By Harold Pease, Ph.D.
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 staff member. If but one faculty or staff in the room, or close by, had a concealed weapon to defend their students and themselves and did so, school massacres would mostly vanish for the same reason the Uvalde, Texas Police Department stood down. Reportedly, they were afraid. This is the most reasonable solution to 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 his first victim. Thus he /she has two motives that ensures his/her action: self-preservation and the preservation of the students he knows and is responsible for. No policemen 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 with a 12 gauge shot gun on two classmates that for years had bullied him. The first was wounded severely but survived, the second he missed. Both schools, the high school and the college next door, went into immediate lockdown.
In my college classroom, as in most, there was but one door, which opened outwardly and could be locked only from the outside. Everyone inside, including me the professor, has been set up by his own government and school board to be a victim. If this were the assailants 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 lineup 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 him then were to overwhelm the intruder after the distraction, but this is all that we could do and it likely would not be enough. Since my students were adults this could work with a lot of luck. Again, if we were a killer’s first classroom such is actually a “free kill zone.”
In a college that refused to be a gun free zone a teacher or other adult with a concealed weapons permit, need only pull out a weapon from pocket or purse and fire a couple of rounds at a very surprised—then very dead—potential killer saving several minutes (in the case of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde Texas, over an hour) of indiscriminate slaughter. Instead, 19 children and 2 adults were killed while up to 19 law enforcement agents declined to enter.
But in a grade school fewer adults are in the room to save all. Still, if but one armed concealed weapons permit holder, had been in the classrooms or close by, a custodian, a secretary, a parent assisting the teacher, he/she could have saved up to 21 lives. This is the reason shooters prefer grade schools—no real resistance.
Why not have employee permit holders do so 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 weapons 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. Hundreds of regular permit holding citizens in my previous county in California, already carried concealed weapons permits, as did I, everywhere except in gun free zones (others call “free kill zones”). Such is the same in most counties throughout the nation. Law enforcement 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 whom they serve.
Permit holders are among our finest citizens. Obtaining a concealed weapons permit requires a thorough 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 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 are not so vulnerable.
Why not tell him so 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 is 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 as most massacres in the United States happen in them and law breakers do not care about the law. Anticipating no resistance, rather than deter, they entice killers giving them access to large groups of unprotected and innocent victims—usually children.
Most gunmen ceased their killing rampage only when confronted with another gun. It takes a gun to stop a gun. Next time have that person be a teacher or staff member with a concealed weapon, and a vested interest in his and the safety of those around him, whose immediate action would allow so many more students to live. Only a few need to be armed. Assailants do not know who is, thus behave as though everyone is. Like the Uvalde police, they “don’t go in because they do not want to be shot.” The real solution to school massacres is already on campus.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. 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 over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www. www.LibertyUnderFire.org.