Posted on 06/03/2022 9:47:45 AM PDT by grundle
The idea of arming trained, volunteer school staff members to serve as a first line of defense against any targeted attack on students has been dismissed by Democratic lawmakers and teachers unions alike, but a majority of voters appear much more receptive to the idea. A new poll by the Trafalgar Group found almost 60% of voters believe that the absence of armed school staff members makes schools more dangerous, with just 30% disagreeing.
More importantly, as we discuss on today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co, research into the idea bolsters the claims by supporters that having an armed presence on campus can save lives… a lot of lives.
Dr. J. Eric Dietz is the director of the Homeland Security Institute at Purdue University, and has been studying this issue for years with an eye towards reducing casualties and ending these active shooter incidents as quickly as possible. During today’s conversation, Dietz told me that computer modeling conducted by the HSI shows that two things can reduce fatalities in an active shooter situation on a school campus by more than 80%; the presence of a school resource officer who can engage the assailant, and 5-10% of school staff members who have been trained and are armed to protect kids in locked classrooms.
The idea isn’t teachers would be roaming the hallways looking for the attacker. Under Dietz’s modeling, that’s left up to law enforcement, with the armed staff members sheltering in place with their students and taking action only if the door to their classroom (or library, or administrative office) is breached.
Still, many educators want nothing to do with the idea.
“I went to college to become a teacher, not a law enforcement officer,” said Jourden Armstrong, a teacher for 15 years in Michigan. “Commonsense gun reform is an absolutely necessary component to curbing this uniquely American problem.”
She also argued teachers would leave the profession in droves if these policy proposals were enacted. There was already a shortage of teachers around the US and the Covid-19 pandemic worsened the problem.
“I’m scared, my kids are scared, and I’m ready to walk away from a job I love because I feel absolutely powerless,” Armstrong said. “Powerless to protect myself, powerless to protect my students, and powerless to blood money that our legislators continue to accept because they put profit over people.”
Even if every gun in the United States was banned tomorrow that wouldn’t get rid of the problem of determined killers arming themselves and targeting innocent human lives. But we’re also not going to ban every gun, or even every modern sporting rifle, and not because lawmakers are “putting profit over people.” The are simply tens of millions of Americans who don’t believe that criminalizing the right to keep and bear arms is constitutional or effective at stopping violent predators, cold-blooded killers, and deranged individuals from carrying out their crimes.
And regardless of Armstrong’s objections, I expect we’ll be seeing a number of states push to establish some sort of formal program allowing volunteer staff members to get training and the authorization to carry a firearm on campus. Laws are already in place in Texas and Florida, and on Wednesday the Ohio legislature passed a law that will once again allow for armed school staff members to be on campus without having to first undergo more than 700 hours of law enforcement training, and Gov. Mike DeWine is on board.
“Last week I called on the General Assembly to pass a bill that would allow local school districts, if they so chose, to designate armed staff for school security and safety. My office worked with the General Assembly to remove hundreds of hours of curriculum irrelevant to school safety and to ensure training requirements were specific to a school environment and contained significant scenario-based training. House Bill 99 accomplishes these goals, and I thank the General Assembly for passing this bill to protect Ohio children and teachers. I look forward to signing this important legislation,” DeWine said in a statement Wednesday night.
If teachers don’t want to be a part of any armed defense in school they don’t have to volunteer, but given the clear benefit shown by Dietz’s research, I would hope that more of them would at least be happy to see their colleagues step up and take on the responsibility of protecting the lives of the students and staff on campus. School resources officers are a critical component to keeping kids safe, but armed school staff can also make a big difference, especially in districts that don’t have the funding to put a uniformed officer in every school.
In Uvalde, Democrats propped a security door open and then gave the killer 40+ minutes of uninterrupted free time in the classroom to commit his murders.
The absence of male staff make the schools more dangerous, as well. My wife worked at a suburban public elementary school and the only man on staff was the janitor who wasn’t even present most of the time during school hours.
Really couldn't have been much worse while those paid to protect stood around outside.
Of course it does.
There’s a reason these mental cases gravitate to places they know there will be no other guns.
Gun free zones are nothing more than potential kill zones and they know it. And now brandon wants to make the whole country a gun free zone.....SMH
There’s a reason you rarely hear about robberies in pawn shops or gun stores....the employees normally open carry.
Churches used to be targeted but as of late Churches have been fighting back so it seems to have dropped off.
Did they teach you how to lock doors at college, because that was the single point of failure for the lazy teacher who didn't want to be inconvenienced by using the main door.
"Up to law enforcement"? How well has that worked?
After the Second Amendment is neutered, the others will follow quickly, starting with the First.
I guess for some people it “takes research”.
Don’t they arm teachers in Israel. He never looks at the fact these shootings happen with mentally unbalanced people in gun free zones. Attack mental health and gun free zones. Arm or put armed people in or around the entrances to schools. Do not take things away from law abiding citizens.
Yeah, people who get annoyed by hearing "you can't prove that!" when they state the obvious.
Well,he was a gay Hispanic kid..so what choice did they have?
Facts don’t matter to the antiamerica left
Because it does not fit their narrative, the idea of arming trained, volunteer school staff members to serve as a first line of defense against any targeted attack on students has been dismissed by Communist Democratic lawmakers and teachers unions alike.
The Democrats are incapable of acknowledging the value of guns for self protection and deterrence. To them there is NO "good guy with a gun."
Wheni went to school there was an ex marine who was kinda nuts, but he woild run and ,eap on kids who were fighting and tackle them to the ground. One day he jumped over the cafeteria bar and up on the tables that kids were eating at, running towards 2 kids fighting- he dove and tackled them , leaving behind a trail of upturned food trays, with kids soaked in food lol. Saw him grab students by the neck too.
[[The idea isn’t teachers would be roaming the hallways looking for the attacker. Under Dietz’s modeling, that’s left up to law enforcement, with the armed staff members sheltering in place with their students and taking action only if the door to their classroom (or library, or administrative office) is breached.]]
There should be armed personnel and guards who move towards the sound of gunshots as well. Cameras should also,be set up to track perps so that armed personnel know where the perp it
[[The idea of arming trained, volunteer school staff members to serve as a first line of defense against any targeted attack on students has been dismissed by Democratic lawmakers and teachers unions alike,...]]
Those dismissing this should be called out by parents and forced to resign fro their positions for endangering students unnecessarily. They are a danger to students and teachers. They are even an enemy of students and teachers. Their criminal coddling needs to be called out and exposed once and for all
To expressly exempt persons authorized to go armed within a school safety zone from a requirement to complete extensive peace officer basic training.
Work to get it passed.
You mean like police? Wasn't there a police officer on campus at Stoneman Douglass High and he went in the opposite direction?
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