically. If he can't answer the above questions, he is NOT doing his JOB. Placating you and supporting your gut reactions or a lobbying group you like is NOT his job . Supporting just his little corner of the world without any regard for the rest of the State is NOT his job. Being informed so he can inform you IS his job!

And, if your church is " guiding you" on issues, they will be inviting all candidates to church suppers so you can ask questions and the candidate can tell you why he supports a particular position on any issue and he will know the pros and cons of any legislative action and can inform YOU if he's a competent candidate. And, he won't be emotionally basing his position with no facts to back it up!


Jacksun said...

What’s this small change in the face of an AR 15 bought by an 18 year old? We need to follow FL’s example and raise the minimum age to buy a weapon to 21 and ban bump stocks. Or is everyone here afraid of the NRA? NRA: Never Reasonable Anytime! F’em.

Anonymous said...

This is bad legislation created by the MSGOP once again.

The liability for this mess is too great.

Teachers being trained to carry firearms or being allowed to carry firearms is just flat out dangerous.

They didn't even work through the worse case/best case scenario's?

Whats going to be the excuse when a kid steals a teachers firearm and shoots another kid they had issues with?

Whats going to be the excuse when a teacher said they felt threatened by a student and shoots a student in self-defense?

Whats going to be the excuse when there is an active shooter situation and a swat team comes in and shoots a teacher, assuming they are the active shooter?

Whats going to be the excuse when there is an active shooter situation and a teacher accidentally shoots a student?

Putting guns in teachers hands is great for gun manufacturers, but terrible for public safety.



Anonymous said...

"Fort Hood has had a couple of mass shootings. Heck, if armed military bases cant stop it, how can we expect teachers to.."

50% of America's population is ignorant. How can we expect that the same doesn't apply to the JJ viewership?

Anonymous said...

As long as we continue to let the kids run our schools there will continue to be problems.
Anyone remember back in the day when the teachers ran the schools?
Now we see kids shooting up the school and stealing tampons from the teachers in their spare time.
We need to go back to the days when teachers ran the school instead of letting the kids take over. Who was the genius that thought the kids could run the schools better than the teachers?

Kingfish said...

Are you that ignorant? Don't even try that Fort Hood crap. Soldiers are not allowed to have weapons at military bases, not even in their cars. Period.

If I want to go shoot a bunch of people and not worry about getting shot, the two best places to do it are a school and a military base.

Hell, you are safer from such a threat at Baptist Hospital on State Street than you are at many bases and posts. Think about that for a second.

Anonymous said...

It is amazing to me the extreme lengths we will go to avoid ANY restrictions on deadly weapons. We are willing to look at our youngest, most impressionable children and teach them about bloody massacre and what THEY should do to be prepared (like that alone won't harm their psyche/development); we are willing to ask the same folks who care for our kids and their education to start looking at them as someone they may have to kill one day (like that won't affect how well they teach and how well the kids learn); we are willing to spend untold sums on equipment and other items that may help WHEN someone has a gun or starts shooting at our kids, but WE WILL NOT CONSIDER ANYTHING THAT LIMITS THE WEAPONS THEMSELVES.

The fact is that the powerful gun lobby has hoodwinked enough of the public (and their elected officials) that ANY restriction is the slippery slope toward a totalitarian state - which is simply not true.

We're willing to argue that violent video games can have a negative/desensitizing effect on kids. Why in the world do we not think that the constant training where we force kids to actively consider these scenarios in REAL LIFE could not have the same effect?

The NRA, once the main and legitimate advocate for gun safety, now argues for more and more weapons in places where those weapons are inherently unsafe and vulnerable to unauthorized access; theft, etc., etc. Reasonableness has been thrust aside for political and monetary gain at the expense of our safety, emotional and mental health, and worse, that of our own kids. the Ones we HOPE we will grow up normal.

BE REASONABLE!

Anonymous said...

The requirements for this designator carry program are just an enhancement of, well...an enhanced carry permit. Anyone who is not a student with an enhanced carry permit may already pack heat in schools. This program actually extends that to include 36 hours of training (current enhanced carry permits are 12 hours), psych evals, and an annual shooting qualification. I’m for this with a few exceptions: annual refresher training for active shooter situations, periodic background checks, firearms are purchased by the owner and not by the school, and if a weapon is in the classroom, it is located in a biometric safe securely fastened inside the classroom.

And just a quick update on military bases - about a year (maybe 2??), MS allows for soldiers to carry firearms in vehicles, but not on their person. And I think this only applies to guard bases under the governors authortity, and not active duty or reserve bases.

Anonymous said...

Talking loud and saying nothing....

Anonymous said...

"It is amazing to me the extreme lengths we will go to avoid ANY restrictions on deadly weapons. "

When Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and a whole lot of people much much smarter than you wrote the Declaration of Independence and then the Constitution, they chose their words with excruciatingly precise care. The phrase "Shall Not Be Infringed" means exactly what it says. Go spend a few months reading the Federalist Papers to understand the arguments that preceded their final decision.

Until then, knock yourself out passing a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Second Amendment. They did leave you that route to do what you propose. Good luck finding enough people stupid enough to go along with it.

Anonymous said...

If you anti-gun fools weren't so sad it would really almost be funny. All you can do is tell everyone how stupid their ideas are without coming up with anything on your own. Give me an armed teacher anytime to protect my child and you can teach yours to hide and hope.

Anonymous said...

Mississippi Public School - 2019

Mrs. Schwump: "Billy! What are you doing in my purse?"

Billy: "Nothin'!"

Mrs. Schwump: "Don't give me that, mister! You were taking my money!"

Billy: "No I wasn't! Why are you pointing that gun at me?"

Mrs. Schwump: "I carry it for protection and to stop punks like you from stealing from me. So, once more, what were you doing in my purse?"

Billy: "I -- I -- I just wanted to look at your tampons!"

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Anonymous said...

of course, there's no armed Military Police at a base like Fort Hood. nor are there any armed guards at the gates...nor are any military trained in hand-to-hand combat and disarming an attacker.

Anonymous said...

NRA: Never Reasonable Anytime!

Anonymous said...

When seconds matter, the police(swat team, FBI, sheriff, national guard, etc) are only minutes away.

Anonymous said...

9:48 am thank you for answering some of my questions. I was glad to see a psych evaluation is included in the requirements.

I still have doubts about the usefulness of arming teachers in that this is a reactive strategy , not a strategy of reduction and prevention strategy. It is an acknowledgement that our children cannot be made safe in schools. I'm not willing to accept that without effort.

I would also point out that the Florida shooting was over in 7 minutes. Again, a surprise ambush always favors the shooter, not the defender.

10:56 am While I'm not anti-gun, I am aware of plenty of ideas from those who aren't gun enthusiasts ( or " anti-gun fools" as you unhelpfully label). Here's just 3 for starters. There are more.

1. Close gun sales loopholes
2. Improving a central registry of those who should not be licensed to own guns that is easily accessed on computer by gun sellers ( This is easy in the modern age, just as is a credit check).
3. Changing current mental health laws so that ,as in the past, those with addictions and mental illness can be involuntarily evaluated at the request of physicians, a sufficient number of concerned family members, and responsible citizens. Waiting until someone is a danger to themselves or others is waiting until they have injured themselves or others. It is now impossible despite, as in Florida, repeated complaints for any person or agency to do anything. You can protect the rights of the mentally ill or addicted without endangering others and get them the help they need.

No one and no authority can now act effectively to prevent those with severe mental illness or dementia or brain cancer or a stroke when their illness affects those parts of the brain involving judgement ,emotions and impulse control.

Blaming the FBI or any other law enforcement agency or mental health professional is ridiculous. The court relies on " harm to self or others" and then , worse, interprets that as needing evidence of an act. Those in authority know they are wasting their time to try.

If your parent gets Alzheimer's and starts to give away everything they worked for to a con artist or threatens to kill his neighbor or spouse, you cannot stop it. You can't even access the financial information needed to prove your parent is being financially victimized.

If your child, the college student, goes to the infirmary with symptoms of drug addiction or mental illness. You won't be informed even if you are writing the tuition checks and your legal residence is your child's legal residence. You cannot help your child get treatment before something bad happens!

We seem to have forgotten that with rights, come responsibilities. We have also chosen to ignore that human survival is based on interaction with other members of our species, the nuclear and extended family being the most common support system. Humans do not live long in isolation. Humans are not individually self-sufficient. We just pretend to be. We are mammals and we are pack animals. We may move from pack to pack, but " no man is an island".




Joseph said...

For those concerned about kids stealing teachers' guns, I'd like to point out that I regularly carry in the presence of kids the same age. They have no idea that I have a weapon on me, nor do the vast majority of people around me. Heck, people who know what to look for don't realize it most of the time.

Anonymous said...

10:24 - "they chose their words with excruciatingly precise care." You mean, back in the late 18th century, way before companies decided to start selling assault rifles to any knucklehead who could scrape up the money? Freedom fighters, indeed.

"Precision" and "care" have context, even for guys as smart as those founding fathers. Ol' Tommy and Ben would be shaking their heads at your silly, myopic absolutism. BECAUSE THEY WERE REASONABLE.


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