School staff not suited for security
1/23/2013First Montpelier, and now Edgerton. What are officials in these school districts thinking by putting — or thinking about putting — weapons in the hands of minimally trained school employees (“Edgerton schools weighs arming staff; Williams Co. district follows Montpelier,” Jan. 16)?
I am a retired Toledo Police Department officer with 40 years of law-enforcement experience. It takes a trained and experienced individual, who is willing to use a weapon if necessary, to act responsibly and take another person’s life if it is determined that is the proper course of intervention.
An armed person in school should be an active or retired police officer or military police officer, whose only job is keeping the school safe.
BRUCE SIMON
Temperance
What’s good for Vegas OK here
School districts in northwest Ohio should look at what the Clark County School District, which includes Las Vegas, is doing for safety: It has its own police force.
According to the district’s Web site, there are 150 officers on the force, including two in every high school in the Las Vegas valley. The force patrols all the other schools in the district. This force was started long before any mass shootings were committed on school property.
My wife and I lived in Las Vegas for 38 years. Never once did we feel there was too much security at our schools.
LARRY KLEIN
Perrysburg
Extra security works in stores
I wonder whether many of the people who are decrying the National Rifle Association’s suggestion of ramping up security in schools with armed guards are the same ones who demand a heightened police presence in their neighborhoods during crime sprees.
A few years ago, groups of teens were harassing shoppers at a Toledo mall. There were assaults and thefts in the parking lots by lone criminals. Many people screamed for increased security measures.
This past holiday season, I saw surveillance cameras, armed off-duty officers, and increased security personnel not just at my local mall, but also at clothing and electronic stores throughout the city. There wasn’t much major crime at those locations.
Are our TVs, designer shoes, jewelry, and football jerseys more important than the safety of our children?
BEAU RUETZ
Lima Avenue
Definition of militia clear
Although I was sure I knew, I took the suggestion of the writer of the Jan. 11 Readers’ Forum letter “Don’t be so quick to ban assault guns” and looked up the Second Amendment and the definition of militia.
A militia is a group of citizens, drilled and equipped as soldiers but called to serve only in emergencies. That sounds to me like the National Guard.
I support the Second Amendment. But if you believe that you need an assault rifle to defend yourself if the government comes to get your guns, good luck. Your weapon will be like a peashooter against a tank or a drone.
JIM MAGERS
Cherrylawn Drive