We could make school shootings almost vanish

In no school massacre was an officer of the law on the scene in time to stop the first killing. But one person always is — a teacher or school staff member.

If but one faculty or staff member in the room, or close by, had a concealed weapon to defend the students and himself or herself and did so, school massacres would almost vanish for the same reason the Uvalde (Texas) Police Department stood down. Reportedly, they were afraid. This is the most reasonable solution to stop or limit potential school massacres.

How do I know with certainty that this is the most reasonable solution? Because the teacher is likely to be in the room when a shooter arrives and also be his first victim. Thus he or she has two motives that ensure his or her action, selfpreservation and the preservation of the students for which he or she is responsible. No policeman has a greater motivation to action than this teacher.

Years ago, a gunman entered a classroom in a high school immediately adjacent to the college where I was teaching and opened up with a 12-gauge shotgun on two classmates that for years had bullied him. The first was wounded severely but survived. He missed the second. Both schools, the high school and the college next door, went into immediate lockdown.

In my college classroom, as in most at that time, there was but one door, which opened outwardly and could be locked only from the outside. Everyone inside, including me, the professor, had been set up by his own government and school board to be a victim. If this were the assailant’s first classroom, no one could possibly get to the door in time to lock it from the outside.

For years, my only defense was to ask students sitting on the door side of the room, upon hearing gunfire from outside the room, to line up next to the wall, remove the fire extinguisher from the wall next to the door that opens outwardly and spray or hit the intruder as he enters.

Those behind the student with the fire extinguisher were then to overwhelm the intruder after the distraction, but this is all that we could do and it may not have been enough. Since my students were adults, this could possibly work, with a lot of luck. But again, if we were a killer’s first classroom, it would have been, in fact, a “free kill zone.”

In a college that refused to be a gun-free zone, a teacher or other adult with a concealed weapon permit need only pull out a weapon from a pocket or purse and fire a couple of rounds at a very surprised killer, potentially stopping the attack and saving several minutes of indiscriminate slaughter over waiting for law enforcement to intervene (in the case of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, over an hour). Instead, 19 children and two adults were killed while up to 19 law enforcement officers failed to enter.

But in a grade school, fewer adults are in the room to save all. Still, if but one concealed weapon permit holder had been armed and in the classrooms or close by, a custodian, a secretary, a parent assisting the teacher, he or she may have been able to save up to 21 lives. This is the reason shooters prefer grade schools — there’s usually no real resistance.

Why not have employee permit holders carry their weapons on school grounds as well, allowing them to be an asset of protection wherever they are? They are on the scene, care for their students, are a trusted profession in society and, most importantly, are themselves threatened. It would cost the school little or nothing. Chances are every school has several concealed weapon permit holders among its faculty and staff already. Again, why not let those who wish to protect their students do so?

This is not to suggest that every teacher must participate — only those who wish to do so. Hundreds of regular permit-holding citizens in my previous county in California already carried concealed weapons everywhere, as did I, except in gun-free zones (others call them “free kill zones”). Such is the same in most counties throughout the nation.

Law enforcement officers normally see permit holders as an asset, the ultimate backup should they need extra help, and also because cops know they can’t be everywhere at the same time, as some Uvalde, Texas, residents learned the hard way. Why not let them be an asset of protection wherever they are — on school grounds as well? Some, like myself, would gladly participate in protecting those they serve.

Permit holders are among our finest citizens. Obtaining a concealed weapons permit requires a thorough background check and investigation, a near-perfect record from law enforcement, sometimes a stated need to carry and some training. Normally they are older. more mature folks and, in the case of teachers, society already trusts their young people to them for several hours a day. They are already on the scene where a policeman could not possibly be. What a deterrent to a would-be killer if he knew schools were not so vulnerable.

Only a few teachers or staff members need to be armed. Assailants do not know who they are and must consider the likelihood that any staff member may be armed and behave as though everyone is. Like the Uvalde police, the shooters “don’t go in because they do not want to be shot.”

Why not warn potential shooters with a sign at every approach to the campus and every office door, in large print? “ATTENTION: Please Be Aware that the Staff at (your school name) May Be Armed and Will Use Whatever Force Necessary to Protect Our Students” ( X22 Reports, EP. 2784B, May 26, 2022, 23:00). School shootings would mostly vanish.

Gun-free zones clearly do not work and most massacres in the United States happen inside them. Lawbreakers do not care about laws prohibiting firearms. Anticipating no resistance, rather than deter, gun-free zones entice killers, giving them access to large groups of unprotected and innocent victims — usually children.

Most gunmen cease their killing rampage only when confronted with another gun. Next time have that person be a teacher or staff member with a concealed weapon and a vested interest in the safety of himself and those around him, whose immediate action might allow so many more students to live.

Harold W. Pease, Ph.D., is an expert on the United States Consitution and a syndicated columnist. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for more than 30 years. To read more of his weekly articles, visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.