The NY Times has a wonderful podcast called First Person, where people tell important stories, in the own words, and explain how they came to believe what they believe. Recently I listened to a two-part podcast that explained how one sheriff in Utah started The Teachers Academy, to teach Utah teachers how to use a gun in an active shooter situation.
There have been more than 40 school shootings in 2022. I know, you've only heard about a few, like Uvalde, but they happen almost every week! Imagine that.
One sheriff in Utah decided to start a 20 hour training session to teach teachers how to react, with a gun, in an active shooter situation. Utah is a state where teachers who have a concealed weapon license can bring a gun to school.
The average time response from first shot to police on the scene is typically 3-5 minutes. That sounds pretty fast to me, but apparently this sheriff feels that teachers with guns could do a lot to lessen the damage in those 3-5 minutes.
His academy spends 20 hours over 6 weeks, training teachers about what to do. Although I don't believe that teachers should be armed, at least those that are trained have the possibility of a better outcome.
It was mentioned that in 29 states teachers have the right to bring a weapon to school. I was shocked by this statistic, but I also understand how frightening it must be to be involved in an active shooter situation when you may have 30 5 year olds to keep safe.
I think there must be better ways to deal with the possibility of school shooters than arming the teachers and administrators, but I don't have the answer. It's just something else to think about.
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