Opposing Armed Teachers Shows it’s Not About Safety

No matter what you think about civilian ownership of firearms, any time an evil person goes into a school and kills innocent kids, your heart breaks. But some, not all, see the tragedy as a moment to push a political ideology that leaves people unable to protect themselves, while emboldening evildoers. And all this happens while they themselves get more powerful and self-righteous, surrounded by armed guards. And I'm sick of it.

Here is the Problem—

Right now, lawmakers are ready to sign federal gun legislation to address the recent active shooter events. We don't know exactly what will make it through, but whatever it is, it won't be good for gun rights or our freedoms. And NOTHING in the legislation would have stopped these shootings from happening, or stop a future shooting and they know it.

Yet, on both sides of the political spectrum, elected representatives will vote to take gun rights away from the law-abiding. Not their rights, but The People's rights. People like you and I. People who have broken no laws and don't pose a threat to anyone, except the person breaking into our home to harm us.

Nothing proves this point more than the fanatical opposition to allowing teachers the right to arm themselves at school.

This is Radical:You Shouldn't Have the Right to Self Defense, Even on a School Campus—

Most people are aware of the federal “Gun Free School Zone Act of 1995,” that essentially prohibits anyone from possessing a firearm on elementary or high school campus except for those who the state explicitly permits. But what most people don't know is that more than half of the states, 28 states allow teachers to carry concealed firearms while at school with varying restrictions and qualification standards. South Dakota allowed teachers the right to carry a firearm at school, starting in 2013.

Are Teachers with Guns on Campus Unsafe?—

One common objection to teachers carrying a gun at school is that it's just unsafe, and someone might have a negligent discharge and accidentally kill a child.

On the surface, that is a valid argument. The more firearms there are, the higher the chance of an accident involving a firearm. But the argument eventually falls apart under scrutiny. In fact, the best information to debunk the argument is the anti-gun organization Gifford's Law Center very own website.

Gifford's Law Center dedicates a page, listing gun incidents on campuses. I mean ALL incidents. NOT ONE resulted in someone's death. If there was an account, the anti0gun group would have found it. Primarily, there are cases of resource officers, parents or teachers leaving a gun unattended. Some instances of deputies or concealed carriers accidentally shooting themselves in the parking lot and other similar circumstances. They even list instances where an officer's gun discharged during a fight with a student.

This isn't to excuse improper handling of guns, carelessness, or negligence, not at all. However, we don't look to disarm all officers when an officer does something improper with a firearm. We look at how we can address the case of negligence or improper gun handling through training and, if necessary, they fire the individual officer.

Armed Resource Officers Don't Stop Shooters?

The next objection is that there is no evidence that the presence of an armed school resource officer or teacher prevents or lessens the severity of a school shooting.

Someone will usually cite a single 2019 that tried “to determine whether characteristics related to the school, shooter, and guns used are associated with school shooting severity (casualty rates, fatality rates, and likelihood of fatality)”. The conclusion of the study: “…the presence of a school resource officer was unassociated with any reduction in school shooting severity.”

There it is, the smoking gun, armed resource officers don't protect children at school.

If that is true, why do these same people send their kids to schools with armed guards? Why do people travel with armed guards, protect money and valuables with armed guards etc. etc. It's because any honest person knows that people with guns CAN, and DO, protect against criminals with ill intent.

Here are the numbers from the FBI covering all 61 active shooter incidents in 2021:

Law enforcement apprehended the killer in almost half of the incidents (30/61).

In 29 of the incidents, the killer stopped when he died. Good guys/gals with guns killed 18 of the suspects. Of these 18 instances, police killed 14, and an armed citizen stopped the active killer 4 times, and 11 of them killed themselves.

One died in a traffic collision fleeing from police, and one killer is still on the run.

Not every time was the shooter shot and killed, but every time (except one) someone with a gun either killed them, or took them into custody. The quicker you get someone on scene with a firearm, the quicker you can stop the shooter. Does anyone think that more kids would have died if the cowardly deputy outside the school in Florida would have gone in and confronted the shooter right away instead of hiding outside? Of course not, they wanted him in there doing what he is paid to do save lives!

Even NPR knows people with guns need to intervene quickly to limit the severity of a school shooter:

• The tragic history of police responding too late to active shooters

There are many school shootings that never happened because of heroic officers and teachers who intervened quickly before the shooter could take control. However, we know that isn't always the case. And the failure of law enforcement to respond accordingly in every school shooting is even more reason teachers deserve the right to carry a firearm.

• Georgia high school coach stops a school shooting massacre, gets suspended by school board
• School Resource Officer Stopped School Shooting, Authorities Say
• Lone resource officer’s quick action stopped the Maryland school shooter within seconds
• Armed Guards Ended School Shooting in Oregon

And the list goes on and on as long as you want to read stories of teachers and law enforcement intervening to stop killers. However, you will have to search on a search engine like duckDuckGo, and not google. Google suppresses these stories, instead flooding the top stories with articles about how armed law enforcement officers don't stop school shooters. Apparently, armed law enforcement can stop shootings everywhere else anti-gunners want protection, except schools.

Teachers Aren't Paid Enough to Worry About Defending Their Life?

The final objection is by far the most idiotic argument against teachers carrying a firearm. And in my estimation, it exposes the heart of someone who really doesn't care about other people, but only themself. This argument comes from the same camp of people who can't understand the distinction between a law allowing teachers the option to carry a gun, and one forcing every teacher to carry a gun. It goes something like this:

Teachers don't get paid enough as it is. Now we want them to protect school kids?

Only someone who truly doesn't care about people would only protect people put in their charge if they got paid to do it. Millions of everyday Joes carry a firearm every day to protect themselves, and quite often people they don't even know. Teachers who served in the military or just take self-defense seriously want the ability to protect themselves and the children they teach.

Here is Becky Pringle, the president of possibly the most corrupt union in our country, the National Education Association (NEA) stating how she feels about states allowing teachers to arm themselves and defend themselves or the children:

Educators and parents overwhelmingly reject the idea of arming school staff. Rather than arming educators with guns, we need to be giving them the tools needed to inspire their students. Rather than putting the responsibility on individual teachers, our elected leaders need to pass laws that protect children from gun violence and bring an end to senseless and preventable killings.

You mean a teacher can't inspire their student's and protect them at the same time?

Giving them tools to inspire? What does that even mean as it relates to school shootings?

Becky, Becky, Becky—

Mrs. Pringle, when facing an evil lunatic who is actively killing students, teachers don't want “tools to inspire.” They need to know how to use a gun, and have it on them. A teacher shouldn't lose the right to protect themselves simply because they are on a school campus.

Should this school teacher used his inspirational tools to stop this sick man from abducting an 11-year-old girl from the playground?

• Armed teacher stops stranger from abducting 11-year-old at recess, Utah police say

The argument against allowing teachers to carry a concealed handgun is not about public safety, it's a disdain for guns, freedom and self-reliance.