News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Local & Bistate

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable as well as posts that are attacking other users. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
January 16, 2013

State senator says support growing for arming teachers

Maureen Hayden CNHI

INDIANAPOLIS — Republican state Sen. Jim Tomes says there may growing support for his proposal to train more school teachers in the use of firearms.

Tomes, a gun-rights advocate from Wadesville, floated the idea of arming teachers in a December interview with an Indianapolis TV station when he was considering introducing legislation that would make it easier to do so.

Within days of the story, he heard from teachers and retired educators in Indiana and around the country who supported the idea.

“Two months ago, if we talked about this, we’d have been laughed off the face of the planet,” Tomes said. “Maybe now, there’s an opportunity to express some points of view that people never thought of, or refused to think about.”

What changed the conversation was the Dec. 14 shooting at a Connecticut school that left 20 children and six teachers dead.

In the wake of the shooting, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, who’s called for tougher gun control, said more guns in schools are not the answer: “Freedom is not a handgun on the hip of every teacher, and security should not mean a guard posted outside every classroom,” Malloy said.

But Tomes is convinced that giving teachers the option of carrying a concealed firearm needs to be part of the national debate over gun control that’s been raging since the Connecticut tragedy. Already, schoolteachers in Ohio, Utah and Texas are signing up for firearms training classes.

“I would not want to make this a mandate in any shape or fashion,” Tomes said. “I wouldn’t want anyone to carry a firearm who’s not comfortable with it. … But for teachers who are willing to go through rigorous training and who are willing to act as the first responders to protect our children, they ought to have the right to do so.”

Tomes said Indiana law already gives schoolteachers that right.

A state law that allows schools to ban weapons from being brought onto their premises exempts anyone who has been employed or authorized by a school “to act as a security guard, perform or participate in a school function, or participate in any other activity authorized by a school.”

Tomes’ hope is that more school corporations in Indiana will designate teachers or other employees to act as security officers and allow them to be armed. He also advocates that those school employees receive intensive training from an organization like the Indiana Firearms Association, whose members are certified firearms instructors.

“I won’t accept an argument that teachers can’t be trained as well as law enforcement officers,” Tomes said, adding that many police officers have had no firearms training before entering the state’s law enforcement academy.

Tomes has faced opposition from the Indiana State Teachers Association. “I don’t think that proliferation of firearms on school property is good for kids,” ISTA president Nate Schnellenberger told the Associated Press.

Mike Ward, director of the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police, declined comment on Tomes’ proposal. The association favors proposed legislation, promoted by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, that would provide more state dollars to local school corporations to put more police officers in schools.

Tomes doesn’t oppose the legislation but said it doesn’t go far enough. He said most schools will still only be able afford to have one police officer on staff.

“They (police officers) are not super humans just by virtue of having a badge and uniform,” Tomes said. “They are merely mortals like the rest of us, they can only be in one place at one time.”



Maureen Hayden is the Indiana Statehouse bureau chief for CNHI, the parent company of the Tribune-Star. She can be reached at maureen.

hayden@indianamediagroup.com.

 

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local & Bistate
Latest News
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
AP Video
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Gun Scare Mars Cannes Film Festival Raw: Germany Protestors Picket Barbie House China, Others Want What's Under the Arctic Ice CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools Raw: Suicide Bomber Kills 2 Americans, 13 Others Raw: 6 Die in Russian Ship Fire Raw: Texas Gov. Flies Over Tornado Damage Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool One Million Evacuated As Cyclone Hits Bangladesh $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
NDN Video
Twiggy, the Water Skiing Squirrel Sailor Surprises His Mom At Her CU Denver Graduation Ceremony Official: ‘Amazing’ No One Was Killed In CT Train Crash Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Coffee Stop Leads To Arrest Of YouTube Sensation Wanted For Murder Bearded Dragon Reunited With Owner Marine Reunited with Warzone Companion Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Beyonce Is Pregnant! SF baseball player overpaid $500,000 RETURNS money -- and team says KEEP IT $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest Dad returns from Afghanistan, surprises family during Rays' first pitch See Jennifer Lopez's New $10m Hamptons Mansion Woman tricked into taking abortion pill Emma Watson Goes Pantless IRS scandal: Republicans seek to tie Obama to agency's woes Play of the Day: Flipping to Safety Pregnant Kim Kardashian Squeezes Her Swollen Feet Into Stilettos Top Videos of the Week: Angry Taco Bell Guy, Glacier Moves on House, Dog Hates Baths Cindy Crawford Stuns At Cannes
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

     

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News