Alabama editorial roundup

Recent editorials from Alabama newspapers:

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Feb. 25

The Gadsden Times on arming teachers:

We imagine some will answer the call for volunteers should the arming of school teachers be legalized by the Alabama Legislature (or some entity in Washington, D.C.).

However, we wonder if the number of upraised hands might fail to meet expectations, based on what we’re hearing locally, statewide and nationally in social media conversations and news reports.

The idea has been floated in response to the bloodshed on Valentine’s Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in which a former student armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle killed 17 people (14 students, three staff members).

State Rep. (and candidate for lieutenant governor) Will Ainsworth, R-Guntersville, has introduced a bill to permit it in Alabama. President Donald Trump also has touted arming teachers and even paying bonuses to those who agree to pack weapons.

Supporters basically are invoking “the only way to stop bad guys is to have more good guys with guns” argument. They say an armed teacher could take out an assailant before he or she has a chance to commit the level of mayhem that happened in Florida. Some cite the unarmed football coach/security guard at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, who died after throwing himself in front of students to shield them from the gunman’s bullets, and wonder what might have changed if he’d been armed.

Opponents say it’s a terrible idea that could have disastrous consequences, and instead favor increasing the number of school resource officers, installing metal detectors and the like. They say it would be a distraction and a burden for teachers who face enough daily hassles and chores simply trying to educate students, and don’t really need another responsibility of that magnitude. We’re hearing some of that as well, although Ainsworth insists his legislation (local legislators Mack Butler, Craig Ford and Becky Nordgren are co-sponsors) is a response to calls for help from some teachers. We’re sure there are people in his corner who think this is needed.

Under his bill, teachers or administrators would have to volunteer to be armed. They would be required to undergo 40 hours of Alabama Peace Officers Standards Training that covers crisis management, active shooter scenarios and hostile situations, and recertify each year. They also would be required to undergo a mental health evaluation.

Students, parents and the public wouldn’t know which teachers were armed, but a list would be provided to law enforcement agencies. Those armed would have to provide their own guns and ammo.

Our concerns, which echo those cited Thursday by the National Association of School Resource Officers (which opposes arming teachers):

. It’s easy to say you’ll respond to a high-stress situation in a certain way - like “it’s either him (or her) or me” - when that situation is only being discussed in the abstract. It’s also easy to invoke John 15:13 - “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” - when bullets aren’t coming your way. We recognize that many teachers have military backgrounds and would be comfortable in using deadly force. We also understand that school shooters may not always be current or former students. However, we sincerely question how someone with no military background and a pittance of training will react when faced with the split-second decision of whether to draw a gun and kill a student who might have been seeking help with a geometry theorem 24 hours earlier.

. Ainsworth in a press conference announcing his legislation said that armed teachers would be “marked” to make them identifiable to law enforcement. There’s no such language in the bill’s text, just that agencies would have a list - which we doubt they’ll stop and check in the heat and madness of a school shooting. If they see someone with a gun, regardless of who it is, they’re going to order that person to drop it and start shooting if he or she doesn’t comply quickly enough. The same day as the Florida attack, a student in Amarillo, Texas, who had disarmed a man who had taken hostages at a mission chapel and was holding a gun on him, waiting for police to arrive, was shot when officers ordered him to drop the weapon and he hesitated. Such shootings generally are ruled justified, because according to a couple of Supreme Court decisions, an officer’s actions cannot be reviewed using hindsight, only by what he or she perceived at that particular moment in time - which in that situation will be “drop the gun!”

This legislation will be popular in Alabama and stands a good chance of passage. We have no illusions otherwise. We actually don’t oppose it outright.

Still, we think our concerns - and the concerns of teachers who are uncomfortable with this idea, even though no one is forcing them to participate - are valid and should be addressed.

As we said on the overall issue of guns and gun controls, let there be a conversation. Don’t just say “we’ve got to do something” and channel Lord Cardigan hurling himself at the Russians at the Battle of Balaclava or George Pickett watching his forces scale Cemetery Hill - and expect others to do the same.

Online: http://www.gadsdentimes.com

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Feb. 26

Opelika-Auburn News on addressing issues surrounding mass shootings:

Our community was anxiously flustered by headlines this week about local students taken into custody for threatening school violence; this in the wake of yet another national incident, where 17 were killed in a Florida school.

The problem wasn’t just here, as social media sites were filled with claims and reports of various similar incidents around the nation.

We can’t control national policy, politics and policing, but we can send a clear message: Here, such threats, whether prank or planned, will be taken seriously with preventive action and punitive consequences.

The good:

A threat by an Opelika High School 16-year-old student to “shoot up OHS” and at least two threats investigated involving students, one a 12-year-old, in the Auburn City Schools system all were addressed and handled before any violence occurred.

Thank heavens.

Police and school officials seem plenty attune to the seriousness of these threats and are actively training, drilling and discussing ways they can prevent violence and how to react if an attack occurs.

There also seems to be a good working relationship addressing the problem, between local law enforcement agencies and local school systems.

And, police seem to have responded quickly once notified by the schools or made aware of any threat.

The bad:

There remain problems and areas to address with the schools’ emergency response plans, and a big one arose this week when it came to transparent communications, especially with the local media.

Frankly, there was none until after media became aware from other sources that there were issues.

That meant a gap in informing not only parents and students unsatisfied with blanket statements and guarded messages from the schools, but also for the general public and its need to know.

A controlled message coming from the schools and limited to a school-related audience is not the same as the media doing its job of asking pertinent questions and finding accurate or additional answers, which can either expose unaddressed concerns or greatly assist authorities in educating the public to ease its worries.

Communications and transparency are critical to any all-encompassing emergency plan, because there are always questions that deserve answers and parents who will want to make their own decisions about their children’s safety based on all the information that can be made available.

From the schools this week, that information was shortcoming in too long a delayed fashion.

The ugly:

It is sad to realize that, yes, these school massacres have brought us to this.

They continue to break our hearts with tragedy that seems so senseless and such a waste.

They also continue to divide our country in the political spectrum, as if there wasn’t enough division already. But that pales in comparison to the physical and emotional toll that only rises with each murder.

We need better accountability for how we handle our guns, be it in the sales of them and/or in how we educate use of them.

Mental health and parent-child relationships are proven factors of influence in these crimes. We all must as a community work to discover the threats, the causes behind the threats, and speak out to ensure action is taken to address them.

Meanwhile we the media, our justice system and our education system do and must take with all seriousness a concerted approach to preventing and preparing for school violence the best we can, in every aspect.

This week taught us that some of that attention-giving, planning and response preparation works and works well.

And some doesn’t.

We still have work to do.

Online: http://www.oanow.com

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Feb. 12

Tuscaloosa News on efforts to censure Sen. Richard Shelby:

Alabama Republicans owe Richard Shelby a debt of gratitude. Instead, the state’s GOP tried to censure him last week, because he refused to support Roy Moore’s failed bid to join him in the U.S. Senate. Moore’s campaign was a disaster and his election would have been a national embarrassment.

Shelby was first elected to the state Senate in 1970 as a conservative Democrat and served there for eight years before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 7th District, which included Tuscaloosa. In 1986, he was first elected to the U.S. Senate and has been re-elected five times - four times as a Republican. In 1994, Shelby switched to the GOP and he’s been a loyal Republican ever since.

The effort to censure Shelby fell short, but that it was even launched shows how the political landscape has become win-at-all-costs and no longer has the best interests of voters in mind.

Despite pressure from the state and national GOP leadership, Shelby didn’t waver in his position that Moore was not fit to represent the state in the U.S. Senate. Undoubtedly, Shelby’s refusal to support Moore was a big contributing factor in Democrat Doug Jones’ narrow victory over Moore last fall in the special Senate election to replace Jeff Sessions. It was a test of Shelby’s resolve and his character. And he did something few other state politicians were willing to do. He did the right thing, for his state and for his nation, even if it wasn’t the best for his party. That’s called statesmanship and we salute him for it. Our state and our nation would be better off if more politicians had enough backbone to follow his lead.

Despite Moore’s horrendous campaign, including shocking allegations of sexual impropriety involving much younger women, the state’s GOP power structure overwhelmingly supported his candidacy, because to them it was more important to place an unfit Republican in the seat than to relinquish the seat to a Democrat, even though it was for a shortened term and Jones’ Senate tenure could end with the next General Election.

Shelby drew the ire of many in the state’s GOP when he refused to endorse the embattled Moore and instead announced that he would write in another Republican rather than cast a vote for Moore.

Contrast that with Gov. Kay Ivey, who is filling out the term of Robert Bentley, who resigned under a dark cloud of controversy involving allegations of sexual impropriety of his own. Ivey said she believed the allegations from several women against Moore, but would vote for him anyway because he was the Republican candidate. But Ivey wasn’t alone. The state party and the vast majority of Republicans holding public office took the same stance.

A Moore victory in the election would have been a colossal black eye for a state that has already damaged itself too many times in the past.

What Shelby did deserves praise. He put decency above partisan politics, something that is increasingly rare among Democrats and Republicans.

Online: http://www.tuscaloosanews.com