Oklahoma House Passes Bill Allowing School Personnel to Carry Firearms

The Oklahoma House of Representatives just passed House Bill 2588 which would allow teachers, administrators and other school employees to carry firearms on school campuses. The new bill would require that school personnel who wish to carry a firearm while on campus must possess a valid handgun license and met other requirements and criteria set forth by the board of education in their respective districts. HB 2588 passed the House by a (79-19) vote and will now head to the Senate. Check out the official press release from the Oklahoma House of Representatives with some of the details and highlights below:

The bill lets the individual school boards, districts and administrators decide for themselves what their potential firearm polices will be and what those polices might entail. This isn't a statewide mandate or policy, instead it allows local schools and districts their own say and control over firearm/handgun policies. Within minutes, maybe even seconds after the House passed the bill all the usual hypothetical, hysterical, nightmare, unwarranted doomsday predictions started and have been echoed non-stop ever since.

You know what I'm talking about, people saying things like "If this passes our schools will become even more unsafe and a wild west, gun ridden bloodbath." Of course this type of panic driven rhetoric is completely unfounded. As a matter of fact the same thing has been said over and over about other states, counties and cities who have already passed legislation like this, including college campuses. Guess what...The nightmare predictions others made haven't happened...In any state, county or city.

They said the exact same thing when states started passing concealed carry laws. "The streets will run with blood." Guess what, it NEVER happened. One of my personal favorites when it comes to the stupid things some anti-gun people will say "This isn't the wild west." To be honest that one is kind of true, it isn't the wild west. It's much, much worse than that. We now live in a time where the bad guys, like in the wild west, are carrying and using guns. But unlike the wild west, the good guys now are treated like criminals for wanting to carry a firearm to even the odds. To me this is absolutely crazy, even worse...Cowardly.

I've even heard things like "What if a teacher has a bad day and is carrying a gun they might use it on a student?" WTF, you've gotta be kidding me! You must think pretty low of teachers and people in general to say something so stupid. Then there's those who attempt to justify their paranoia and fear of firearms by saying "What if a student attacks an armed teacher to take their gun away?" or how about "If a student attacks a teacher and they're armed they might shot them." Okay these are all serious concerns, most aren't in the realm of reality, but lets discuss it.

The teachers would be carrying concealed, meaning no one would know who's packing and who's not. When done properly concealed carry is incredibly effective and most don't realize, or have any idea a firearm is on someone's person. That means the students wouldn't know if their teacher was carrying a firearm or not.

But what if a student found out a teacher was armed and assaulted them to get their gun? The direct answer is very simple: All necessary force should be used to stop the attempt or attack and protect the firearm and the lives of everyone present. As far as the question or statement concerning a teacher being attacked by a student and if the teacher was armed they would use the gun against the student. This is highly unlikely to actually happen. Unless the student was going for the teachers gun, or the attack was so severe that it warranted the use of a firearm for self defense.

We protect our banks, politicians, celebrities and really anything and everything else we value with firearms. Why shouldn't we protect the most valuable of all, our children with the same intensity and purpose? Personally I think we should. It's obvious at least to me that the whole "gun free zone" thing isn't working and it never has. As a matter of fact "gun free zones" are among the most dangerous places you can be in the U.S. All major mass shootings have taken place in "gun free zones" which includes schools, both public and college. So being defenseless and unarmed isn't a defense. Plus criminals are by their very definition and nature, criminal. Meaning they're not going to obey the law and will completely ignore "no guns allowed" signs. You might as well hang a sign on the door that reads "free range victims with no bag limit inside." A person who is willing to commit the most heinous of crimes and break the most serious of laws won't be deterred by a "no guns allowed" sign. They can only be deterred by a good guy with a gun.

I have school age children and to be completely honest would feel much better knowing that there are teachers and other school personnel carrying firearms on campus. Why? If, God forbid, something happens and there's a need to defend the kids and other staff wouldn't you want a good guy with a gun nearby? Of course you would. I know, I know you're saying "Well we have security officers in schools and some schools even have their own police departments." That's awesome, but how many officers are there in the school at any given time? Can they protect every student, teacher, classroom and hallway 100% of the time? I seriously doubt it. Plus a lot of districts and schools don't have the budget to have security and police all the time, if at all. This would allow them the same protections and peace of mind that larger districts and schools enjoy.

It makes perfect sense to me, but then again I've never been scared of law abiding gun owners and those who wish to legally carry a firearm for self defense. Our God given right to self defense and the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms is a no-brainer, at least to me. Anyone who views those rights as debatable, questionable or deniable I find despicable. Thank God the architects of freedom, our founding Fathers and framers of our great Constitution wrote it all down in ink. Because while not every person can read and write, any asshole can use an eraser! To willingly place yourself and the lives of your loved ones in a position of complete defenselessness, makes absolutely no sense to me.

So now you know my thoughts and then some about all this, but what about you? Do you agree with this bill that would allow school personnel to carry firearms on campus? Take the poll below and let us know what you're thinking. Maybe we agree, maybe we don't. But we're all entitled to our own opinions, or at least we used to be...Remember those days, those were fun...Hope I don't get CANCELLED!