The Washington Times ran my
piece on one way we can arm volunteer teachers.
I recently watched a video of
a mother and daughter who took on a shotgun-wielding armed robber. The two
women protected themselves and their Oklahoma liquor store by pulling out
handguns from under the counter and shooting the armed crook. Good for them.
If only the two Florida
school faculty members who gave their lives shielding students had been armed
with handguns to shoot back at the obviously deranged young man who would
murder 17 students and faculty on that day.
The knee-jerk reaction by
many politicians and commentators was to suggest various forms of gun control,
but the sad truth and reality is that a determined killer will use any means to
commit mass murder, including driving a car or a truck into a crowd, as we’ve
seen in Europe and elsewhere.
I don’t recall anyone calling
for car control after those incidents.
President Trump has called
for arming teachers to prevent future shootings, the idea being that killers,
even deranged ones, never seem to attack places where they know the people are
armed and will shoot back. As one commentator noted, no one has ever tried to
shoot up an NRA event.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott came
out against the president’s plan, stating that schools needed metal detectors,
bullet proof glass and better perimeter fencing, as well as trained law
enforcement officers.
But there is an idea that
both the president and the governor might agree on.
Volunteer teachers can become
paid reserve police officers. Also called auxiliary officers, they can be
trained and certified in firearms and tactics and serve as part time police
officers in their communities. In an emergency at their school, a teacher who
is also a reserve police officer can place a lanyard around his/her neck with
their police badge, take out their secured police firearm, and engage the
threat in those crucial minutes before the local police arrive.
I imagine that teachers who
are veterans would rise up to this challenge, as will other teachers and school
administrators who want to better protect themselves and the students.
You can read the rest of the
piece via the below link:
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