Think about that a bit, and you can probably answer correctly. But that's the downside of depending on others to save you and your own. The daily focus and motto of police is to "go home safe" at the end of their shift.
A much better solution would have been voluntarily armed teachers and staff able to shoot back immediately on the spot with their own pistols. That would have turned the gunman's attention from the children to the armed adults, and bought time until police arrived, if not put the gunman down.
Even under the best circumstances, police response is measured in minutes, and even one minute is far too long to wait when you're being shot at. Look at a clock with a second hand and watch it make a full rotation. Imagine you are being attacked by an armed killer while you do.
Think about it, even states who are big on firearm preemption, like my own state of Georgia, still require a licensed carrier (teacher or not) to have permission from a school board or their duly authorized official to generally carry in a "school safety zone" when outside a vehicle - such permission that the politicians KNOW won't be granted in virtually all cases. One exception is Florida, which initiated their Guardian Program after the 2018 Parkland school massacre *, with about 2/3 of their school districts participating.
Someone please tell me - what is SAFE about being forced under threat of jail by politicians to be unarmed and helpless to deal with an armed threat in schools? All states that are majority Democrat in their state legislatures or general assemblies have this self-defense prohibition, and most Republican majority states do as well.
Tell me, why do Republicans want to be just like Democrats on the issue of self-defense prohibition in K-12 school zones? Are they that fearful of the teachers unions, whose members don't usually vote for them anyway?
A few states have Republicans with real backbones. These states allow any qualified citizen to carry a firearm in K-12 schools:
1. Alabama - If licensed. However, a school can trespass an armed carrier if they are discovered to be carrying. This liberty loophole needs to be closed.
2. Mississippi - If a citizen has obtained an "enhanced license" - a class is required. This was something some of us licensed carriers have begged the Georgia General Assembly for, that has fallen on deaf ears, with no good reason.
3. Utah - If licensed.
4. New Hampshire - No license needed, as long as the person's criminal background does not disqualify them.
I wish my Peach State's (and all other) gun laws were like New Hampshire's, but I'm willing to take a special class to get an extra-special, cherry on top "enhanced" license to show that I can be trusted to carry at my son's school whenever I have business to be there.
Self-protection is a natural, God-given right, and politicians have no business denying that right, while at the same time failing to secure schools from armed threats. That is unconscionable, and they know it.
* Florida Republicans finally opened their eyes a little and defied their teachers union, but only after the Parkland school murders. Imagine if they had their Guardian Program from the start, or at least before 2018. Our "gun-rights friendly" politicians should be proactive rather than reactive. They need to take measures NOW to ensure that victims have better options than dialing 911 and waiting. Hold them accountable for it.
The Cobb County, Georgia school board just voted to allow certain staff to be armed, but not teachers in the classroom. It's better than nothing. But we don't need a slow drip towards protection of our children.
ReplyDeleteThe Georgia General Assembly needs to make a path for any licensed-to-carry citizen to legally carry in schools, whether a school board votes for it or not.