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Zap 'em

If a News & Record online poll is any indication, we're mad as hell and aren't taking it anymore.

Respondents to the poll (so far) overwhelmingly favor zapping unruly public school students with Tasers, despite concern that the devices could be fatal.

The poll was conducted in light of a story in today's News & Record about the Reidsville police chief seekng permission for his officers to use the stun guns in schools.

Talk about tough love.

Comments (19)

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Buzz said:

Local law enforcement agencies in our area use the tasers on a limited basis. These officers have the authority to use the taser according to their agency's policy on these kids when they're on the street being unruly...so why not afford them the same authority on the school campus which is supposed to be safer than the streets?

T M Woodburn said:

Hell yeah zap the young'ins with stun guns when they misbehave and act like wild, savage rogues in school!!! I'm sick of unruly, degenerate, un-home-trained kids disrupting classes and interfering with students' learning. I think swatting misbehaving kids' butts ain't a bad idea, either. Bring back the wooden paddle and add stun guns to the artillery. If parents would HOME-TRAIN THEIR KIDS and EFFECTIVELY discipline them, then paddles and stun guns wouldn't even be discussed. That's not the reality, though. I say preserve the educators who want to teach and the students who want to learn. If a stun gun is what it will take to bring a disruptive student to order, then I say use it.

I see the concern with unruly children, T.M., but do we want to risk death?
The fact remains that these devices may cause cardiac arrest.
Their use is even being evaluated by police on adult criminal suspects.

bruce buchanan said:

I may have misunderstood, but it sounded to me like these tasers would only be used in extreme circumstances when other methods had failed. Don't forget: we've had three Guilford County Schools principals injured by student assaults this year.

And the tasers would only be used at an alternative high school for students that have shown they can't behave in traditional high schools. Unfortunately, these aren't just "unruly children." These are young adults, many of whom already have violent criminal records.

Not that I'm advocating for tasers in schools, but the behavior problems some schools face go far beyond a little pushing in the halls or smoking in the boy's room.

I see your point, Bruce. But it makes sense to wait until the safety of the devices is studied thoroughly enough.
We want order, certainly, but not unnecessary deaths.

Buzz said:

Allen, you make it sound like the officers are going to use the taser guns as a substitute for all other types of diciplinary action! My God, the same officers have a 40 caliber Glock on their hips and I would assume you trust their judgement with that weapon so why not a taser gun?

Buzz, we know for certain what a Glock can do; it dispenses deadly force. A Taser is suppsoed to be a weapon that disables without deadly force.
Let's be sure that it does.

Buzz said:

Allen, I wonder if you would welcome being authorized to use a Taser gun on a student if that student was threatening to dispense deadly force upon you? And you believed he was capable of doing it!

If I were certain it is deadly force, I'd probably use my gun.
I'll say this again, slowly. I have no problem with the use of Tasers once we are fully aware of what they will and will not do.
My problem is with the use of a device that we don't yet fully understand.

Buzz said:

Oh...I get it now Allen! Thanks for slowing down for me. Jerk!

I meant no harm, Buzz. I was a little frustrated that my point was being lost.
That doesn't mean I'm not a jerk, but I try not to be.

Lilly said:

I thought I posted about this yesterday ... (hmmm maybe Allen didnt like what I had to say on this subject?)
I say its a lot better than giving young, cocky, inexperienced police officers, or security officers, whatever they are called in schools these days.. guns. Has anybody ever thought about this? One wrong move by a kid, and BAM we got a dead kid. Why? Because perhaps the raging hormonial kid SAID something to the officer that upset his/her ego. If this idea of stun guns in the hands of the officers goes through, my hope is that no kid dies as a result of it. Parents should always tell their kids if someone in a position of authority with a gun challenges them, to submit.

I don't disagree, Lilly. But can't we at least allow some time to study Tasers for safety?
Imagine the community outrage if somebody's son or daughter were ccidentally killed by one. Even though this is a Rockingham County issue, we'd probably blame Terry Grier and the Guilford school board for that, too.

Buzz said:

You're my dawg Allen...no hard feelings.

T M Woodburn said:

Allen, your point is well-taken. Now, I don't mean to be callous in what I'm about to say, but death is risked at each day's dawning. Everyone risks death when they wake up in the a.m. and breathe air. We all risk cardiac arrest when we watch TV or go for a Sunday drive. Oh, well... such is life.

It's my opinion that the sooner a child/youth learns that there are CONSEQUENCES for EVERY action, the better off they and all of society will be. If these stun/taser guns are approved for use in schools (for extreme situations only, of course), then the message to the students would be, "If you go to school and act a damn fool, then you risk getting zapped by a stun gun."

As a youth, I feared 3 things in life --- Daddy, Mommie and God. In that order, too, I might add. I knew if I showed out, got sassy, talked back or (God forbid!) I disgrace the family name or publically embarrass my parents, then there would be GRAVE consequences for my actions. I'm NOT talking time-out either! Maybe the fear of being stunned by a taser gun would be incentive for school-age youth NOT to act-out to where it could be an option.

When I was 5 years old, my dad drove me to the Sheriff's Department in Dundalk, MD, took me indside, introduced me to the officers, showed me the jail cells and told me that "that's where people who do bad things go." I was terrified looking at the men behind iron bars as Dad encouraged me to always be good so I would never end up in a wretched place like that. Guess what? His tactic worked.

Maybe the same sort of tactic would work if students feared being stunned by a taser gun. If cardiac arrest is a possibility, then that should be even more incentive to behave so's not to get zapped.

mrproduce said:

Naw, TM. I have taken some of these young hoodlums to visit a prison and they thought it was a hoot. They were convinced that they would be "the man" when they were locked up. I introduced many of them to a program called "Think Smart" which was given by a group of guy's doing life and again many of these punks laughed. They think they are invincible and out of reach of all laws.
Unfortunately TM they weren't taken to jail at age 5 , nor was the fear of God put into them by good parents. These were not raised up , they were jerked up for the most part. They don't believe in consequenses.
I am not sure that even the threat of a stun gun will deter the actions of some of these punks.
I have seen them jailed,shot, stabbed beaten and they go right back to the same old behavior.

I will have to agree with Lilly that given the "Wyatt Earp" syndrom of some of the security and law enforcement people today I would rather they be armed with "stun guns" than real guns.

Lilly said:

Allen, a study for safety? sorry but I must laugh here.. they KNOW guns kill people.. but yet they allow ARMED police officers in public schools for "safety/security".
mrproduce, you are correct in your assessments as always. *griN*

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