John R. Lott, Jr: Uniformed School Resource Officers Aren't the Solution to Stop Mass Public Shootings - Armed Teachers Are

“With six murdered at the Covenant School in Nashville at the end of March, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee proposed over $200 million in new measures to protect schools and prevent more such attacks. One of his proposals is to put “an armed security guard in every school in Tennessee.” Both Republican Senators from Tennessee have offered similar legislation in the form of the federal Safe Schools Act.

Governor Lee understandably wants to do something to prevent this type of violence from ever happening again. But allowing teachers to carry firearms in their classrooms is a much more effective and less costly solution. A bill advanced by a Tennessee state House committee last week would do just that.

Having an armed ally in a school could stop attacks. but identifiable officers are easily targeted.

“A deputy in uniform has an extremely difficult job in stopping these attacks,” noted Sarasota County, Florida, Sheriff Kurt Hoffman. “These terrorists have huge strategic advantages in determining the time and place of attacks. They can wait for a deputy to leave the area or pick an undefended location. Even when police or deputies are in the right place at the right time, those in uniform who can be readily identified as guards may as well be holding up neon signs saying, ‘Shoot me first.’ My deputies know that we cannot be everywhere.”

There's a good reason air marshals on planes don't wear uniforms.

If you have an armed officer in a school, don’t put him in uniform and make him readily identifiable. Give him a staff position in the school so it won’t be obvious that he is the one person with a gun.

The prospect of armed resistance deterred the Covenant School shooter from choosing another target. “There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to,” said Nashville Police Chief John Drake.

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Unfortunately, no one at the Covenant school had a gun to fight back with.

These murderers count on gun-free zones to ensure they will be the only armed person. Last year, the Buffalo, NY shooter wrote in his manifesto: “Areas where CCW permits are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack.”

Unfortunately, national media refuses to report such explicit statements by attackers. Nor do they report that 94% of mass public shootingsoccur in places where civilians are banned from having guns.

Violating gun-free school zones in Tennessee means a six-year prison term. While that is a severe penalty for law-abiding citizens, an additional six years for someone such as the Covenant school mass murderer is irrelevant, even if they had lived. The murderer would already be facing six life sentences or the death penalty.

Twenty states already allow teachers and staff to carry concealed handguns. Any teacher with a concealed handgun permit can carry in Utah and New Hampshire. In other states, school boards or superintendents decide the policy.

In the thousands of schools where teachers are permitted to carry, no one has been wounded or killed in an attack during school hours. Only at schools where guns are banned have people been hurt or killed in school shootings.

Other common concerns about allowing teachers to carry guns — such as students getting a hold of the weapons or teachers losing their tempers — have never actually occurred.

Surveys show that criminologists and economists strongly support abolishing gun-free zones in places such as schools.

President Biden is right that we shouldn't impose security measures which make schools resemble prisons. There is another alternative. Instead of posting gun-free zone signs in front of schools, let’s post signs which warn attackers that there are teachers with concealed handguns.

Lott is the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and the author most recently of “Gun Control Myths.”
 
Foldable handgun carbines like the S&W FPC in like a secure access wall type thing are the way to go.. put in the office and at entry way points for quick access... and virtually tamper proof... weapons retention and carrying a gun all day in most public schools as a teacher won't fly.. as a good majority of educators are leftist.

Have to market it is "emergency fire arm".. aka break glass for gun in the case on the wall style deployment for an emergency
 
No argument from me...

Something like an M1 carbine would be just about perfect for classroom defense, though a pistol would do just as well. Even a .22, most likely. Most school shooters will flee from ANY form of counterfire.

These are not brave people. They tend to seek the path of least resistance. They wreak havoc once they gain access to victims, but most will encounter locked doors and simply move on in hopes of finding unlocked ones. For politicians, school staff, and LEOs willing to consider alternatives with an open mind, they're not that hard to defeat.
 
Why not both? Armed SRO's and armed teachers...

The key, for the safety of everyone involved, is for teachers NOT to develop an offensive mindset. In my perfect world, the teacher is always defensive, and remains in the classroom ready to counter a breach; if she drives off the shooter, she does not follow him and try to hunt him down. That's the cops' job.

Let the cops nab the guy. That's nobody's job but theirs. The teacher's responsibility is not to "get" the shooter, it's to defend her kiddos. If she ventures out into the hall, she stands an excellent chance of getting nailed by the 5-0.
 
If the news media did not give 24 hr breathless coverage of the incidents, I am certain there would be far fewer of them. People are very very suggestible if they are blasted with images and hysterics over and over, how else would you explain the endless interest in Kardashians?
 
If the news media did not give 24 hr breathless coverage of the incidents, I am certain there would be far fewer of them. People are very very suggestible if they are blasted with images and hysterics over and over, how else would you explain the endless interest in Kardashians?

Maybe, but many of the stories fade fairly rapidly.

Others are genuinely newsworthy: Uvalde should be front and center every day until the police pay for their failure.
 
Maybe, but many of the stories fade fairly rapidly.

Others are genuinely newsworthy: Uvalde should be front and center every day until the police pay for their failure.
I would argue that a local crime should not be national news, ever. It comes out of a voyeuristic itch that the media is happy to scratch. There can be statistics published and professionals can try and analyze them, but the very process of glamorizing a random killing as newsworthy is extremely harmful. Unstable people will imitate what they see. Suicide epidemic - Wikipedia.
 
Foldable handgun carbines like the S&W FPC in like a secure access wall type thing are the way to go.. put in the office and at entry way points for quick access... and virtually tamper proof... weapons retention and carrying a gun all day in most public schools as a teacher won't fly.. as a good majority of educators are leftist.

Have to market it is "emergency fire arm".. aka break glass for gun in the case on the wall style deployment for an emergency
A leftist teacher would probably arm up, a liberal you’d be right. It would be “opening the door to violent energies” or something
 
I would argue that a local crime should not be national news, ever. It comes out of a voyeuristic itch that the media is happy to scratch. There can be statistics published and professionals can try and analyze them, but the very process of glamorizing a random killing as newsworthy is extremely harmful. Unstable people will imitate what they see. Suicide epidemic - Wikipedia.

If you're referring to Uvalde, I disagree. I think that Uvalde was far, far more than a "local crime." It was relevant to every teacher, student, and parent in the country who ponder school shootings and are told, over and over again, "Don't worry. The police will come as soon as they get there."

That kind of failure, given decades of post-Columbine training and education all over the country, needs coverage. It needs discussion. It needs retraining. None of that happens if it's not reported and followed up.
 
If you're referring to Uvalde, I disagree. I think that Uvalde was far, far more than a "local crime." It was relevant to every teacher, student, and parent in the country who ponder school shootings and are told, over and over again, "Don't worry. The police will come as soon as they get there."

That kind of failure, given decades of post-Columbine training and education all over the country, needs coverage. It needs discussion. It needs retraining. None of that happens if it's not reported and followed up.

I’m ‘pleased’ to report a few of our locals PDs here in SoNH appear to be training like the Nashville response was executed. In one recent active shooter exercise, the responding officers mowed down the yellow-vested safety observers to get to the shooter and left me bruised, as a nearby potential target, knocking me down and out of the line of fire. That’s the way it should be done in training. It was tense up to the point “index” was called. Adrenaline was still pumping after - one LEO poured a Coke down his face and uniform at the debrief his hand was shaking so much. We all laughed it off, ‘cause he nailed the shooter fast and hard.

Like the script went, this is serious.

IMG_2130.jpeg
 
I would argue that a local crime should not be national news, ever. It comes out of a voyeuristic itch that the media is happy to scratch. There can be statistics published and professionals can try and analyze them, but the very process of glamorizing a random killing as newsworthy is extremely harmful. Unstable people will imitate what they see. Suicide epidemic - Wikipedia.
You are correct, IMO. Unfortunately, because of the 24-hour news cycle and the internet/social media, we crossed that bridge and burned it down behind us. Not to mention gun grabbers want to use these incidents for political purposes...
 
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