Ore. teacher wants to take gun to school

[thardey]

A news update for y'all:

Now the local newspaper is suing to find out the names of everybody in the county who has been issued a CCW, to find out which teachers have a CCW.

From the Medford Mail Tribune:

MEDFORD — The Mail Tribune filed suit Friday against Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters, seeking a list of concealed handgun licenses as part of an effort to count how many license holders are teachers.


The question of teachers’ rights as license holders to bring guns to schools and how that affects school security are at the center of Mail Tribune reports on a lawsuit between the Medford School District and Shirley Katz, an English teacher at South Medford High School.


Winters, who as sheriff is in charge of the county’s concealed hand gun licenses under state law, denied the newspaper’s written request for the list, saying the information should be kept private.


The newspaper argued Winters’ refusal to hand over the documents is unlawful, as the licenses are public records under state law and have been released by other sheriff’s offices.

Now, it's no secret around here, that the Tribune's Editor is decidedly not comfortable with guns. Granted, they probably do have the legal right to demand our names (and actually, all of the information we submitted on our application), but it really bothers me that they would want to do so.

Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office recently released the names, dates of birth and license numbers of license holders to the Oregonian and the Willamette Week newspapers but withheld addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers.

Did y'all up in Portland know about this?


Oh, and in case anybody's interested, there's an article on an interview with the teacher.

 

[Cruentus]

That will hopefully get shot down, as people have the right to privacy, and don't need to have their names disclosed to a media source, CCW or not.

 

[thardey]

That will hopefully get shot down, as people have the right to privacy, and don't need to have their names disclosed to a media source, CCW or not.

It's not likely, the applications are marked as "public record", most everybody says the sheriff doesn't have a leg to stand on, but that's according to the "unbiased" Newspaper that's doing the suing in the first place.

 

[Cruentus]

It's not likely, the applications are marked as "public record", most everybody says the sheriff doesn't have a leg to stand on, but that's according to the "unbiased" Newspaper that's doing the suing in the first place.

I would think they have plenty of a leg to stand on, but I don't know how things work in your state. Keep us updated!

 

[thardey]

Wow, our little town has gained international attention!

From the Observer:

Studies show that having a gun at home makes it six times more likely that an abused woman will be murdered. A gun in a US home is 22 times more likely to be used in an accidental shooting, a murder or a suicide than in self-defence against an attack. Yet despite those figures US gun culture is not retreating. It is growing. Take Katz's case in Oregon. She brought her cause to court under a state law that gives licensed gun-owners the right to bring a firearm to work: her school is her workplace. Such a debate would have been unthinkable a few decades ago. Now it is the battleground. 'Who would have thought a few years ago, we would even be having this conversation? But this won't stop here,' said Professor Brian Anse Patrick of the University of Toledo in Ohio. Needless to say, last week the judge sided with Katz and she won the first round of her case.


It is a nation awash with guns, from the suburbs to the inner cities and from the Midwest's farms to Manhattan's mansions. Gun-owning groups have been so successful in their cause that it no longer even seems strange to many Americans that Katz should want to go into an English class armed. 'They have made what was once unthinkable thinkable,' said Patrick, a liberal academic. He should know. He owns a gun himself. Even the US critics of gun culture are armed.

Not that it's a very flattering article.

They may as well say that we still carry pearl-handled revolvers into the local saloon . . . (With notches, don't forget the notches!)

What they don't realize is that not only are guns useful for keeping bad guys away, anti-gunners won't want to move here, either!

Needless to say, last week the judge sided with Katz and she won the first round of her case.

I didn't realize it was a foregone conclusion! Apparently the guy living in New York, writing for a British Newspaper, knows more about Oregon law than our lawyers.

Of course, we are all just backwards members of the gun culture here in Medford . . .

They don't even want to know how much we all insist on keeping our pointy knives!

 

[Big Don]

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1238973620071112?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true
She lost. I hope she appeals.

 

[Ian Demagii]

First, let me present my bias, I am very pro-gun, not a member of the NRA, but still very supportive of the right to KEEP and and bear arms.

I can see both points. This lady needs to be able to protect herself. Personally I hope she is armed to the teeth (including a 12 gauge for home defense). However, I can see the school boards side of this too just by asking a few questions: How good a shot is she? Can she hit the broad side of a barn? What about ricoshets if she misses-what if it hit a kid? Maybe she is a crack shot, and very well versed in what she can and cant do, but now the floodgate is open and if she can carry a firearm-any one esle (with a permit) can carry a firearm. Are they all going to practice so they are accurate, are they all steady? Do they live in a stand you ground state? It makes a huge difference legally. Where I live, she would have to prove that she was in immenint fear for her life if she shot the attacker, or SHE might end up in jail!

Where I live (in the freaking Nati) we have armed police in our schools who protect the students and the staff. One safety officer in the school, and two officers that patrol outside. I think this woman deserves at least that if the board rule against her is upheld.

This is a big issue in my town- where yesterday a shop keeper was robbed,but grabbed his gun and persued the robber. He emptied his clip (missed the guy all six times) and he was right outside a school. Needless to say the Sheriff of Hamilton county was not happy and confiscated his gun even though he produced his permit (you have to live here to understand this...).

Its a tough issue, Ian.

 

[thardey]

This is the part I was worried about.

Now that the school boards have realized that anybody with a permit can legally carry on their property, they're trying to get the guns banned for everybody, except police officers.

http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8T25JO80.html

Now, I can see the argument that she signed a contract in order to keep her job, and that contract could include the waiver of her right to carry a gun on campus, but now they want to legally ban anyone from having a gun on school property.

 

[Guardian]

Touchy situation, but I would have to rule against her carrying a gun on school grounds. The most she would have with experience would be some target practice at the local gun range I would imagine and it's probably sporadic at best.

I've been in Law Enforcement in one form or another for 20+ years now and have been in situations requiring me to use my service weapon and with my training and experience, stress plays a big part in being able to actually hit what is aimed at and I know senior patrol officers that will say the same thing. I can't imagine that she with little to even medium practice would be safe using a gun on-campus if needed. No thank you folks. It's not question of if it will happen, but when it will happen, a disaster in the making for sure.

There are other defense weapons out there that would be better suited for her on-campus at least that would be safer for all concerned and yet get results needed and mentally speaking (for most people) would give them that "safer feeling of hitting their target" and the board would probably go along alot easier on them then a gun.

Just my view today.