After wading through the last half dozen pages of stanco dumbassery, I finally caught up.
If we arm all the teachers, then they become prime target one every time. Most times the teacher is going to be concentrating on teaching, not defending, so to be in the perfect place to thwart a maniacal gunman would be pretty low odds. Yes, maybe they would be prepared after alerted, after the gunman had decimated an entire classroom. Too little too late. Like so many have said, who wants to sign up for that along with all the other shit teachers have to deal with?
We are talking small town rural Texas. These people (and I know them well, since I am one) get the worst LEOs for employment. We're certainly not talking cream of the crop here. Think Barney Fife. They are ok with intimidating regular citizens, but too often wilt under threat themselves. So even with the best guy filling the chief or sheriff position, his pool of possible employees is pretty dismal.
Having mental health issues is bad enough, but having them in small towns where everyone knows you is really hard. Already you are "different" and an easy target for those who need to tear someone else down to feel bigger. Kids are notoriously cruel. Word leaks out that you are engaging counseling then you are further stigmatized and targeted. Your pool of friends goes to nearly nothing. And that's assuming your parents and family are fully supportive. No the issue isn't mental health as much as it is the fear of the stigma of seeking it. And now you see these fools like MTG and her slimy ilk saying "we just need god, not counseling" and that gives people something to hide behind. So blaming it on mental health is a cop out. There's a lot more to it, but of course none of that will be considered, since it's all window dressing, what they are tossing out.
As far as hardening targets, lets say that path is chosen. Use that figure someone put out claiming around 130,000 schools (schools alone). On average, say to get and maintain decent, non Barney Fife LEOs, you need about $300,000 annually for staffing. That's 39 billion annually. Not including any structural modifications or training.
Maybe try something else then. Like paying legislators across the country a decent working salary and in so doing, invoke massive election funding and lobbying reform. Get the money out of politics. Without getting into the weeds too much, let's just stay general and see what that would cost our country.
US senators
100
$1,500,000
$150,000,000
US representatives
425
$400,000
$170,000,000
State senators
1972
$500,000
$986,000,000
State representatives
5411
$250,000
$1,352,750,000
$2,658,750,000
Offer them all housing allowance, make their salaries non taxable, give them the finest healthcare and even toss in some retirement options and still all that costs maybe a tenth of what the most basic target hardening would do. 39 billion vs 3-5 billion? Seems like a deal.
Not to mention you could tie in bonuses based on job performance. Let people vote on bills after they have taken effect a few years. Good bills? Bad bills? Let the public score them out and those who wrote, supported or voted for the good ones get bonuses for doing their job...others get black stains on their records.
I know, it's all pie in the sky. But I figure winter is coming. After a long maddening summer filled with much more of this. But at least offer some logical options besides God and prayer. Give these people a salary they can live on and let them do their jobs.