And maybe it's NOT such a bad idea to carry at a school bus stop.

Just don't "go street" on anybody while doing so...

TFred

http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2011/10/22/attempted-abduction-in-salem-fields/

Snip:

The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office is asking parents to be “extra vigilant” after an attemped abduction yesterday of a 9-year-old girl.

The girl had gotten off the bus near her Salem Fields home when a young man approached her, according to Col. Michael Timm with the sheriff’s office.

A group of children got off the bus at the same stop, but when the second-to-last child went inside, the girl noticed a man get out of his minivan and run toward her.

“She was very specific about that, the man wasn’t just running, he was running in her direction,” Timm said.

I am carrying if I have to drop off or pick up my daughter at the bus stop. The problem is that the school districts allow bus stops to be up to a 1/4 mile away from a childs home. In my case the bus stop is 6-7 houses away but far enough to be out of sight. It is dark when highschoolers leave for school and will be dark in the winter as middle schoolers leave. I don't see what the big deal would be to have bus stops every third house or so such that you could keep an eye on your children and they would be dropped off closer to home.

There was a thread a while ago about when is it ok to shoot someone in the back. One of my examples was when a kidnapper is shoving your kid into a car and getting read to drive off. I don't care if the person was facing me or not at that point he will be shot. Not to stir that discussion back up.

Bus drivers cost by the hour, so the fewer stops they have to make the faster they can complete their run, which means less taxes need to be collected.

Buses cost more to run when they have to be slowed and then brought back up to speed. Not just gas but maintenance which are all paid by taxes collected.

Those are some of the factors that the jerks who set bus stops so far apart must juggle, along with start/stop times for schools as opposed to the total number of school days per year.

Add in the lobbying from the before/after school care providers and the jobs folks must get to on time in order to pay both the taxes and childcare fees.

It's called a balancing act for a reason. The thing that most folks do not understand is that the system is actually counting on the courts to continue the fiction that they are not responsible for what happens to the kids before they get on and after they get off the bus. I know someone who lives across the street from their kid's school - they are required to either put them on a bus for 35 minutes or get the car out and drive them to the drop-off place - letting the kid walk to school would result in punishment to the kid.:shocker: (Yes, they have tried to fight the system. It was one they just could not win because all the rules were "for the children".:banghead::banghead

I'm guessing you would step up and deal with something happening to someone else's kid if you happened to see it. It's folks like you that keep civilization civilized.

stay safe.

45acpForMe said:

I am carrying if I have to drop off or pick up my daughter at the bus stop. The problem is that the school districts allow bus stops to be up to a 1/4 mile away from a childs home. In my case the bus stop is 6-7 houses away but far enough to be out of sight. It is dark when highschoolers leave for school and will be dark in the winter as middle schoolers leave. I don't see what the big deal would be to have bus stops every third house or so such that you could keep an eye on your children and they would be dropped off closer to home.

There was a thread a while ago about when is it ok to shoot someone in the back. One of my examples was when a kidnapper is shoving your kid into a car and getting read to drive off. I don't care if the person was facing me or not at that point he will be shot. Not to stir that discussion back up.

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I agree with your last paragraph. I think I may have been the one who opened that can of worms and a few of our "esteemed" members jumped on my case. I stand by what I said as I am sure you do as well with what you said here.

Some things never change

I have 3 girls, actually beautiful young ladies now, but even though my "baby" is 26 and lives 750 miles away, you never stop worrying about them.

When they rode the bus, we were lucky enough that our driveway was the bus stop. North Chesterfield doesn't have sidewalks and traffic on our road was far too busy to allow children to walk to a bus stop I always carried on my own property and nobody could say a word!

The Bus driver was "surprised" when she first stopped and a uniformed Police Officer was at the bus stop with the kids. She asked if there was a problem and I smiled and replied not as long as I am here.

va_tazdad said:

I have 3 girls, actually beautiful young ladies now, but even though my "baby" is 26 and lives 750 miles away, you never stop worrying about them.

They're always our babies!

When they rode the bus, we were lucky enough that our driveway was the bus stop. North Chesterfield doesn't have sidewalks and traffic on our road was far too busy to allow children to walk to a bus stop I always carried on my own property and nobody could say a word!

It was rural here and they could walk to a bus stop if they had to. One of us would still have gone with them though...but the bus picked them up at the house. I'm sure the bus driver got a kick out of seeing me, the kids and an Old English Sheepdog out front

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..

said:

The problem is that the school districts allow bus stops to be up to a 1/4 mile away from a childs home.

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The bus stop is 1.1 miles from our front door and we aren't the furtherest up the mtn.
Not a bad walk on the way to school but on the way home it is all up hill, at less one of your trips would be in the dark.
There are no sidewalks, street lights and there's barely enough room for two vehicles on some spots, never mind the wildlife and loose dogs.
My kids are spoiled as they get taken to and from.
I stop and check the mail on the way home which happens to be where the bus stop is and give/offer the latch key kids rides to their front door. No one has expressed an issue with my firearm.

Agent19 said:

SNIP Not a bad walk on the way to school but on the way home it is all up hill

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I thought it was uphill both ways in three feet of snow with no shoes.....

I don't yet have a school-aged child (my son is 2) but if we stay where we are now my son can walk to school. I am across the street and three houses up from the elementary school.

Not up hill but 3 feet of snow and through the projects.
NYC didn't cancel school because of snow.

My kids are no where near the age where school buses are a concern. Where we are now, the bus stop is right around the corner. I see lots of parents standing there from time to time. If we're still at this address I'll be carrying; I do everywhere after all.

Walking with them to school would be interesting. Would have to say good bye at the fence. :banghead:

Actually, around here with all the gobs of cars vying for position in school parking lots I'm surprised that buses are even still around.