Dear Minnesota Sun,
As the recent shooting at the West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas shows, a good person with a gun is a valuable asset when a bad guy wants to do harm. When the madman pulled out a shotgun and started shooting an armed parishioner terminated the threat in less than six seconds. This is fact.
This is much better than a 20-minute wait for the police to arrive, after which they gather outside deciding what to do for another 22 minutes as the shooter continues their mayhem as occurred at the Parkland Florida school. This is fact.
Obviously when the intended victim is armed the results are dynamically different than when they are defenseless. All gun-free zones do is create shooting galleries for maniacs. This is fact.
Given the tight budget most school systems work under having a SRO (School Resource Officer) at every school is expensive (cost/with benefits ~$70,000/year each SRO). Unfortunately even when present they will never be where they need to be when the crazy person starts shooting. They will always be responding. This is fact.
Now contrast this to a situation where the teachers are permitted to be armed. With the criminal shooter not knowing which teachers and/or staff members are armed they will have a much lower probability of mass carnage. This is reality.
Gun-control zealots will scream about unintended gun discharges or a student taking the gun from the teacher. With over 20 states now permitting certified teachers to carry while working not one time, not once, has either of these things occurred. Not only that, but not one school with armed teachers/staff has been the victim of a shooting. And all at zero cost to the school system. This is fact.
It’s time that we face reality. There are crazy people, criminals, and mentally ill people out there. It’s impossible to put an armed officer in every classroom, hallway, recreation area and cafeteria. And even if we could afford it, all the shooter will do is what Nikolas Cruz did before effortlessly slaughtering 14 children and 3 teachers, wait until the easily identifiable SRO stepped outside. This is fact.
I believe most people would prefer 6 seconds over 44 minutes.
It’s time to face reality. It’s time to permit trained teachers and school staff to carry concealed to protect our most precious commodity, our children.
Sincerely,
Raymond B.
Hieskell, TN
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Photo “Concealed Carry” by Clinger Holsters. CC BY-ND 2.0.
