Who Needs School Security When You Give The Teachers Guns?

After a unanimous vote, the Harrold Independent School District will be the first in the nation to allow teachers to bring guns into their classrooms starting this fall – and not a single parent has contested the new plan. District superintendent David Thweatt cited the potential harm students face if "someone gets in." Rather than hiring security to ward off any threat of outside attack, school board trustees decided to just change district policy.

Unincorporated Harrold (northwest of Wichita Falls) has about 110 students in the district and is thirty minutes away from the closest sheriff’s office. This distance from law enforcement and the proximity of a busy highway to the school’s campus is what prompted the regulation change. Teachers wishing to carry guns must have permission from school officials, be certified to carry a concealed handgun in Texas, attend crisis management training, and use ammunition designed to reduce the risk of ricochet. Thweatt would not comment on how many of the 50 HISD teachers will be packing heat this fall.