by Skip Barland

Suzanna Gratia Hupp is a former Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, who represented traditionally Democratic District 54 (Bell, Burnet, and Lampasas counties) for ten years from 1997-2007.

After surviving the Luby’s massacre in 1991, Hupp became a leading advocate of an individual’s right to carry a concealed weapon.

She was elected to her first term in 1996, but did not seek a sixth two-year term in 2006.

She has also written a book called From Luby’s to the Legislature: One Woman’s Fight Against Gun Control, published by Privateer Publications, San Antonio, Texas.

If this de facto D.C. Corporation takes another one of our Constitutional rights away, namely our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, which is in itself illegal for them to do without a Constitutional amendment; and if they are allowed to take all the guns away from law abiding citizens, then guess what… only the criminals will be armed and they will have all the weapons!!!

That does not sound like a good idea to me!

It gets even worse, because if this de facto D.C. Corporation is allowed to get away with this, thereby violating yet another of our Constructional rights, and they have taken several away of late, then we are that much closer to seeing the same scenario unfold here that occurred in the U.S.S.R., under first Liñan and then Stalin; then it happened again under pre-Nazi Germany, that gave rise to Hitler taking over; and also it happened in Red China, under Mao Tse–tung; and in instance of what is today Communist Russia and also in Red China, those people are still struggling today to recover their rights as Human Beings.

Folks, I DO NOT want to see that history repeat itself again, here in the United States!

The fact is however, these politicians under this D.C. Corporation, are more embolden today then ever before because the American people have done nothing to stop them.

Whenever they have in the pass compromised our constitutional rights, and they have been doing so more and more, ever since 9/11, which by the way began under a “Conservative Republican President, by the name of George W. Bush.

Obama has just taken over where Bush left off, with the passage of the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), which allows Americans to be held indefinitely without probable cause, without due process, and without a trial… and the American people are apparently none the wiser and are letting it happen!

Well we had better wake up soon, because our time is running out.

“Since 9/11, and seemingly without the notice of most Americans, the federal government has assumed the authority to institute martial law, arrest a wide swath of dissidents (citizen and noncitizen alike), and detain people without legal or constitutional recourse in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants in the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs.” write Lewis Seiler and former Congressman Dan Hamburg of the watchdog group Voice of the Environment, Inc.

If you look on You tube and type in Concentration camps, you will see that they are being built all over the United States. The issue gained national attention two years ago when it was announced that Kellogg, Brown and Root had been awarded a $385 million dollar contract by Homeland Security to construct detention and processing facilities in the event of a national emergency.

Respected author Peter Dale Scott speculated that the “detention centers could be used to detain American citizens if the Bush administration were to declare martial law.”

Some further Violations of the Constitution under 2nd Amendment would be confiscation guns furthering the GOAL of “terrorism” and or UNDER provisions of martial law.

We are seeing today that the 1st Amendment rights are being taken away such as Suppressing Free Speech , and Religious Freedoms.

Under the enemy combatant designation anyone at the behest of the US government, even if they are a US citizen, can be kidnapped and placed in an internment facility forever without trial. Jose Padilla, an American citizen, spent over four years in a Navy brig before being brought to trial

We will be imposed with a NATIONAL Id card, and possibly a chip to track your location in the United States. IF YOU DO not participate, I would imagine you can be charged and arrested.

The answer clearly lies in the fact that over the past decade we have witnessed an extreme acceleration of the physical implementation of a framework and infrastructure ready to receive those who will not go along with a coordinated destruction of traditional American values and freedom.”

http://www.squidoo.com/ViolationsoftheUSConstitution

Ever since 9/11 this de facto U.S. Corporation has used that horrendous event to pass laws that go against our U.S. Constitution, which according to the Constitution they are not allowed to do without a Constitutional Amendment; and yet they have constantly been doing just that, and have been getting away with it; thereby robbing us each year of more of our rights, and they have been doing so under the guise of national security and fighting terrorism. How convenient?

Our U.S. Constitution stood for at least 95 years, from 1776 to 1871, when the Act of 1871 was illegally passed by the Forty-First Congress, without the Constitutional authority to do so.

Subsequent to that date of infamy our nation ceased to operate as a Constitutional Republic and we have until this present time operated as the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CORPORATION.

What does that mean?

It means that our organic Constitution and our Republic have both been illegally replaced by a Corporate Constitution and a de facto Corporation (which by definition cannot be a form of government), and so the organic version of our Constitution has been in moth balls now for over 141 years; and our government has ceased to operate as a Rupublic and has instead operated as a corporation, and it is registered as such in the state of Delaware… look it up!

Now I hear many people today say that is not a bad thing, operating as a corporation, in fact they say that we would be better off if they would operate as a true corporation, instead of being in the red all the time.

The only thing is, under this U.S. Corporation, as it is with any corporate entity, the corporate officers, which in this case consist of the President and the Congress (which include both the House and the Senate); being that they are a Corporation, they take their orders from the Board of Directors, and I might add, that is not the American public!

The UNITED STATES CORPORATION operates as any corporation does, as you can see in the above chart, where the power flows from the top down.

Under our de jure Constitutional Republic it should flow from the people up.

Here under a Corporation, the people at the top are the ones calling the shots; and in the case of this de facto D.C. Corporation, we have the lowest level as employees.

How does that work with the idea of a Republic that is of the people, by the people, and for the people?

The answer is, it doesn’t… because it can’t.

These people in Washington DC are not working for us at all; and certainly (as is event from the $700 Billion bailout that Bush pushed through Congress in 2008, that these people are not at all making decisions anymore in our best interest, but instead are making decisions to benefit the mega corporations and the big banks.

By law the first obligation of the directors of a Corporation is to the Stock Holders, which in this instance (as I’ve already pointed out) it is NOT “We the People” that they are serving, but rather it is these International Bankers, who have been printing and loaning us our own money at interest for 100 years now, ever since 1913, when the Federal Reserve Act was passed.

Coming out of the Civil War the Republic for the united states of America (please note this is the way it is written and spelled in our U.S. Constitution, with small letters) was bankrupt and the international bankers, under the direction of the Rothschild family, with the help of people like J.P. Morgan, the Rockefellers  and others, they used their immense wealth and power to bribe and coerced members of Congress, and Presidents, in the same way business is done today in D.C.; and the United States was made into a Corporation, in order to make the combined sweat equity of the American people the collateral for the national debt.

As is the case with any corrupt system if you want to find the source of the corruption, all you have to do is follow the money; and in this case the money trail leads right back to these same people (this international group of bankers, of which 70% are foreign nationals) who also own and control The Federal Reserve.

That is our history, folks… look it up!

Subsequent to 9/11, we are seeing our Constitutional rights being trampled upon more and more; and there is even some speculation in many circles that this de facto U.S. Corporation, under orders from this illegal Board of Directors, these International Bankers, that they surreptitiously, through black ops, either instigated 9/11, or allowed it to happen, in order to accomplish an already existing agenda and goal, which continues to unfold before our eyes to this hour.

I can tell you I didn’t want to believe that and I actually took offense at the thought myself when I first heard it; but subsequently I have to say I’m not sure anymore.

Certainly things equally as bad have happened before in the not too distant past, in places like the former U.S.S.R., in Nazi Germany, and in Red China.

I have to say that some very wicked and evil people are behind this de facto corporation, and it was these same group of international bankers who made money on both sides of two World Wars, and finance both sides each time.

Ask yourself how many people had to die on both sides, during both World Wars, so that these men, this Bankers, could make a profit?

Don’t think that the killing of innocent people is a problem for these people, who think like this; they’ve done it before and they can do it again.

What is that saying that “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely?!”

Folks the bottom line is this is all about power and money; and the ability to control people!

Is it not a fact that every Federal official – including the President of the United States – and every Congressman and Senator – that they each take an oath of office, whereby they swear to ” preserve, uphold and to defend” our Constitution?

They certainly aren’t doing that anymore, are they?

Hasn’t anyone noticed?

Instead of preserving and defending our Constitution, these members of Congress have consistently proposed and have passed any number of laws that directly violate our Constitution.

They have again renewed the controversial US Patriot Act, which was passed immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when the People of America were in shell shock and were angered following 9/11

Since 9/11, our Constitutional Rights have continually been taken away from us, a bit at a time.

Getting back to my original point, how utterly ludicrous it is to think that by disarming the American public that we will somehow be safer from the madness that we all have seen too much of over these last several years?

We are living today in an increasingly dangerous world, and it is beyond naive and just plain dumb to think that by outlawing our right to defend ourselves and our families that this is somehow going to make our cities safer… I think not!!!

Also, as I have pointed out, this exact same thing was done several times in history just before a nation loses it’s sovereignty and freedom.

Could there be a similar agenda here, do you think?

Could politicians, under this de facto corporate system, be bought; and could they be controlled and manipulated out of personal greed and ambition… what do you think?

The handwriting is already on the wall, folks, and it is up to you to take back your country.

You can do so by joining the already inhabited Republic for the united states of America:

 http://www.republicoftheunitedstates.org/

I think the following posters make my point very well, with regard to our preserving our Second Amendment Rights, and putting these de facto politicians back in their proper place again, as Civil Servants, who work for us!

Armed teachers, guards bolster school security in Israel

By Greg Tepper

Published December 30, 2012

FoxNews.com

JERUSALEM –  Americans intent on ensuring a school massacre like the one in Newtown, Conn., never happens again could learn a lot from Israel, where the long menu of precautions includes armed teachers.

The Jewish state, which has long faced threats of terrorist strikes in crowded locations including schools, takes an all-of-the-above approach to safety in the classroom. Fences, metal detectors and armed private guards are part of a strategy overseen by the country’s national police. And the idea of armed teachers in the classroom, which stirred much controversy in the wake of the U.S. attack, has long been in practice in Israel, though a minority of them carry weapons today.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/12/30/armed-teachers-guards-key-to-school-security-in-israel/#ixzz2IIWUYbxw

The asked Grandma what she was afraid of… and she said “Not a dam thing!”

Welcome to Israel

Like the quote says: “God made man, then Sam Colt made them equal!”

Now that is what I call: “Feminine Protection!”

Meanwhile in China…

We don’t worry about any problems with guns out here, we have our own!

It’s simply logical!!!

Now this is the kind of signage I like to see!!

A gun owners last prayer…

Let’s keep it that way!!!

FMK firearms engraves the Bill of Rights on every gun they make. 

This is a 9mm and I’m told a .45 is next. American made.

I like these rules… definitely ones you “can live” by!!!

Curious that Obama indiscriminately gave assault weapons to Mexican criminals through Fast & Furious, BUT wants to take guns from law abiding Americans!

 America in Crisis

by Skip Barland

Below is an article that was forwarded to me today by a friend, but the situation I’m afraid is much much worse, and this one item is but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the level of fraud and corruption in this D.C. Corporation.

I’m not at all surprised at any of this and though I didn’t want to believe it at the time, as I was a loyal Republican for all of my adult life (until recently), I am equally sure now that there was fraud also on the Republican side during the 2008 election, when Bush was elected.

There are some very powerful, evil, and corrupt people (who have all the money in the world at their disposal) who are behind all of this, and I’m not just talking about the corrupt politicians either. They are obvious, but they are just puppets on a string, who are following orders.

The Derivative Fraud that caused the 2008 melt down on Wall Street that led to that $700 Billion bailout that Bush pushed through Congress was not an accident.

Everything that has been going on, especially since 9/11, but more than that, it has been going on for the last 140 years, and all of it has been calculated to undermine and weaken, not only our sovereignty as a nation, but also our economy, and the resolve of the American people, in an ongoing effort to strip the American people of their Constitutional Rights, in order to enslave us… and folks, we didn’t just get here overnight either!

What we see happening today has been developing slowly but surely for the last 140 years, ever since the Act of 1871 was passed.

After the Civil War.our nation was bankrupt, and the only way these International Bankers (which then and still today are headed up by the Rothschild family) would release money to us, in order to keep our nation going, was if our politicians would allow both our Republic and our Constitution to be set aside; and the way they did that was to change our Republic form of government into the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, INC,  whereby the American people through adhesion contracts, that we all have signed for things like marriage licenses, birth certificates, drivers licenses and etc, where by our signature to these documents (if you read the small print at the bottom), we are agreeing that we are 14th Amendment citizens of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CORPORATION, and by doing so we are inadvertently agreeing that our combined sweat equity, through taxation, should become the collateral for the national debt; and that is exactly what they did, and that is where we are today! 

The next move is to force us into a “One World Government,” known also as “The New World Order,” and also a One world Monetary system, that eventually will be the “Mark of the Beast.” That is their plan anyway… unless “We the People” say otherwise, but we don’t have a lot of time.

Please click on the link below and check this information out for yourself:

The United States Of America  Is A Corporation Owned By Foreign Interests

Another thing, did you know that according to section 4 of the 14th Amendment (which by the way was never ratified — Click here) that it states that the we, as the American public, CANNOT question the national debt?

Now I ask you, why would they put that in the 14th Amendment?

I’ve even heard Nancy Pelosi state that very thing on national television, as they were pushing through Congress all the Billion Dollar expenditure bills that nobody was reading before passing. . 

Don’t believe me, then read it for yourself!

SECTION 4:

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

These people who are controlling both parties in our nation (Republican and Democrat alike) and also the media, are the same people who control the international purse strings of the world and more specifically, they have for the last 100 years (ever since 1913, when the Federal Reserve Act was past) controlled that privately held corporation, called the Federal Reserve Bank, here in America.

Just take a look at what has happened to our currency, as a result of their management over these last 100 years, as this same International Group of Bankers have virtually dug a hole for the American people to fall in (or fall off of, in the case of the “fiscal cliff”), and all the while they have gotten wealthy beyond imagination, at our expense.

Our forefathers warned us not to do the very thing that we did:

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered…I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies… The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

~ Thomas Jefferson, in the debate over the Re-charter of the Bank Bill (1809)

What do you suppose Henry Ford meant by the following quote?

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”

~ Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company

It is said that if we fail to learn from history, then we are destined to repeat it; and what the American public needs to recognize is that this constant pitting and arguing between the Right and the Left, which the media both instigates and perpetuates, along with the gradual stripping away of our Constitutional Rights, amid serious economic problems, is exactly what happened in pre-Nazi Germany (also by design), in the 1930’s, and that same strategy that was used there comes out of the same playbook that is being used on us today.

Just as Hitler and Stalin used the children to spread their propaganda, our government today, under this de facto D. C. Corporation is doing the same thing!

These rogues have done their job well, and from all appearances most of the American public don’t even have a clue and are none the wiser, or worse they don’t care.

More than likely however, the I don’t care attitude is probably more because so many are caught up with their own personal lives, in just trying to survive, that they don’t want to consider what should be obvious. I know, because I was there too not too long ago. I just didn’t want to believe that my government was corrupt.

The problem is this D. C. Corporation and the media that supports them (as their propaganda mouthpiece) are walking lockstep together; and just as it was in the story of the Pied Piper, this whole nation is being led off more than just a physical cliff, we are being led into economic slavery; and what will eventually become the Antichrist Kingdom.

America is in serious trouble and this Nation’s only hope of survival is in Jesus Christ and also in 2 Chronicles 7:14, where God tells us that if we would humble ourselves and pray; and turn from our wicked ways; that He would hear from heaven and heal our land.

I know the Antichrist Kingdom is going to come, it has too because the Bible has said so; but there is nothing that says the United States and the American people have to be a part of it.

When the Lord comes back the Bible clearly says that there will be “Sheep Nations” that have not bowed to the Antichrist; and there will also be “Goat Nations” who have; and I want to make sure that the United States is not in the latter group.

Matthew 25:32

³² And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goat.

If we fail to do this, then I’m afraid we are destined to go the way of every other nation in history that has defied God and has turned their back on him.

As a Christian and also a student of the Bible, it occurs to me that our Lord warned us what to look for and what these times would be like, just before His Second Coming.

He said it would be just as it was in the days of Noah and Lot, where people where so caught up with their own personal lives, carrying on business as usual, as these people (in Noah’s time) where probably trying to survive just as we are, so much so that they paid no attention to the warning signs that were all around them!.

Luke 17:20-37

God’s Kingdom Is Within You

²⁰ Some of the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the kingdom of God come?”

Jesus answered, “God’s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes.²¹ People will not say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ because God’s kingdom is within^[a] you.”

²² Then Jesus said to his followers, “The time will come when you will want very much to see one of the days of the Son of Man. But you will not see it. ²³ People will say to you, ‘Look, there he is!’ or, ‘Look, here he is!’ Stay where you are; don’t go away and search.

When Jesus Comes Again

²⁴ “When the Son of Man comes again, he will shine like lightning, which flashes across the sky and lights it up from one side to the other. ²⁵ But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by the people of this time.

²⁶ When the Son of Man comes again, it will be as it was when Noah lived. ²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving their children to be married until the day Noah entered the boat. Then the flood came and killed them all.

²⁸ It will be the same as during the time of Lot. People were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. ²⁹ But the day Lot left Sodom,^[b] fire and sulfur rained down from the sky and killed them all. ³⁰ This is how it will be when the Son of Man comes again.

³¹ “On that day, a person who is on the roof and whose belongings are in the house should not go inside to get them. A person who is in the field should not go back home. ³² Remember Lot’s wife.^[c] 33 Those who try to keep their lives will lose them. But those who give up their lives will save them. ³⁴ I tell you, on that night two people will be sleeping in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁵ There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken, and the other will be left. [ ³⁶ Two people will be in the field. One will be taken, and the other will be left.]”^[d]

³⁷ The followers asked Jesus, “Where will this be, Lord?”

Jesus answered, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”

My hope and prayer is that it is not as bad as it seems, and that it is NOT too late for us to change… and to repent, as a nation!.

I sincerely hope and pray that as happened with Elijah, after his Mt. Carmel experience, with the priests of Baal, when he ran away and hid after Jezebel threaten him.

The Bible says that he prayed and asked God to take him, because he thought he was the last believer left… but God’s response was that there was 7,000 still who had not bowed to Baal.

Well my prayer and hope for America is that this proverbial “Sleeping Giant,” called the church would wake up before it’s too late, as our time is running short!

We at this point need a full on miracle to turn this whole mess around; but I know for a fact that our God is well able to perform just such a miracle, if we who are called by His name and are His covenant children would only believe and pray!

That’s the promise I read in my Bible… how about you?

Protecting our Second Amendment Rights

Written by Skip Barland

December 17, 2012

The first right of every American citizen should be to protect his family, his person, and his property; and yet as happens always at times like this, which is invariably the case after we have an awful tragedy such as just happened in Newtown, Connecticut this past week, where various liberal voices within this de facto D.C. Corporation and the anti-gun lobbyists are calling again for a ban on hand guns.

This argument makes absolutely no sense because such a ban would not at all take guns out of the hands of criminals, and nor would it make it harder for them to get their weapons; and besides the fact is criminals don’t generally get their weapons through legal means anyway.

The passing of such a law, aside from the fact that it’s illegal because it violates our Second Amendment Rights, it would only serve to take guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, and along with it our right to defend ourselves.

The statistics that are available prove just the opposite to be true, that the banning of handguns, in places that guns have been banned, have not in any way reduced the crime rate, and most likely it only servers to embolden the criminal element in those areas and makes them feel safer; and nor have these laws been a hindrance in preventing these sorts of mass shootings from happening, at a time when we are seeing these sorts of shootings happening more and more around the world.

This world that we are living in today is becoming a very dangerous place!

Think for a moment, as John Lott points out in the above video, if you were concerned about protecting your family against a rash of mass murders, for instance (such as happened many times in the past, in some of our larger cities) would it make you feel safer to put a sign in front of your house that this home is a “Gun Free Zone?”

I think not, and nor would anyone in their right mind ever even think of doing such a thing!

WorldNetDaily today has an article that was written by a former pastor, who asked the question…

WND EXCLUSIVE

WHAT IF 1 OF THE TEACHERS HAD A GUN?

Sandy Hook massacre begs question of how to protect children at school

by DREW ZAHN 

Does making schools “gun-free zones” really protect children, or make them easy targets?

The recent mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., has left many wondering how best to keep children safe from mad gunmen who ignore the “gun-free zone” laws – and indeed any gun-control laws – to open fire on our nation’s most innocent.

According to news reports of the Connecticut massacre, Adam Lanza, 20, shot his mother Nancy dead at their family home, then drove to the school, where he gunned down six more adults and 20 children, before killing himself.

But what if one of the teachers had a gun, too? Could Lanza have been stopped and many of the children’s lives saved?

The question isn’t new. Back in 1999, the year of the Columbine school shooting, an organization called Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership interviewed Dr. David Th. Schiller, a leading gun-rights advocate in Europe on how to combat the school shootings that even then were deemed “quite common” on U.S. soil.

Schiller cited the example of Israel in the 1970s, which had suffered a string of horrific attacks on schoolchildren by Palestinian terrorists.

“After this a controversial debate erupted in Israel in regards to guns, self-defense, etc.,” Schiller said. “We heard, of course, the same dumb arguments by some good people you always hear on these occasions, like, ‘We do not live in the Wild West here!’ or, “Guns don’t solve problems!” or similar silly things.”

But then, Schiller explained, Israel dumped its strict gun laws dating back to British rule over the area and opened the doors for concealed carry permits.

“Teachers and kindergarten nurses now started to carry guns, schools were protected by parents (and often grandpas) guarding them in voluntary shifts. No school group went on a hike or trip without armed guards,” Schiller explained. “When the message got around to the PLO groups and a couple infiltration attempts failed, the attacks against schools ceased. Too much of a risk here: Terrorists and other evildoers don’t like risks.

“The only thing we can do is protect possible victims,” Schiller concluded. “And laws written in some books will not achieve that. Never have, never will.”

In the U.S., the question of teachers with guns has been debated since Columbine – if not before – and has come up again following the tragedy at Sandy Hook.

According to the Associated Press, Oregon State Rep. Dennis Richardson contends the Connecticut massacre is another “heartbreaking failure” of school personnel to ensure protection and evidence that teachers should be allowed to carry guns in the classroom.

Richardson wrote in an email to three southern Oregon school superintendents that gun bans on school property must be overturned.

“If I had been a teacher or the principal at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, and if the school district did not preclude me from having access to a firearm, either by concealed carry or locked in my desk, most of the murdered children would still be alive, and the gunman would still be dead, and not by suicide,” he wrote.

Richardson added, “We need to ensure that our children are safe, and we can’t do that by disarming those who are on the scene.”

In Medford, Ore., where the school district faced a lawsuit over barring a high school teacher from bringing her gun to school in 2009, Police Chief Tim George argued Richardson is misguided.

“Teachers don’t go into teaching to be police officers, they want to teach kids,” George said. “In crisis situations there are a lot of very complex things happening all at once, and you have to constantly train for deadly force incidents.”

Medford’s schools Superintendant Phil Long agreed, saying he believes it’s best if teachers focus on getting children to safety if a shooting happens.

“I know (Richardson) is well-intentioned when he says this,” Long said. “But we can’t jump to conclusions immediately after a tragedy like this occurs.”

Already armed

In 2008, the tiny school district in Harrold, Texas, made national news when it approved a policy change permitting employees to carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings.

In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, the Associated Press reported at the time, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations and have to use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls.

Superintendent David Thweatt argued there was just too little protection for the children, when his schools lie more than 20 minutes from the nearest sheriff’s office.

“When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that’s when all of these shootings started,” Thweatt told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Why would you put it out there that a group of people can’t defend themselves? That’s like saying ‘sic ’em’ to a dog.”

Texas law typically outlaws firearms on school campuses, “unless pursuant to the written regulations or written authorization of the institution.”

Four years later, following the Connecticut shooting, the Star-Telegraph revisited Thweatt and the Harrold school district’s “guardian plan.”

Thweatt said there has not been an incident on his campus since implementing the policy and he doesn’t expect one.

“Is that 100 percent? No,” Thweatt told the newspaper. “Nothing is 100 percent. But what we do know is that we’ve done all we can to protect our children.”

Thweatt explained his district has also installed special locks and cameras, but that isn’t enough. He doesn’t want a plan where you “lock yourself in your closet and hope that an intruder won’t hurt you. So what we came up with was a policy that would protect.”

He also said his heart was heavy after learning of the shooting in Connecticut: “It’s just tearing me up. … I have children of my own. I can’t stand to think of my little guys just getting slaughtered like that. My heart just bleeds for these people.”

Other efforts to arm teachers

Lawmakers in a number of states in recent years have made arguments similar to Thweatt’s, attempting to clear the way for trained teachers or officials to protect schools with firearms.

The aforementioned Oregon, after a school shooting in 1998 – when student Kip Kinkel killed his parents at home, then drove to Thurston High School in Springfield and opened fire in the cafeteria, killing two and wounding 25 others – has drafted a number of bills to permit concealed carry in schools. The bills, however, have failed to pass.

After a string of school shootings in Wisconsin, Colorado and Pennsylvania in the span of only a few weeks in 2006, Wisconsin State Rep. Frank Lasee pushed for legislation that would allow teachers, principals, administrators and other school personnel to carry concealed weapons.

“To make our schools safe for our students to learn, all options should be on the table,” Lasee told the AP. “Israel [has] well-trained teachers carrying weapons and keeping their children safe from harm. It can work in Wisconsin.”

The director of school safety for Milwaukee Public Schools, Pete Pochowski, opposed Lasee’s proposal at the time.

“Statistically, the safest place for a child to be is in school,” Pochowski said. “We have problems in our schools, but not to the point where we need to arm our teachers and principals.”

Children in Israel are far more vulnerable to daily violence than students in America, he said.

Just last year, Nebraska State Sen. Mark Christensen introduced a bill to allow teachers, administrators and school security guards to carry concealed guns.

Christensen told the Lincoln Journal Star he introduced his bill in response to a 2011 shooting at Millard South High School, where 17-year-old student Robert Butler Jr. shot Assistant Principal Vicki Kaspar and then shot Principal Curtis Case after Kaspar had suspended Butler from the school earlier that morning. Kaspar died of her injury, while Curtis recovered.

“Do we want a situation where somebody can just walk in and start shooting teachers and all kinds of kids?” Christensen asked at the time.

His measure, had it been on the books, might have allowed someone to stop Butler, he argued.

“We might have been better off,” Christensen said. “To me, it’s much better to be able to deal with the situation quickly. We can stop additional lives from being taken.”

Three months after Christensen proposed the legislation, it was tabled indefinitely.