No word from Tony Cornish so far
The Legislature has been in session for a week, and there hasn’t been any action from Tony Cornish — the Big Amygdala — to advance, or even propose, legislation to arm public school teachers, a legislative priority of his.
This is a disappointment to me, because I am looking forward to the BA’s bill and how it answers some questions I posed to him in an email. Cornish acknowledged receipt of the email, in his own way, but declined any responses to the questions I posed:
1) Do you think teachers should open carry or concealed carry? Or should it be the teacher’s choice?
2) In terms of guns, should there be a minimum size? Because school shooters are often pretty-well armed, I am thinking we can learn from the teacher’s aide in Minneapolis who brought her .357 to work this week [the email was sent shortly after Cornish proposed the legislation to arm teachers]. This is a woman who is really concerned about protecting the tykes! Maybe the .357 could be considered the working minimum in your bill, subject to whatever else – even bigger – people come up with in hearings. You do think you’ll get a hearing, don’t you?
3) Since merely having a gun and being trained to use it is often not enough – I’m thinking of the policeman in my hometown, Mike Blood, or the people at Ft. Hood – maybe armed teachers should be required to wear full tactical gear, too. Sure, it may be a little off putting for the kids, or during parent-teacher conferences, but everyone will get used to it, eventually.
4) I worry about a single teacher going mano-a-mano with a shooter; surely your bill will encourage – nay, require – a rack of AR15 rifles in the teachers’ lounge. I guess they’re pretty hard to get right now, but I’m sure the supply will loosen up once the hysteria subsides. Maybe the state could even get a discount for volume purchases and pass the saving along to the school districts. I am sure you would get kudos for that.
5) You probably know those spoil sports at Minnesota Public Radio have expressed doubt about your claim about the universal arming of teachers in Israel. Will you pass along all of your references and citations that demonstrate what liars they are?
6) Because I know that you are so careful with the public dollar, I am sure you have a plan to keep your idea from costing any money. When you look at any given school, though, it seems that an accidental shooting is more likely that an incident with a shooter. Since the school district is the instrumentality of the state, please tell me how we can keep the state from being responsible for a teacher who mistakenly plugs a fifth grader carrying a broom?
7) And what do we do with the pesky school district or principal who tells teachers not to carry, even if they have the blessing of the state? That has to be really annoying thought, but it is bound to happen.
Meanwhile, the ACLU — of which I am a card-carrying member — says to Tony — and everybody like him — are you nuts? Militarize schools?
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