SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Los Angeles Times reports
After their teacher fires a gun at school, Georgia students use opportunity to challenge Trump's proposal
Jesse Randall Davidson wasn't a stranger, some mysterious threat from the outside. He was a bearded, bespectacled, 53-year-old social studies teacher and the play-by-play announcer for the football games at Dalton High School in northwest Georgia.
But when the teacher brought a gun to school, barricaded himself in his classroom [February 28], and fired a single shot, students quickly recognized that this wasn't just a sad local incident.
Amid national outrage over school shootings--and suggestions by President Trump that schools would be safer if some teachers packed guns--it was a political event.
"my favorite teacher at Dalton high school just blockaded his door and proceeded to shoot", a 16-year-old student named Chondi Chastain tweeted at the National Rifle Assn., earning more than 17,000 retweets. "We had to run out The back of the school in the rain. Students were being trampled and screaming. I dare you to tell me arming teachers will make us safe."
[...] When students came to his door at room 413 during third period--a time his classroom is normally empty--it was locked, and Davidson wouldn't let them in, police said later.
"My brother, who was one door down from the teacher, said he was yelling at his students to 'get the [expletive] out of here'", junior Henry Hansen, 17, wrote in a private message on Twitter.
The principal, Steve Bartoo, tried to unlock the door with a key, but Davidson "slammed the door before I could open it and said, 'Don't come in here, I have a gun'", Bartoo said at a televised news conference.
Bartoo put the school into lockdown mode, and soon after, Davidson "apparently fired a shot from a handgun through an exterior window of the classroom", Dalton police spokesman Bruce Frazier said at a separate news conference. "It did not appear that it was aimed at anybody."
[...] Dalton police, the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office, the Georgia State Patrol, and federal law enforcement agencies all responded to the emergency. "More or less everybody with a badge in the area came running", Frazier said.
After about half an hour, Davidson surrendered and was taken into custody
[...] The Dalton students immediately turned to social media to take issue with Trump's calls to arm teachers.
Heavy.com adds
Records show Davidson has been charged with aggravated assault with a gun, terroristic threats and acts, carrying a weapon in a school safety zone without a license, reckless conduct, disrupting public school, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He is being held without bail at the Whitfield County Jail.
[...] Davidson has a history of bizarre medical episodes both at school and outside of school, The Chattanoogan reports.
(Score: 5, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @11:59AM (13 children)
We protect our politicians, who pretty much everyone hates, with armed security. Do we like our children less than we like our politicians?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:38PM (1 child)
This is, how shall I put it, a killer argument.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:48PM
puns++
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @02:36PM (9 children)
Yeah, why would those people, who everyone in a nation of gun owners hates, need armed security? It'll always be a mystery.
So, do we give the teachers guns as they propose in the TFS, or just replace teachers with security guards? Apparently, hiring a trained security guard to protect the school is out of the question.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday March 03 2018, @04:08PM (4 children)
Several teachers would be involved no matter what happens. While a security guard may end up outside by his car waiting [washingtonpost.com] for the shooting to stop.
(Score: 3, Touché) by bzipitidoo on Saturday March 03 2018, @04:54PM (3 children)
Clearly alcohol is less dangerous than guns. Therefore, if guns are allowed in schools, alcohol should also be allowed. It's for our safety, because then we can keep everyone too drunk to shoot straight.
Also, let's bring hardcore porn into schools. Make love, not war, right? Have the kids all come to the auditorium a few times per year and watch some porn stars do live performances. Sex education is important!
We also need more gambling. Give classes on poker in which kids bet with real money, preferably their own. Keep them too broke to afford assault rifles and bullets.
Extreme sports is another. Taking the kids on a hunting trip is okay, but, how shall I say it? Passe. We need water skiing with jump ramps so they can learn to do triple flips. And we need rock climbing. Without safety ropes. I mean, come on, ropes are a crutch, like training wheels on a bicycle. Keep it real! We could add guns to the mix, like water ski with BB guns, or paintball guns, so the students can try for a target during their triple flips.
Also, the kids all ought to visit slaughterhouses. Or, bring the slaughterhouse to the school. Have them set up in the school cafeteria and do a demonstration just before lunch, you know? See chickens turned into chicken nuggets, cows turned into hamburger and steak, and pigs turned into hams. Then serve it up fresh. Yeah, it's not pretty, but it's real.
I haven't even mentioned religion, because that's a real can of worms, bringing that into school.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday March 03 2018, @05:21PM
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:44PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_equivalence [wikipedia.org]
Try again.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:20PM
So? where's the punchline?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Saturday March 03 2018, @04:11PM (1 child)
Politicians needing armed security tells me the 2nd amendment is working.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday March 03 2018, @05:26PM
The 2nd was as much about not having a standing army as your founding fathers had experience with how standing armies lead to tyranny.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:47PM
Highly trained is not necessary for a security guard. We send people off to war with only a few months worth. Security guards, guns being as simple to operate as they are, really only need to know not to touch their gun unless they mean to use it and never to point it at anything they don't intend to make dead. Even knowing how to clean them properly is optional as rarely as they'll be fired.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday March 04 2018, @12:11AM
Neither. We don't "give the teachers guns". Instead, we remove the obstacles that prevent teachers from carrying. Then, we incentivize teachers carrying. Then, we require reasonable qualifications, to be sure that not just ANY teacher is carrying. For instance, Suzy Shrinking Violet has decided that she might possibly help to defend her students in an emergency - but she has never owned, or even touched a firearm in her life. Suzy requires some training, before she can be permitted to carry, wouldn't you say? Note, that I haven't precluded Suzy from becoming qualified - I have only pointed out that she needs training.
Other teachers might be disqualified - like the asshole in the article.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Saturday March 03 2018, @07:55PM
I hate kids... but I hate polititicans a lot more.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh