Iowans resigned to more firepower to defend against gun madness

The fact that arming teachers garners 60% support in The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll released last week affirms that we like our guns, and that we are so exasperated by school shootings we believe more guns are the answer. It’s clear that nothing will be done to restrict gun sales in any way at the state or federal level. Arming teachers and school staff seems the only thing left to do.

That was the view of the Cherokee School Board when it started considering a school safety plan a couple years ago. Following the Spirit Lake School Board, Cherokee figured that school staff are the last line of defense in the face of an onslaught of shootings in rural and urban schools across the country. Some 45 Cherokee school staff members expressed interest in training and carrying a weapon. The training was conducted by a private consultant.

Despite controversy, the district committed to the plan until its insurance company, EMC, denied coverage based on guns in school. It did the same with Spirit Lake.

The Iowa House responded this session by passing a bill that would grant immunity to school staff who went through training authorized by the Iowa Department of Public Safety. It likely will become law. It would even give school districts $3 million to buy weapons (which seems like a bit of largesse for gun industry sales).

It remains to be seen if the House bill would result in insurance companies issuing coverage. At this point, the Cherokee School Board doubts it. If coverage is issued, rates could go sky-high. Insurers have been tightening up on property and casualty policies, and there isn’t a lot of competition for school business. Adding guns into the mix will drive rates further and reduce what little competition exists.

Supt. Tom Ryherd is new to the job and probably would prefer to master other tasks than seeing to the training and certification of armed teachers. School board members are not as gung-ho about it following some of the bitter remarks that flew during public meetings. It would be better to let Spirit Lake try out this new state law, presuming the bill passes. The superintendent there sounds eager to get back into the fray, and he would have support.

One can assume that if 60% of Iowans favor guns in school, support in Cherokee and Spirit Lake is substantially higher. There is a lot more money floating around the Iowa Great Lakes to fight political battles than there is around Cherokee.

The Cherokee Police Department and Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office are committed to working with the school district on safety plans.

The surest way to prevent a shooting is getting close to students early on as signs emerge. That means more resources for school counseling, for free mental health services, and for family support. Yes, that means more support for Area Education Agencies and the like, not less. It means more resources for local law enforcement to assist schools.

The school shooter in Perry was bullied. It was known beforehand that he resented it. Nothing was done that we are aware of. It’s so easy to get a gun. In most school shootings, the assailant gives warnings to friends and families if they can see or hear them. It unfortunately falls on school districts to build those networks of monitoring and support, and Ryherd is the right man at the right time.

It’s easy to throw $3 million at an intractable problem and call it solved. Far from it. Children have free access to guns. They are steeped in violence, trauma and stress — even in a place we would like to think of as bucolic like rural Northwest Iowa. There is no realistic prospect of gun regulation. The House bill is the response to the Perry shooting: more firepower to answer firepower.

That’s not an answer, it’s a stalemate between safety and our fantasy with guns. You have to wonder about the teachers who are first in line for training, and why. Sure, we have a deep gun culture in Iowa. We are comfortable with shotguns and .22 rifles propping up the mudroom door. We have also become resigned to the fact that our obsession with guns leads us to arm the piano teacher before she gets shot by a seventh-grader. It’s the only defense left in the absence of constructive methods to work with troubled students and families. We can do better than giving in to the culture of death.