[an error occurred while processing this directive]

LATEST SUBMISSIONS

Guns at school: a teacher remembers

Wednesday, April 25 at 12:01 AM

By Rich Hugo, Lakewood

As a high school teacher of 32 years, I faced two situations in my career that involved loaded guns at school. The first experience I had was when I taught choral music at Mid High School in Carlsbad, N.M.

The main building was shaped like a “U” with the open part facing a street. It was a two-story building with a third story tower in the middle that was used to store books. I was teaching choir in a separate building.

In the middle of rehearsal, a student came into my room and quietly told me that I was not to let students out of the room for any reason, including using the rest room, until I had further notification. Then he left.

What had happened was a disgruntled student from several years earlier had walked into the main office, flashed a handgun at the secretary and demanded she let him into the tower. Of course she did and then called the police.

The man barricaded himself in the tower and began shooting at cars driving along the street. Fortunately, there were no pedestrians.

Very quickly the Carlsbad Police arrived and closed off the street. Unfortunately, the gunman held the men in the barbershop across the street at bay for about two hours. After tear gas was hurled, and police tried to talk him down from th tower, he eventually turned the gun on himself.

The smartest thing that happened was the lockdown of classrooms. Had the kids been allowed to change classes at the bell, curiosity would have forced kids out to the front of the building and some probably would have been shot.

At Virginia Tech, students were not notified that there was a problem for two hours, and school officials are receiving criticism for that. But from my perspective, I believe if students had been notified, there would have been a mob of curious students wandering around the danger zone on the campus, creating even more havoc than was necessary.

If I do have any criticism, I believe the police should have learned from Columbine, that when they put on a badge, they must accept the danger and rush the building where the shooting is, and confront the problem with all the force they can muster.

My second incident happened at a Denver metro area high school. I was teaching a piano class in the morning. I had two big metal doors that opened to the outside, which was a parking lot. I heard a popping noise and initially thought it was a car backfiring. When it happened again, I went outside and saw a young man holding a big handgun by his side arguing with a girl.

Not taking any time to think of the consequences that I might get shot, I walked up to the boy and said, “I’ll take that please.” He immediately handed me the gun, and I told them we had to go to the office. About that time, one of the security guards met us and he took the gun and the students to the office.

The girl had stolen the gun from her house, taken it to school, and had an argument with the other student who eventually took the gun away from her. She was either shooting at him, or someplace else, to scare him. Fortunately, no one was hurt. I was told later that the gun belonged to her mother who was a policewoman, but that may not have been the case. This shows that people can get legal guns without going out to buy them. In this situation, the girl might never have entered the school. So if we had had a metal detector, it wouldn’t have made a difference. This happened in a parking lot, and no school district can afford to hire enough security people to cover all areas of a school.

Each situation is different, and I truly believe officials at Virginia Tech did the best they could under all the circumstances. I applaud them for that.

Before we get too outraged at an institution for not doing more to prevent incidents like this, we must remember that there really is no way to prevent these crimes from happening. Only through tougher laws preventing the sale of handguns and assault rifles, and by locking guns up in homes where children live, will we — maybe — be able to slow down the tide of these horrific acts of anger and violence.

READER COMMENTS

It would make sense, I believe, to allow teachers to carry guns.

Some make the argument that a teacher could go crazy and start blowing his students' brains out, but isn't the same true for a police officer? Yet schools allow armed officials to police their grounds. My school, one with about four thousand students, has at least two police officers on campus at all times. If teachers who wanted to do so were allowed to carry guns, another incident like Virgina Tech would not be nearly so devastating; the teachers would have the ability to protect their students and themselves. If a teacher can go through the appropriate background checks and obtain a gun legally, I think he should be able to take it to school. It may be a risk, but not one as great as if we continue to disallow firearms in schools, a gesture that practically opens our arms and invites suicidal mass-murders.

Posted by Madeleine on May 5, 2007 10:42 AM

I carried and fired a .357 magnum in high school, with the approval of my teacher.

About 25 years ago, I played the role of Jud in our production of "Oklahoma". The role calls for the firing of a pistol into the air, and rather than using a cap gun I asked if I could use my father's Ruger Blackhawk (loaded with blanks, of course). With the director's approval, that's exactly what I did.

Times have certainly changed....

Posted by Doug Haxton on April 26, 2007 08:25 AM

I too remember times with guns in schools. I grew up in a small community in Utah and went to high school in the early 60's. When we went rabbit hunting after school we would bring our shotguns and 22 rifles to school and keep them in our lockers till school let out. We also kept our ammunition in the locker. Teachers or the Administation had no problem with it, as we all grew up using guns and learned how to handle them safely.
We never had anybody threatened with guns of any problems with guns or students on the school grounds or buildings. There were 600 or more students at school. Now the only ones with guns are the nuts and whackos that mean harm. Guns have been portrayed as the boogeyman in news now and the anti gun nuts are running rampant. The politicians want to take your guns away so they can be as corrupt as they want with little fear from the public. If someone had had a legal firearm and the training to use it at Virginia Tech this would not have been such a bad result. I understand that the police in Castle Rock have no legal obligation to protect the public when they were ignoring an out of control father to kill his three kids and himself. So people need to go out and buy a legal firearm and learn how to use it. Teach your Children to respect and how to safely use firearms, as with the politicians and police catering to special interests and themselves you need to learn hour to protect yourself.

Posted by Ron on April 25, 2007 09:48 AM