On March 27th, 2023, the police response to take down the Nashville private Christian school mass murderer was 14 minutes.
Image of stopwatch and blood drops created by author using public domain images
Numerous news outlets report that the murderer fired a total of 152 rounds. Had the shooter been a more accurate shot it's reasonable to believe many more than three children and three adults would have been killed in those 14 minutes.
Suppose we could wave a magic wand to make police response everywhere a mass murderer strikes to be only two minutes. Now set your stopwatch for two minutes and imagine you're in a classroom as a shooter is in the hall going from room to room wounding and taking lives.
Time can be a killer in these circumstances. This necessitates that the time be cut, and cut dramatically.
Now, one might argue that time itself isn't the killer, the one pulling the trigger is. That's like arguing which kills you, jumping out of an airplane with a malfunctioning parachute, or the ground as it comes up to hit you. Either way the discussion is moot. Both are elements joined together stronger than any glue.
Telling victims to call for someone else to come save them is the SAME THING as telling them to WAIT, when waiting is a deadly activity.
This has been the government offered plan over and over and over again. One definition of insanity is repeating the same thing and expecting a different result each time.
Without exception, state legislatures with majority Democrat rule are the ones who put laws in place banning firearms carried in schools, and the vast majority of Republicans *** have been content to go along with this prohibition of armed defense of our children, even when those legislatures flipped to majority Republican.
When Democrats pass filthy anti-liberty laws, Republicans need to take out the trash when they get in power. Not keep the stink around.
Mass shooters know why schools are soft targets, and it's why they choose them. Government by and large has left schools open to be free killing zones.
Federal and state governments are not willing to secure schools, and at the same time forbids us citizens to help secure them. Most K-12 schools no matter the size have a single armed and uniformed officer if any at all, and that isn't sufficient security by any standards.
Mass murderers often plan these crimes months if not years in advance. They will easily know the comings and goings of one uniformed officer and will either wait for him or her to leave, or shoot them first.
In the interest of transparency and honesty, most states (including my home state of Georgia) have laws allowing public school districts and private schools to grant permission to staff and even parents and other caretakers to be armed on school property and in buildings, as an exception to the general prohibition by the state.
Let's see how that's working out:
State lawmakers are not in the dark on this. They KNOW full well that the vast majority of school districts oppose anyone being armed in schools other than law-enforcement. But law-enforcement on the phone or on the way is not nearly as effective as armed teachers, staff, and parents right there on scene.
While there can be much discussion about the various causes of these mass shootings, such as mental health, the bottom line is that immediate resistance to evil must be an option. If human life is important, and if self-preservation is a God-given right, then laws that forbid us to possess the tools to protect us and those around us at the very moment needed are just as evil as the shooters taking innocent lives.
The cost-free solution would be to simply decriminalize the carrying of firearms for self-defense purposes for all adult citizens with a clean criminal background.
At the very least allow licensed-to-carry citizens this liberty.
Not a single school advertising armed teachers and staff have been targeted by a mass shooter.
I'd wager that even a sign posted at all school entrances stating, "Warning, select staff are armed and will use force to protect students" would be a great deterrent, even if no staff were armed.
Will state lawmakers, especially those who "support the Second Amendment" keep their heads in the sand and continue to use "hope and pray" as the standard solution?
When will lawmakers actually take a leadership role and strip the "we will be sitting ducks" public school districts out of the equation?
Even for private schools, let's decriminalize carry of firearms and allow the trespass laws to keep out those they don't want armed there. One might argue that a trespass law won't stop a mass murderer. Exactly, just like a law against carrying a gun or a law against murder won't stop a criminal either. But at least doing this will relieve a law-abiding citizen of the fear of being jailed just for carrying a self-defense firearm on private school property.
*** There are a few bright spots:
Florida implemented the Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program after the Parkland massacre, with about 2/3 of school districts participating, a minor miracle.
If licensed to carry, possessing a firearm in Alabama and Utah K-12 schools is legal, and carrying a firearm in New Hampshire schools is legal even without a license.
Mississippi has an enhanced carry license that permits carry in K-12 schools, that is only available to that state's residents.
Unfortunately, my home state has nothing like any of the above. Well, we did for a short time back in 2014 with the passage and signing of HB 826 (see lines 108 - 111) - that is, until then Gov. Deal realized what he had signed and pitched a fit about it, prompting the Georgia General Assembly to take it back. The short of it, is that it added licensed carriers to be exempted from the prohibition. Apparently, when it comes to K-12 schools, children are not worthy of protection by holders of a Georgia Weapons Carry License.
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