An officer is the only option if the point is to secure schools. Faculty should be focused on educating students, not focused on watching for signs that someone is about to start a massacre. School employees already have enough trouble keeping up with increasing class sizes and declining budgets.

I don't have a problem with an armed individual on school staff. The problem comes in when you choose and train for this job. Trust me saying you will shoot another human being is very different than doing it. Some will, some won't . You just don't want to find out when others lives are on the line. This is a shoe-in job for the thousands of retired/ separated professional shooters from the military and some law enforcement agencies.

While I agree arming school faculty members could offer an equal response to an armed threat on campus I have reservations in that owning and acquiring a firearms carry permit doesn't necessarily make you capable of responding in kind. Unless there added requirements to include but not limited to training & certification by the local PD or Sheriff's offices etc I don't see the value add in this case and agree with Mark Pike that you don't want to discover your wits when other lives are on the line.

@Mr. B - It's amazing and disheartening how our vets who are battle hardened and trained to kill grow to become reluctant or against it and these kids, 14 - 19 year olds, carry guns that they will use over the most ridiculous things. If you've seen the destructive power of a gun up close and personal it does re-wire your system, senses etc. Interestingly even in combat after months of military training the toughest men have been known to freeze completely. Imagine what those kids in Sandy Hook heard and felt.

"An officer" is singular, but what Campus in Our County sprawls less than ACRES of convoluted "Halls" ~ miles of walk-ways construed throughout its "Buildings" of "Floors" and "Rooms" -- all-of-which both Students and Faculty/Staff ARE present : ?

"Plural" is indeed the need, whereas too, "...is the only option." (the use of "absolutes") also illuminates a short-sighted perspective.

It IS the responsibility of ALL "Faculty" to be observant of the school environment AT ALL TIMES, and if "increasing class sizes and declining budgets" are perhaps a component-factor then that TOO should be identified, addressed, and resolved in the interest of providing a safe, secure, and fertile educational-environment for BOTH Staff AND Students.

I believe there should be SEVERAL TRAINED "Armed" Administration/Faculty/Staff that remain otherwise anonymous as-such to everyone BUT Law Enforcement, School Administration, SOME Faculty, and too, School Operations "Staff"...what the kids need to know is that they ARE being well-protected.

Then they will (A) feel safer than they may otherwise today for (B) an environment procured to more effectively STOP a "massacre" BEFORE (C) it may become one.

The school system should consider a centralized locking system that when triggered secures every classroom along with mandatory monthly / quarterly drills for faculty and students alike that force train kids/teachers etc into safe zones on campus that can be sealed from within. Not a silver bullet to this problem but containing an armed suspect in the hall ways and denying them entry into the classrooms might be a form of deterrent. Improving the school systems surveillance capabilities could also enable the schools security using the PA system to not only alert students of the threat but also encourage the incident response procedure by talking kids into reactive mode. Similar to fire drills we should promote incident response procedures that promote evading & escaping even under extreme stressful conditions.

"Atlas Shrugged" is alive and well in Forsyth County.

A wowee great eyedee y'all! Let's arm the janitor and the cook and the gym teacher. Oh wait, the kids will take the weapon away from the gym teacher and that sucker will get their justice. No big loss though. Not sure about history teachers, the ones that say that stuff about the Northern Invasion being good. Still, arm the kids when they hit the door. If they ain a'ready. Locks on each classroom door. AR-15's set up remotely on each camera, anything moves between classes, kill it. Then we just rename all the schools: call'em prisons. Make read the Bible, 'specially the Old Part.

So the answer to the infinitesimal chance that another crazy person is going to shoot up a school is to put armed guards in EVERY school in the country. At what cost and to what end? We introduce untold numbers of guns into the schools to be monitored by trained or untrained personnel who will, after months and years with nothing threatening happening, become complacent. That means that they will be less observant, less careful and more apt to be the cause of a gun-related incident than the cure.
Everyone has to remember that the gun that was used in Newtown, CT was legally purchased by the gunman's mother. And I have yet to hear why it is necessary for the average citizen Joe to have an assault rifle/gun with multiple rounds of ammunition. If you want to protect your property, a handgun or rifle should be sufficient. I have yet to hear of an army of home invaders taking down a family!

No. Trained law enforcement plus more secure buildings.

No and my grandkids will not go to public schools if I know others beside train law officers will be carrying guns,somehow I believe this action will hurt people of color more than others.

Heck no!

There is no way to ensure the faculty and kids are perfectly safe in schools. No where in the world is perfectly safe. I believe the faculty and students are already safe in schools. The statistical chance of being involved in a school massacre situation are far less than being hit by lightning. Should we have government mandated personal lightning rods, and a trained emt's at every school for lightning prevention purposes? Of course not. If we allow, or mandate, more guns at schools, there will be more, murders, accidents and suicides than there will be successful defensive shootings.

Yes, absolutely. I would rather know that there may be somebody in that school that could provide some sort of defense for my child (preferably multiple somebodies) should some psycho walk in and start shooting. I don't like the idea of everybody in a school being defenseless. Plus, armed resource officers would be the first targets. Or just bypassed completely (think Virginia Tech).

There's a lot to be said for places that do nothing more than advertise the idea that somebody MAY be armed on the premises to deter a shooting. Could be why the Batman theater shooter drove past a couple of theaters on his way to the one he wound up at. Or why there's only been one mass shooting in a place that wasn't a gun-free zone in the past 40 years.

The idea most are missing on this is the one that it's not the legal gun carryers that are the problem. They're not the ones committing crimes with them as a general rule. It's the ones that don't pay attention to the 'Gun-free' zones that we need to be able to handle.

A trained professional whether it be a policeman or security guard would be the best option along with a more secured building including security cameras monitoring entrances. That being said certain key faculty members should be allowed to carry so long as they go through a training program and continue to practice their marksmanship.

It wasn't that long ago that we did not have to worry about this. The world has gotten more insane.

"The World" is just as "insane" as ever for MILLIONS of People MORE existing in the same space...add the factors of (a) Communications evolving over the last two decades and (b) a desires to illuminate Ones "15 seconds-of-Fame" too and we have (c) INSANE incidences seemingly occurring WAY too often ~ whereas in terms of incidence-per-capita per Sq. Mile "Society" is actually SAFER today than anytime ELSE in Human Anthropological History, no : ?

Regarding the need of any "Citizen" for "Hi-Capacity Ammunition Magazines" it is a "MOB" that will become the most serious threat to anyones "Homestead" in times of Civil Unrest ~ remember in the early '90's when less than 55 Men were held culpable for the murders of over half-a-million "Tutsies" in Rwanda AND about that many too found responsible for burning-down East Los Angeles CA -- There's BOTH a Forign Nation AND American "State" excercising STRICT "Gun Control" over it's Citizens in example! -- and whereas BOTH suffered at the hands of MOBS armed with the likes of Machetes, Axes, and Split-Mauls, etc., ONE PERSON (such as those Korean Store-Owners in L.A. ; ) armed with the likes of a 30 rd. magazine "regulated" AK-47 Semi-Automatic Rifle and/or Colt Mo. 1911 Semi-Automatic Pistol (plus two "clips" at least ; ) CAN effectively repel such an attack upon their Homestead...damn-near as well as ONE Bazooka w/RPG round(s) likely would ~ which is why I advocate even THOSE being "permitable" to any "Citizen in Good Standing" too.

And actually, what the left with their agenda don't want you to know is that no, it hasn't gotten more insane. Even with the flood of weapons into our society the number of mass killings has actually decreased every year since, what, 1949? The problem is the media grabs hold of these stories and escalates them.

There are a number of questions that no one here has addressed so far.

1) Has anyone considered that by saying that there will be one or more persons armed in the schools for protection that you will be putting a target on EVERY adult in the facility? I'll admit that whoever the shooter or shooters come across first will probably be a victim no matter what. But think about it.
2) What adult WANTS to put on that target?
3) How much are taxpayers willing to pay that person for doing it. It seems that tax payers are finding it difficult as it is to pay teachers and administrators to do what they were hired to do in the first place. Now there is a call to place even more responsibility on them.
And lastly has anyone thought to ask the teachers and administrators if they even want to assume that risk and responsibilities, no matter how much more you want to pay them?
These are just some of the questions that come to my mind. There is probably a host of other questions out there to be asked and answered.

@TheSkalawag=

1) There are already school districts across the nation that have trained, armed and CCP-ed such personnel. Their stats are self-explanatory:
Zero mass shootings.
Zero deaths or injuries due to firearms, by either invaders, or school personnel.
Zero accidental discharges or weapons malfunctions.
Zero students finding/taking/playing with said weapons.

Whether they have actually PREVENTED any crimes is of course conjecture.

2) The armed/trained personnel are ALWAYS volunteers, and the schools' personnel vote on the programs before they are implemented, at least they have so far. No one is ever forced to participate in this sort of program.

3) The funding, depending on the district, is either through one or more of the school's general expense funds, local law enforcement offices, or through the voluntary acceptance of expense by the trainee him/herself.

@TheSkalawag= in re: your comment about putting targets on the adults, that's part of the idea: stats show that by and large, only another shooter stops a criminal shooter before he/she runs out of ammo. If you make them focus on another armed person, even briefly, that gives the defenseless (namely our kids) that much more time to get away or under cover.

That's also part of the reason the programs are strictly voluntary on both an institutional and individual basis.

If I'm not mistaken, even parents uncomfortable with the idea are given special dispensation to move their kids to another school, though that may not be in all cases. I don't remember that part of it well, but I do seem to recall that it was the parents and the communities involved which called for the programs in the first place.

Dave Ballard and TheSkalawag - examples of reasonable, respectful discourse, and good sense.

Your comments are appreciated.

Ha! Dave, from yours and Skalawag's posts, I can tell you are decent human beings.

I have enjoyed your posts as well as TheS's. You both have a way of expressing your views without condescension or insulting the opposition. Maybe you two should go to D.C. and show Congress how it's done. But don't leave Patch. You're needed here.

Good Grief Y'all I'd have a better chance of surviving naked in deep space than in that town.
To paraphrase Clint Eastwood would say: " A person has got to know their limitations." I know mine.