Reactionary policies are never a good idea. What'scwrong with this school board and now I have to cover the costs! Vote no on this inane idea.

I commend the board for reviewing policies and looking for different ways to safeguard our kids. With that said, I don't feel that this is the best answer to improve safety. We already have an armed officer in the school that can cover both the HS and the MS. Beth does an outstanding job keeping the kids in line and adding a gun to her uniform will only be an added distraction.

I agree Dave. Give a mall guard a gun is not a good idea.

All i can say is at least they are making sure that she gets the proper training and certification to be allowed to carry, if it passes.

More guns in school is a good idea? I don't think so. We already have a highly trained cop with a gun in the ms/hs building. I don't want to pay for training someone how to use a gun in a building filled with hundreds of kids when we don't have enough money to get enough teachers in the same building! And how do these two individual "protect" the 3 elementary schools? Are they going to jump in their car and drive the 15 minutes over to Aiken if they hear there is a shooter in their building? Tell me how this makes sense, because I don't see it. Plus, if we arm everyone, we now have our children growing up in a police state. No thanks.

Wonder if anyone has consulted with Beth Ann, the security guard in question? Her job just got a lot riskier if they pass this. Sounds like she is doing fine as is. She may decide it is not worth it. I am not speaking for her at all, but that's the ultimate elevation in responsibility.

Not a good idea in my opinion. Schools need a great emergency/evacuation plan along with other safe guards for school grounds. I believe school grounds should monitor all incoming and outgoing cars and visitors. All visitors should be announced and entrance onto school grounds coordinated. The HS/MS are to accessible to drive through traffic

I find it curious that I haven't heard this point raised much at all... Many of these mass shootings occur in gun-free zones (e.g., schools, malls, theaters, etc). They are supposed to make us feel safer, but maybe they actually put us in harms way. Do we expect violent individuals to follow laws? Without armed guards in these places, there is absolutely no way to enforce the law whatsoever. I don't want a police-state environment, but we need to look at these gun-free zones and whether they are actually enforceable without an armed, properly trained guard on the premises...

A far better posture, I believe, would be to allow those teachers, staff and administrators who, already vetted out and State certified to work around children, to voluntarily carry a concealed firearm. The airlines do this with commercial pilots. You don't have to participate. I'd feel lots better knowing that armed personnel are discreetly walking the halls of each school, and "active shooters", who have all been proven as cowards who only go to Victim Disarmament Zones, would likely be dissuaded from another murderous rampage. Voluntary training in close quarters shooting situations could be offered, but obviously, any armed staffer must have a License to Carry Firearms. In truth, the Gun Free School Zone statute only disarms honest folks. Its feel good legislation, and does little to contribute to public safety.

I don't see how this would be better, just worse. Plus, we are more likely to have a school shooting by a current or former student who was mistreated in some way by the district. So now you want to give the teachers and staff the responsibility of shooting a student? Should we then arm the students? Where does it end? The kids aren't even allowed to make a shooting gesture in school, but it is ok for adults to carry around real, loaded weapons? What kind of mixed message is that? We are better off putting money into properly helping children, whether it is bullying, mental illness, home life, medical conditions, etc. that create the problem to begin with. Obviously the Sandy Hook shooter had a serious problem, didn't get any support or help in school so mom home schooled, still without the care he needed and now look. We won't have to worry about shooters in schools if the schools take care of the children and not run them off to home schooling or leave them without what kids need to be functional.

Definitely a good idea! If it's good a idea for Obama's daughters then it is good idea for our kids. Guns in the hands of good people are not a problem.

What!?! Who decides who the "good people" are? Mentally ill people having delusions often think they are fighting "bad" people but in reality it is random strangers. So are they good people or not? Have you not seen the NRA meme going around, showing the day Regan was shot with 6 armed "good guys" who didn't shoot Hinkley at all and 3 people, 2 unarmed, were seriously wounded. Tell me how this good people/ok to be armed scenario worked so well in this situation.

You got it, David, it is an OPINION. Not a fact. Not something that everyone can agree on. I am glad you got my point EXACTLY.

I think making the campus secure should be the agenda. All staff and students sholud wear ID badgets, like college campus. Doors should be locked and policies enforced to protect the children in our district, adding a gun into the mix isn't the solution.

A lot of school districts are having this discussion right now. Besides assigning a gun to a security officer, what are some other things you'd like to see in schools to make them safer? Or are they safe enough as is?

I have kids and would be pleases to know that my kids are just a little safer ,because we have armed staff! I hey you little people who are complaining about the right to arm our staff should goto one of these other schools and tell the parents of the children how you feel instead of hiding on here and posting your opinion! Atleast come tell me to my face or one of my friends or brothers how you feel about protecting our children. I think some of you are people who couldn't get into or make it in public office that's why you don't share who you are. Bunch of babies who would rather spend $2,000 on something else that we know don't work. How many of these shooters DIDnt shoot them selves once it was their turn. Hey, why not get rid of the gym teachers because our students dont seem to be benefiting from them either. Lol... The kids are armed so let's not arm the adults!

Hi guys,

Update—the Keystone Oaks School Board did vote in favor of allowing school security officer Beth Padden to carry a firearm. They also agreed to discuss additional options for making the schools safer.

This will not take effect immediately. Padden must first complete an intensive, five-month training and testing course. If she passes the training, she will be allowed to carry a firearm at the beginning of next school year (the 2013-14 school year).

I'll have a full update posted on Patch tomorrow morning.

There were armed guards at Columbine & Virginia Tech. A lot of good that did. Giving people like George Zimmerman a gun exacerbates the problem. Schools that have armed guards/police are 500 more times likely to have children that are put into juvenile detention center where the cycle of criminality is learned and continued. This will be the outcome of these drastic measures. We could just take a page from the NRA playbook and arm the elementary school children. I feel safer already! Sorry for the sarcasm.

Congrats for a school district wanting to take action. How could you watch the story of children and teachers die at Sandy Hook and then not do anything about it? If one person in that school would've had a gun, they would've at least had the ability to stop the shooter. At Keystone Oaks, that possibility will now be fulfilled. Good for them!

Well angelina you watch the story about the kids and then you take those assult rifles out of thier hands.....nobody needs them. Splain to me what good that woman with a handgun is going to do against someone with an assalt rifle and clips firing 100 rounds in a matter of seconds. Right after she pees her pants he will probably shoot her dead too. Do you put a little old lady with a gun in every school and business and public park and movie house and trolly in the nation? Obama is trying to do the only thing that will work.......take those AK 47s and multi bullet clips off the market........so the gun sellers will each make a few million less a year. Maybe we can make it up to them out of our paychecks? Right ang?

Well, Rober... The fact is that criminals don't generally buy thier guns at a store where they have to go through a background check and register their weapons. And there are enough high capacity clips around out there that stopping the sale of them to legal, responsible people will not keep criminals or people with mental illnesses from getting hold of them. Sadly, it is true that many people who legally buy firearms and register them are not making sure that their children or criminals who break into their homes cannot get hold of their firearms (& other weapons). When I am at home, my firearms are loaded and ready. When I have friends over, especially those with children, & when I am not at home, my firearms are unloaded, secured with gun locks, hidden in locked cases in hard to find places, & my ammo is hidden in seperate locations. It's a bit of extra effort & time, but I do it to make it extremely difficult for a burglar or visitor to be able to find my weapons & take them. The issue of gun control is a controversial one and always will be. And the issue of having armed gaurds or police at schools is also a controversial issue, & always will be. But the fact remains- stopping the legal sale of any type of weapon that requires a backgroud check & registration of the weapon, will NOT stop illegal gun use and possesion. But having armed gaurds or police at schools MAY stop another person from shooting & killing children, teachers, & other innocent people at a school.

All my friends tell me they are so reieved when people unload thier guns and hide thier ammo when whenever thier kids visit them. We also all agree that because there are already dangerous assault weapons out there.....we might as well sell a lot more. What could go wrong???? Same thing that went wrong with the lobotomy??????

Hi guys,

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