The khou.com report above reveals the equipment loaned to ten Texas school districts under the Pentagon’s increasingly embattled 1033 program. Reporter Scott Noll lists the “high-powered guns built for the battlefields” and other ex-military kit (4500 rounds of ammunition!) now in Lone Star State schools. “We don’t necessarily believe that this kind of equipment leads to students feeling more secure and safe in schools,” objects Brennan Griffin of Texas Appleseed (“spreading the seeds of social justice“), emphasizing emotions over facts. “We’ve seen how even much less-lethal devices like TASERs and pepper spray get used inappropriately and end up harming children.” As an active shooter training instructor, I’d say any potential danger posed by “battlefield” rifles is far outweighed by their advantages over handguns. Anyone have a problem with this?

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46 COMMENTS

  1. @RF, “Anyone have a problem with this?”

    Uh, nope. To that bone headed reporter, a Ruger 10/22 is a battlefield rifle. And 4500 rounds of .22LR is a veritable surplus of military grade ammunition fit for the Fulda Gap and WW3.

    As an Active Shooter Trainer, I support arming schools. Read up on Beslan Mr. Farago.

  2. I’m not that bent out of shape about any group that get military surplus equipment.

    I don’t blame the object for the way a group acts. Just as I don’t blame a gun for a crime.

    • Bingo!

      You just have to watch the people that use the equipment. Think they got any of those second-hand waterboards to work on school plagiarism?

    • My only gripe is that the taxpayers who bought the equipment in the first place aren’t eligible to get it.

      • That’s the problem in a nutshell. The federal government gives these things to local governments, and the citizens are left out of the loop. They’re doing a good thing — assuming the equipment will be where it’s needed when it’s needed — but it’s the most inefficient, boneheaded, and ultimately harmful way possible to do it.

    • That’s a really poor analogy. The issues are availability of this equipment and the consequences of their use. Criminals are going to acquire guns if they want to, regardless, and they’ve already decided to commit crimes. But at least they’re subject to the consequences of their actions.

      Police, on the other hand, are largely insulated from the consequences of their actions, unless it’s so stunningly egregious that it can’t be swept under the rug, which is rare. Granting them these weapons of war just stretches the outer ambit of their criminal and mischievous activities, all within the ever expanding comfy cozy confines of color of authority.

      You see, it’s not about the objects per se. It’s about giving bigger and badder objects to people who are already way too big for their britches as it is.

  3. Id say if someone is looking to do a school shooting, don’t mess with Texas. Automatic hand guns? When did they get the G18? Those looked like 1911’s, or did I miss the shot of the g18’s? As far as “feeling safe”, I would think the parents would rather their children BE safe, then feel safe when some idiot comes to their child’s school with a gun looking to kill them. Just my 2 cents worth.

  4. So we’re going to complain about NASA having a SWAT team but not the Anytown Public School District?

    • One armed “School Safety Officer” who is well armed and trained does not a SWAT team make. Even then it is not the SWAT team that is the problem but how they are trained and even more important how they are used! I somehow doubt they aim a firearm at a kid in Texas for being late to turn in a library book to the school library or if they catch a kid smoking in the bathroom! There was a School Safety Officer at my daughter’s high school and he had a Glock on his right hip all the time he was there. Never once was there a problem, then again that was part of the reason he was there.

      • Military trucks, rifles, and body armor? WTF does a “school safety officer” need an IBA, a DMR, and MRAP for? This is getting way out of hand. What happened to having a beat cop around? What happened to the push for CCW teachers?

        Then there’s the whole bigger picture of *arming school personnel*. It used to just be the military that was armed. Then the police. Now we’re arming science agencies, tax agencies, now education agencies. Where does this road take us?

  5. AUTOMATIC PISTOLS NICE GOOD LUCK HITTING ANYTHING LOL but I am pretty sure they meant SEMI-automatic(one pull of trigger=one bullet) in that case I don’t care. its about time these officers got prepared.

    • A lot of old timers call then automatics because they are self loading. Though I’m sure that is not the nomenclature employed by alarmist “journalists.”

  6. In common use must mean something.

    Yes, I have a problem with this. My problem is: Why can government employees get equipment the rest of us can’t? Like M14 and M16 rifles with giggle toggles?

  7. This video is basically fear mongering, but I’m not too concerned with it. They even admit that only trained police have access to the rifles.
    About automatic pistols? It’s technically correct. .45 ACP? Automatic combat pistol.
    Automatic as in self-loading, not as in fully automatic. Yet again, the way he said the word matters, not what he actually said. Using the word automatic to scare people rather than to be informative.

    • Bingo. Automatic = self-loading, but used here to sow FUD. I don’t know if I’d want a free 10/22 and 4500 rounds of .22LR, or a free 1911 and 4500 rounds of .45 ACP. Probably the latter.

      • .22LR is in high demand 😛
        Someone else was talking about people thinking the guns were used to intimidate students. From everything I know about modern schools, I seriously (really seriously) doubt those rifles have ever been taken off the rack except possibly for inventory and maintenance checks.

  8. When you look at their slogan two words just pop right out “social justice” so in case you don’t know this is modern Leftist code for “we follow the Communist ideals.” The more people like that are in charge of anything, the less freedom you will have in anything. They push the nanny state in everything they think, do, and say.

  9. First off…1033 NEVER includes ammo. I cal BS…..That is a standing rule……
    Next…they scream about school shootings but they don’t want school officers ready for the threat.
    TOTAL BS!!!!!!! Not worth TTAG effort.

    THIS is anti gunner propaganda…..MAKE SURE we call it that.
    RANT OVER!

  10. No government enforcer or his gear belongs in a school. All they’re trying to do is condition children to the sight of overpowering authority, teaching them from a young age to be subservient and obedient to authority. Marxism at its finest.

    Teachers, i.e. independent citizens, should be the ones carrying. Kids should see normal Americans being the security of their own wellbeing.

    • I like the way you think.

      That aside, a single armed uniformed officer isn’t much of a deterrent for a determined attacker. He’ll simply be the first target. An environment where multiple, unknown people have concealed handguns is a much “harder” target than one where everybody except one guard is disarmed.

  11. “As an active shooter training instructor, I’d say any potential danger posed by “battlefield” rifles is far outweighed by their advantages over handguns.”

    “Battlefield rifle”?

    Oh, he means the Remmington 700… Or does he mean 1903 Springfield… Maybe he means the 1861 Springfield Musket…

    Man, it’s almost as if battlefield rifle is an ambiguous and arbitrary term..

  12. “and magazines capable of holding 4,500 rounds of ammunition”

    Dang, is this one of Magpul’s new products? I want one of those!

    But seriously, it’s all so confusing what I’m supposed to be outraged over.
    Marines with MRAPS = good
    Cops with MRAPS = outrage!
    School security and janitors with MRAPS = nothing to see here

      • Bah. You just need a beat up Toyota pickup and a welded MG mount.

        Also, Dillon Aero does make 5000 round 7.62 magazines for their minigun.

    • Darn 4500 round magazines. How to you conceal that? Do I need to carry one or two spare magazines? I think I need a better gun belt, and suspenders also. Otherwise I’ll be arrested for an accidental “exposure”. Oh, wait, that’s not a crime in TX. But then again, maybe it is. 🙂

  13. I have a problem with it. I’d much rather my children be defenseless in the face of certain death, with no one but an unarmed teacher to take a few bullets for them.

    Oh, wait a minute. My kids are out of school. Never mind.

    (^^^ sarcasm!)

  14. This is why the NFA is a joke… A school district can get select fire rifles practically new from the factory… and I can’t.

  16. People are clamoring for safer schools and don’t mind that more cops are being assigned but have a problem when those cops are well armed to fight against a shooter?

  17. So are these full auto versions or modified versions? Honestly, don’t know if I’d trust a school cop with select fire. If there was an incident, he’d most likely be dry in seconds and I just cringe at the collateral damage.

    And why would you want an M14 in full auto anyway? Personally, I’d rather be able to hit my target. Especially at the ranges you’d be shooting it.

    If they’re modified to semi-auto only, then no big deal. It’s the same gun many other civilians have. Saves them some money from buying at the LGS. School budgets are tight.

  18. I could care less how armed they are – the important question to ask is what sort of training and guidelines have they been given?

    It’s no different than our mantra.. get a gun sure.. but get TRAINED on how to use it.

    An armed but untrained individual is a risk. We see this time and time again with NDs, kids, etc.

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