Ariz. sheriff aims to put armed posse at schools
PHOENIX (AP) - An Arizona sheriff has announced plans to deploy an armed volunteer posse to protect Phoenix-area students in the wake of the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio tells KTVK-TV he has the authority to mobilize private citizens to fight crime but hasn't talked to specific districts.
He says he doesn't plan to put posse members inside schools but will have them posted around the perimeters.
Arpaio is known as one of the nation's most high-profile supporters of strict U.S.-Mexico border policy.
His plan announced Thursday comes after two other Arizona officials released ideas for boosting school security.
Attorney General Tom Horne proposed firearms training for one person in each school. And Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu proposed training multiple educators per school to carry guns.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio tells KTVK-TV he has the authority to mobilize private citizens to fight crime but hasn't talked to specific districts.
He says he doesn't plan to put posse members inside schools but will have them posted around the perimeters.
Arpaio is known as one of the nation's most high-profile supporters of strict U.S.-Mexico border policy.
His plan announced Thursday comes after two other Arizona officials released ideas for boosting school security.
Attorney General Tom Horne proposed firearms training for one person in each school. And Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu proposed training multiple educators per school to carry guns.
I have always supported the 2nd Amendment but Joe Arpiao is an idiot. His possee people are rejects from LE. They can't make it as a cop but they want to have their "Power" over people. Most of the people that he has had in his administration has ended up in court or jail.  I've lived in AZ all of my life and Arpiao is just getting his face on TV ....again. All he does is talk. He doesn't go after the real criminals. 40,000 criminal warrants are still pending. Thousands of sexual predators roam free and Arpiao does NOTHING to round them up.Â
What an idiot. Let's overreact like they did with the TSA. Thanks to our ignorant news services that sanitize every article and image we see in the news, when something like 9/11 happens, it scares people into crapping their drawers and cowering in fear thinking that every corner hides a terrorist waiting to blow them up.
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Go ahead, throw money at the problem. There's so much to go around and kids are lavishing in educational bliss.
good job Joe
I normally dont respond to replies because everyone must have their opinion, God only knows I am not perfect either are my suggestions, but People that make a statements like many on here make about automatic weapons tells me you dont know to much about our Constitution, with all do respect understand this,,, Untold millions suffer under the malignant brutality of all-powerful governments.
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Western European fascism, eastern European communism, communism in the Far East and Southeast Asia, totalitarian socialist nations from Cuba and throughout Central America. Over and over again, these governments resort to oppression and murder to maintain power over a helpless populace.    When I am asked why I need a magazine for my âassault rifleâ larger than 10 rounds, the answer is âbecause soldiers carry magazines larger than 10 rounds.â The 2nd Amendment was written to protect the people from more than just criminals. It was also understood that each sovereign state in the union would need to depend on its citizen militias to project power as needed. That meant well-armed men . . .
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Our founding fathers also understood the danger of too much power in the hands of a government. They took great pains to hobble it through a system of checks and balances. The 2nd Amendment gave us the means of rebellion should the government go too far in encroaching on our freedom.
Iâm not an anarchist or an insurrectionist. I think government is a good thing. Liberty must be ordered to be meaningful. To prosper, civil matters like contracts need to be adjudicated peacefully and fairly. Criminals must be punished sufficiently to suppress their activity.
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Then one must ask..."would our Marines Army etc these are also our God fearing sons and Daughters . would they turn on their own parents and brothers and sisters?" I really doubt it , but understand In places like Mexico where there Citizens can not have guns are often times taken down by mistake by drug cartels in mass killings and in many instances if a Gun was owned they would of been able to defend them selves.
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The Sheriff here is acting for its people and their children, same as their Governor who wants to protect their border against illegal Drug Cartel members and other people in the US that don't have the problem rake them over the coals.....OK let the verbal bullets begin! Â
 @shadowwalker I agree with most of what you've written, and the (apparent) intent behind it. It is a well thought out, albeit somewhat sensationalistic, and well written peice about the need and purpose behind the 2nd amendment.Â
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What I, and I suspect a number of other posters, take issue with in this specific instance is the idea of 'possies' (his words, not mine) composed of volunteers, roaming school campuses as 'security'. Without any specificity as to who these posse members might be, or the evaluatory process under which they might be allowed on campus, a BIG red flag goes up.Â
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Just as the 'anti-gun' folks have seized upon the killing of children to promote their own personal agenda, Sheriff Arpaio has now done the same to promote his own personal agenda.Â
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Insofar as armed posse on the border, I say DO IT! If the federal government cannot do it's job, it is up to the citizens to do it. But, that is not the issue being addressed here. Where I take exception to 'guns' being the solution is when those guns are being wielded in immediate proximity to a child.Â
I find it just as detestable when extremists on EITHER side of the issue stand on the corpses of children to persue a personal goal.Â
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Tell ya what, Sheriff Arpaio, how about you send those 'possies' up to Mass to patrol so the first responders can take some time off to recover emotionally from the senseless violence that they witnessed.Â
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Or, in an effort to actually DO something worthwhile, how about you work towards funding police liasons at schools who are allowed to carry their sidearms. Armed volunteer squads sure as he11 wouldn't make me feel like my kids are any safer.
 @MarkKpic Really? He represents the citizens of Arizona, first. And any armed presence at my child's school would make me feel at least a bit better. Why aren't YOU doing anything worthwhile about the situation other than sitting there spouting off?
 @NotAChance  @MarkKpic NotAChance, don't listen to this guy . He is just another kool aid drinker that believes no guns in school is the way to go, not even by trained Posse members. he should research what it take to become a Sheriff's posse member before he rants about only trained LE in schools.
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Since Oregon allows guns in school to be carried by us CHL holders, Oregon is ahead of the game. I know several teachers who have decided to watch over  children and keep them safe , while risking their employment to do so. And guess what , there has not been a school shooting in Oregon since Kip Kinkle. Â
 @Civ  @MarkKpic  @NotAChance I misspell words occasionally as well, so I probably didn't learn english here either.Â
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This article, and the proposal to which I am referring, is the Sheriffs. As I asked earlier, if you have some insights as to what consitutes being qualified to be on one of his armed possies that is going to patrol schools, I'd really like to see it.
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He is knee-jerking. No different than Sen Burdick. No better, no worse. His proposal, on it's face, is not supportable by me.
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That's it. No greater agenda. No references made or intended towards guns or gun ownership. That's the definition of knee-jerk reactions. People who either support or endorse any given idea without fully considering it on a 'gut' reaction to contents of it.
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Truth be told, there are a number of Sheriff Arpaios proposals regarding other issues that I support his ideas about. Illegal immigration, prisoner housing, to name a few. But, as stated, in it's current undeveloped form, I cannot support the idea he is proposing.Â
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...of course, I also live in Oregon. So my support is frankly irrelevent.Â
 @MarkKpic  @NotAChance In OR it is a CHL not a CWP.  It does not sound like you  got your"CWP" here .Anyways it looks the the AZ Attorney general is pushing for  guns in schools as well as the Pinal county sheriff. So it it not just Sheriff Joe.Â
 @Civ  @NotAChance  @MarkKpic I'm a CWP holder, and have gone on to school campuses several times while armed.Â
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But, if it makes you feel better about yourself and your position to lament others... go on, my good man, go on.Â
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BTW... >'he should research what it take to become a Sheriff's posse member '
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Is that what the Sheriff is proposing? I've read several articles about this news confrence and have yet to see that as his stated goal. The ONLY specifics he's mentioned is that they would not be in the schools, and that they would be a volunteer group.Â
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If you have other information that I could reference, I'd love to see it.Â
 @NotAChance  @MarkKpic Just a few thoughts, then I'll 'spout off' in reply to your statement as a whole...
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>'Â He represents the citizens of Arizona..'.
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Well... By transitive properties, I suppose you're right. More specifiically, he is the county sheriff for Maricopa Co, AZ. As such, he represents THE COUNTY as a sworn officer of the courts. He does represent the people of that county in that he is sworn to uphold the laws enacted either by them, or their representatives in the government. His first and most important duty is not to grandstand and propose legislation in press confrences following his own predetermined beliefs, but rather is to follow the instruction and guidance of the judicial system (courts) and municipal, county and state legislative members guidance though their statutory (read:legal) standards.Â
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>'And any armed presence at my child's school would make me feel at least a bit better.'
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Well, okay. Then we'll just send James Holmes, or David Joseph Pedersen right over to your childs school with a gun. By your definition, that should 'make you feel better', right?
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>'Why aren't YOU doing anything worthwhile about the situation other than sitting there spouting off?'
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Do something worthwhile? You mean like trolling internet forums under ever changing surnames, spouting anger and venom towards people with whom you disagree? That kind of 'doing something worthwhile'?Â
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Naaaa, I think I'll just keep trying to provoke civil discussions on issues that I have opinions which I am comfortable presenting for consideration. If, in your book, that is not 'doing something worthwhile', then I fear we are going to have to agree to disagree on that definition. If you would, perhaps, actually read and try to ask questions about posts instead of just knee-jerking because it touches on a sensitive topic to you personally, you might get some clarifications about others thoughts.
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In my post, I said "how about you work towards funding police liasons at schools who are allowed to carry their sidearms."
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I, for one, would feel MUCH safer sending my children to a school where a duty sworn, properly trained, and psychologically evaluated law enforcement officer was wearing a sidearm as opposed to 'volunteer possies' that I have no knowledge of their qualifications, capabilities or predispositions.Â
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Sheriff Joe, no doubt an NRA supporter in very high standing, instituted chain gangs, this guy is a step backwards against progress so it's no surprise he want's more guns around schools.
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Armed posses....lol...yeah, great modern forward thinking there Joe. Never even tries to address the root causes of the problems, we'll just throw more people with guns at it.
@deejm2112Â Â He only brings out the chain gangs in an election year.
 @deejm2112 The root cause will ONLY be what you say it is, right? You know, I've just about had a belly full of worthless libs.
Sounds creepy. How about doing something constructive like updating the schools with passcards & bullet proof glass. Hire people to ask for ID at the school's front doors all day long. Call it "integrated psycho management"
@TimBurr For once, I agree with you.
Way to go Joe,Paul and the AG Tom Horne !! I fully agree with what they  are doing. If the Obama kids rate having 11 armed security agents so do the common folk. I hope that Wash an Oregon follow suit. I know Oregon ORS 166 allows guns on school property  as long as you have a CHL but it would be nice to have an armed uniformed presence there as well. Again, Kudos to the state of AZ for taking a stand!!
Cool, I am all for it.. the sooner the better.
Oh and there was Woman stabbed on Greyhound bus: 'I'm just happy my baby is OK'
@lee986321 What?
Oh yes, isn't this the same sheriff that has been infamous before regarding several bizarre issues?
 @pdxd Someone needs to have the balls to do something. It's all about keeping our children safe.
 @Pointblank You can't always guarantee that the world will be safe. However, having armed volunteers acting as lethal security guards is not the way to provide safety. I could kind of understand if he was suggesting having a deputy presence, but to have volunteer posse's, that's just stupid. I mean, how would he discern who would qualify for being part of his posse?
 @deejm2112 I'm guessing, the same method used by BS of America to accept boyscout masters, ban the gays, and ignore all else.
 @pdxd  @Pointblank And who those people who are now gaining access to kids?
 Ya know folks once in a while people will posts condeming types of comments of  ideas put forth to solve a problem at hand. How about you suggest something better? I'm not saying Sheriff Joe is right (although I do agree with a lot of what he does), but at least he's trying to give a resolution to the problem and not just living up in the clouds talking down on about other people's ideas.Â
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We have a wright in this country to defend ourselve and defend our children  Cain killed able with a rock, it was the first murder ever commited ,and God didnt blame himself for making so many rocks, he found Cain guilty for a evil act of Murder.so case at point, making it hard for a Murder to kill people is nonsence, if they want to kill they will kill. anyway possible. This Sheriff is saying , 'IF YOU WANT TO HURT OUR CHILDREN YOU WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH US FIRST " plain and simple!
 @shadowwalker Or here's an idea, utilize one central point of entry to get into a school, if there appears to be a threat at the point of entry, have a central alarm to prompt the class rooms to lock down and take cover. This way, we don't have to have an armed voluntary militia presence on the school grounds, an we can also provide more safety to the students/faculty.
 @shadowwalker Just wait until one of the posse members thinks he sees a kid with a gun... and it turns out to be a cell phone.
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BTW, if you really want to experience the "condeming types of comments of  ideas put forth to solve a problem at hand", try suggesting that maybe, just maybe, extended magazines aren't necessary for personal defense.
@Max Quinn @shadowwalker See...
 @Max Quinn  @shadowwalker And extended magazines have what exactly to do with this thread? And what if a police officer mistakes a cell phone for a weapon? Oh that's right, you somehow think they all come from the land of magically trained.
@shadowwalker "if they want to kill they will kill" meet Shadowwalker "YOU WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH US FIRST". I agree with the first Shadowwalker, if they want to kill, they will kill, and for that reason I disagree with the second Shadwowalker. Sheriff Joe is showboating again, his plan will do nothing to stop those that want to kill from killing.
Great, the go-to guy for idiocy can't resist a chance to grab a couple headlines.
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And is process for vetting the "posse" members is....? As long as you have your own gun, you're safe to be around children while armed? He's found a way to make a really bad idea even worse.
 @Max QuinnÂ
I was babysitting today and was wearing my gun when we went to the park. None of them died. Amazing. No one checked on me to see if I was qualified to carry a gun around children.
 @Max Quinn >'And is process for vetting the "posse" members is....? As long as you have your own gun, you're safe to be around children while armed? He's found a way to make a really bad idea even worse.'
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Bingo. Nail on the head, Max.Â
Arizona gets it and know how to get it done.
@RalphCramden harryjaku should be having kittens right about now....
 @MaximusÂ
Yea, where is he? I expected to see him commenting on this but he's nowhere to be seen. He doesn't show up in the directory anymore either. I wonder if he deleted his user name.
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I think he might have had a melt down over the guns issue.
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I did see him earlier today but haven't seen him since. He is missing some great opportunities here....8-}
@RalphCramden I noticed alot of his comments in other news items had been deleted. He either deleted his account or got himself banned....
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, we need more men like you................... Joe Arpaio for Pres.........
This guy could take Harry Reid's or Obama's place any time. Did any of you anti gun liberals complain when you're hero, Bill Clinton, gave his pro gun, pro gun training for school employees speech a few years ago?
 @last boyscout Yup. Definitely did. Why? Because it's the last thing we need to be spending education budgets on.
Way to go, Joe! We need more Sheriff's like you to help keep our children safe!