Texas School District Says 'Yes' to Armed School Staff

[DougC]

Read more at Bearing Arms blog.

There are already hundreds of school districts in the state that have adopted the state's Guardian or Defender programs, which both offer pathways to put armed school staff in place. Now a west Texas district is joining their ranks, though at least one district official doesn't sound too happy about the decision.

“We are unable to put a school resource officer on every campus. Even though our law enforcement entities have tried for us, but they just don’t have the staff right now to do that. In place of a school resource officer, we have had to go the guardian route or defender route, whichever you wish to call it, and that arms staff members on campus,” said Robyn Cranmer, deputy superintendent, Canyon ISD.
... “It’s still hard to believe that we are at the the point that we’re arming staff, you know. School teachers sign up to teach kids, they don’t typically sign up to carry weapons on campus. This has been a mindset shift and we’ve kind of had to work through that and what that feels like and what that looks like,” said Cranmer.

The Texas law offers districts $15,000 per campus and an additional $10 per student to help offset the cost of adding SROs, but that's not enough to fully fund these positions, which leaves the Defender and Guardian programs as the best option, especially for smaller and more rural school districts.

 

[Sasquatch]

They could hire commissioned (armed) security at much less than a police officer costs, while paying a good wage for the security industry. If a cop costs $35-50 / hr (or $25-35 in rural / poorer areas) then a security officer would be $20-25 / hr or $18-20 / hr in the poorer areas. Schools and school districts don't need to stand up police departments or take long term contracts, it costs them nothing beyond wages and insurance - DPS doesn't charge a fee for the letter of authority for in-house security departments.

They could take the easy route and just issue uniforms, while requiring the officers to supply their own duty gear (99% of security companies require this anyway) and mandate the gear, and provide the necessary training (School Marshal program, active shooter, FAST) and have someone on every campus to be the armed first responder to an active shooter.

Teachers could stop yammering about being "required" to carry guns (they're not, they're optional) and the teachers that WANT to, can if their district allows it.

It'd be real damn nice if the state would change the law and allow commissioned security to qualify with and have rifles available to them. Current state law flatly denies security the ability to use a *rifle* or long gun, shotguns or pistols only because the state's laws are stuck in the 60's.

As a school security monkey myself, I'd feel a lot better if I had an AR handy in the event of a shooter, than just my pistol. A shotgun is not the right tool for the job except up close. When the backstop is teachers and kids, I'd prefer a surgical tool like an AR.

 

[Mohawk600]

They could hire commissioned (armed) security at much less than a police officer costs, while paying a good wage for the security industry. If a cop costs $35-50 / hr (or $25-35 in rural / poorer areas) then a security officer would be $20-25 / hr or $18-20 / hr in the poorer areas. Schools and school districts don't need to stand up police departments or take long term contracts, it costs them nothing beyond wages and insurance - DPS doesn't charge a fee for the letter of authority for in-house security departments.

They could take the easy route and just issue uniforms, while requiring the officers to supply their own duty gear (99% of security companies require this anyway) and mandate the gear, and provide the necessary training (School Marshal program, active shooter, FAST) and have someone on every campus to be the armed first responder to an active shooter.

Teachers could stop yammering about being "required" to carry guns (they're not, they're optional) and the teachers that WANT to, can if their district allows it.

It'd be real damn nice if the state would change the law and allow commissioned security to qualify with and have rifles available to them. Current state law flatly denies security the ability to use a *rifle* or long gun, shotguns or pistols only because the state's laws are stuck in the 60's.

As a school security monkey myself, I'd feel a lot better if I had an AR handy in the event of a shooter, than just my pistol. A shotgun is not the right tool for the job except up close. When the backstop is teachers and kids, I'd prefer a surgical tool like an AR.

Maybe an AR pistol would meet the requirements

 

[Sasquatch]

Maybe an AR pistol would meet the requirements

Nope. Unfortunately DPS still considers them to be long-arms. And a typical 5.56 would fail to meet caliber requirements - minimum bullet diameter of .355 (9mm) is required for handguns. Its a crime for a security guard to use a rifle.

 

[thequintessentialman]

Nope. Unfortunately DPS still considers them to be long-arms. And a typical 5.56 would fail to meet caliber requirements - minimum bullet diameter of .355 (9mm) is required for handguns. Its a crime for a security guard to use a rifle.

How about pistol caliber carbine. 10mm (even 9mm) AR-15 platform would be well suited for that close quarter environment.

How does the law read when it's teachers & staff instead of guards.

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[jrbfishn]

Pistol caliber AR pistol?

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

 

[Sasquatch]

How about pistol caliber carbine. 10mm (even 9mm) AR-15 platform would be well suited for that close quarter environment.

How does the law read when it's teachers & staff instead of guards.

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Pistol caliber AR pistol?

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

Please see post number 4.

PCC's are rifles, rifles are not legal for private security to use in Texas, period.

DPS considers things like AR pistols to still be long guns, despite the technical definition of them being "pistols" - if you can't fit it in your holster on your belt its not a handgun. I've asked that question of the people at the regulatory services division.

The only legal solution is for the state legislature to fix the law. I've written my state rep and senator about it, but got no response from either on the topic.

Given that the Nashville shooter was dropped by a responding cop with an AR equipped with an LVPO - it would make sense for such a setup to be available to those of us working in schools to have the same tools. Hell, I'd even take a vanilla A2 with open sights over a handgun in such a situation.

 

[Mohawk600]

Flux Raider......can be holstered and shot as a pistol but has a brace.