According to KMOV.com, St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch and police officers will begin visiting St. Louis County schools Monday morning.
Fitch said he's received numerous calls from area schools concerned about security since Friday's mass shooting in a Newtown, CT elementary school.
Fitch acknowledges that most high schools and some middle schools, including those in West County, have armed school resource officers.
However, elementary schools are not normally protected by officers. Fitch wants to see armed resource officers or armed school officials in those schools, according to KSDK.
He points out that Sandy Hook Elementary School conducted threat drills and locked its doors once class started, but that did not stop suspected shooter Adam Lanza from gunning down 20 children and six women Friday.
St. Louis area schools also lock their doors when class starts and conduct threat drills. However, this week, Fitch plans to meet with school officials throughout the county to discuss increasing security at schools even more.
His proposal includes putting guns in the schools, particularly the elementary schools. He said the weapons would remain locked up with trained staff members having access to them in an emergency.
What do you think about Chief Fitch's proposal? Do you have a better suggestion? Post your thoughts in the comments below.
From another Patch article: A St. Louis-based crime victims' advocacy group alerted parents to remind their children that such vicious violence is rare and that they should not be afraid to go about their daily lives and familiar routines.“Children should be taught to always be aware of their surroundings," said Julie Lawson, President and CEO of the Crime Victim Advocacy Center in St. Louis, in a statement. "But they also need to be reminded that this is an unusual situation and they should not fear going to school or other familiar places. She said it would not be unusual for parents and children to suffer from "vicarious trauma" — being afraid that the same thing will happen.
Mass murderers pick vulnerable targets. http://ow.ly/g9Vpo
Any adult responsible enough to teach children is responsible enough to carry a firearm. If you personally are nervous around guns, ask a gun-nut friend to take you shooting. You'll get over it.
The Chief isn't proposing "arming" staff. From the original article: "He said one possibility would be keeping guns locked inside the schools, and available only to trained staff members in emergency situations." not: "St. Louis County Police Chief Wants to Arm School Officials With Guns" ...which brings to mind arming everyone. Poor journalism, Ms. Biondo.
You're sure they're already trained? Really? What kind of training? Do you have any idea what kind of training, and the level of maintenance is takes SWAT teams to undertake urban assault tactics? Do you have any idea what protocols they operate under to ensure they don't kill innocents? You think a gun safety course and an occasional visit to the range is sufficient training? We need LEOs in the school. The idea that there's control on who has access to the locker, and that it could be monitored is a far better scenario than putting guns in holsters on the hips of a janitor and teachers.
I was really trying to have a open and well balanced discussion because I think that will be the thing that save lives and still allow gun ownership in our country. Let talks to the Canadians and figure out how they can have a significantly more guns per person than we and have a fraction of the gun violence. In this discussion I don't care to posture and hold on to my beliefs. I have two little kids that I send to Parkway everyday I care for us to get this right! No worries gun enthusiast you will hear no more from me as you try to explain me why a 20 year old disturbed kid had access to a semi automatic assault rifle. And to those in the self defense camp, a single bullet will do the job just was well as any military grade weapon that you feel your Second Amendment right allows you to possess.
Do you consider the mother of the shooter, a victim herself, since she was a teacher at the school posessing (lawfully) these weapons, to be 'qualified staff'? What was this woman needing a semi-automatic rifle for at home, in the peaceful town of Newport? My point is that there will always be crazy people and evil people and both. We should not just look at prevention, but also avoidance from a risk perspective. Arming schools will just move the evil crazy folks to pick a more vulnerable target for their victims. And the end result of that process is a police state. I really wish there were some other options than going more of the same and expecting a different result.
You are making my point. Gun Free Zones have been a leftist fad for decades, and they simply do not work. We need to do something different, like trusting grown-ups to be responsible if they choose to carry a firearm for self-protection.
As a parent of two kids in Rockwood, I would not want a teacher carrying in the classroom.
I disagree with your statement. The mad are not illogical, or irrational. Their moral sense is compromised - profoundly - but they are not incapable of rational thought within their own framework. The shoot up schools, not police stations or gun shops.
It won't stop these acts any more than using 'The Club' reduces car theft. It doesn't. It just moves the crime to some other car that doesn't have one.