“In my opinion, the legally armed citizen is not a danger. They are a protector. They are there when the police are not. Even the fastest response from 911 cannot get an officer to a scene faster than the legally armed citizen already there.”
Over the last decade, there have been at least 12 times when a legally armed citizen has stepped into the breach and stopped a mass or multiple shooting. Of course, every time a shooting that involves multiple victims happens, the political dog whistle is blown, and gun law crowds come out of the woodwork. It is natural and expected.
Those pushing for more gun laws do not understand or refuse to acknowledge that the mass shooters—the ones perpetrating the atrocity—don’t follow laws. More gun laws would have little if any effect on these individuals.
The university I attend was the location of a recent shooting. Not a mass shooting, but still a life was lost. Texas recently passed legislation allowing concealed carry on state university campuses. I am armed as well as several of the university staff.
Tragically, elementary schools have been the scene of mass shootings, one most recently in California. Schools have a tough time protecting their students from someone intent on harming them.
Study after study has shown the best way to stop a shooting from escalating into mass murder is immediate action. This is now current police doctrine. The tactic of waiting outside for a team to be assembled is no longer the proper response. All studies and experience show that the response needs to be immediate. When the police are not on the scene, how does a community react?
One answer is the Guardian Program. Texas, as well as other states, has a program where selected school staff can be armed.
Schools across the country are being forced to prepare for the unthinkable: the potential of a mass school shooting. The news is full of incidents like Columbine, Newtown, Virginia Tech, Aurora, and so on. In fact, according to a USA Today article, there have been more than 200 mass shootings in the US since 2006.
One answer is the Guardian Program. Texas, as well as other states, has a program where selected school staff can be armed.
The Guardians are staff members who have passed each of the following requirements. They are hand-selected staff members. They must have their Concealed Handgun License (CHL). They must pass a psychological exam just like local law enforcement. They must qualify annually for the specific handgun they will carry. This means qualifying on the gun range through a process that is under the control of the sheriff’s department.
They must go through joint training with local law enforcement. They are subject to random drug testing and must pass all tests. They must be trained in tactics for denying an intruder entry into a classroom or facility. And finally, they must be approved by the school board.
The people who make it through the training and gain final approval are volunteers. To protect them from becoming targets of an intruder, their names are confidential and are not released.
Schools that participate in the Guardian program post signs on school buildings that say:
“Attention: Please be aware that the staff of this ISD may be armed and will use whatever force is necessary to protect our students.”
These signs, posted prominently on the schools, are important—not as a macho, chest-bumping brag but as a warning that shooters should pick some other target. These schools will no longer be “free fire zones” where bad actors can play out horrible video games in real life without being challenged.
Legally armed citizens have made a difference, and the incidents below are only a few where a legally armed citizen made a difference:
1997: Luke Woodham was a student who came to school armed with a gun. Assistant principal Joel Myrick, also with a weapon, prevented the student from going on a Columbine-style rampage.
2002: Jacob Tyler Roberts opened fire in an Oregon mall, killing two people. Nick Meli, who was also armed, brandished his pistol while taking cover. Meli did not risk firing due to a bystander behind the attacker. On seeing that Meli was armed, Roberts used his next shot to end his own life.
2015: A man opened fire in a barbershop. Another person, who was a legal gun carrier, shot and killed the shooter, saving a lot of people’s lives, according to the police captain in the area.
2016: An Uber driver was watching “a group of people” walk in front of his car on North Milwaukee Avenue just before midnight when 22-year-old Everardo Custodio began firing into the crowd. The Uber driver pulled his own gun and “fired six shots at Custodio,” wounding him in “the shin, thigh, and lower back,” stopping the attack.
2016: Jody Ray Thompson opened fire on patrons waiting to enter the Playoffz nightclub. In self-defense, someone returned fire, stopping the incident.
2016: In Arlington, Texas a random patron armed with multiple weapons came in yelling incoherent and strange things and fired on an employee, killing the establishment manager. Another person on the scene with a concealed weapon took him down after he started shooting.
And most recently—November 5, 2017—a gunman opened fire on a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 25 people and an unborn child and wounding 20 others, but an armed citizen engaged the shooter, wounding him twice and stopping the attack.
Training, common sense, and a healthy respect for the weapon on my hip means I will not be a sheep waiting for slaughter.
In contrast to the above list where a citizen made the difference, below, no armed citizen was there to take action.
58 killed, October 1, 2017: In Las Vegas, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada rained gunfire on a crowd of 22,000 concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, killing 58 people and injuring almost 500. Witnesses say the gunshots lasted between 10 and 15 minutes. Officers breached Paddock’s hotel room to find him dead. Authorities believe Paddock killed himself and that he acted alone.
49 killed, June 12, 2016: Omar Saddiqui Mateen, 29, opened fire inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. At least 49 people were killed, and more than 50 were injured. Police shot and killed Mateen during an operation to free hostages officials said he was holding at the club.
14 killed, December 2, 2015: Married couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire on an employee gathering taking place at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people.
27 killed, December 14, 2012: At Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, 20-year-old Adam Lanza gunned down 20 children, ages six and seven, six adults, school staff, and faculty before turning the gun on himself. Investigating police later found Nancy Lanza, Adam’s mother, dead from a gunshot wound.
13 killed, November 5, 2009: Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people and injured 32 at Fort Hood, Texas during a shooting rampage. He was convicted and sentenced to death.
13 killed, April 3, 2009: Binghamton, New York. Jiverly Wong killed 13 people and injured four during a shooting at an immigrant community center. He then killed himself.
32 killed, April 16, 2007: At Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, a gunman—23-year-old student Seung-Hui Cho—went on a shooting spree, killing 32 people in two locations and wounding an undetermined number of others on campus. The shooter then committed suicide.
13 killed, April 20, 1999: At Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 12 fellow students and one teacher before committing suicide in the school library.
23 killed, October 16, 1991: In Killeen, Texas, 35-year-old George Hennard crashed his pickup truck through the wall of a Luby’s Cafeteria. After exiting the truck, Hennard shot and killed 23 people. He then committed suicide.
In my opinion, the legally armed citizen is not a danger. They are a protector. They are there when the police are not. Even the fastest response from 911 cannot get an officer to a scene faster than the legally armed citizen already there.
It is time to change the discussion. More gun control laws and political wrangling will not change a thing, except prevent those legally armed heroes from stepping in when no one else can. Remember, the bad guys don’t care about the laws. They don’t follow the requirements.
In my career, I have been armed every day for the last 35 years or so. Carrying a firearm is like putting on shoes. I don’t brandish a weapon, and most likely the public will never know I am armed. Training, common sense, and a healthy respect for the weapon on my hip means I will not be a sheep waiting for slaughter. I and those like me will step in and do what has to be done if we can—that is, unless the anti-gun crowd makes it impossible.
Think about where these shootings have occurred. They are almost exclusively places deemed gun-free zones. A gun-free zone never, and I do mean never, stopped a shooting. A gun-free zone only meant the shooter was free to act without worry of being confronted.
Schools, as “gun-free zones,” have been seen as “free-fire zones” by troubled individuals. They knew that they would have no one firing back at them while they completed their goal of killing innocent and helpless students and staff.
Gun-free zones are nothing more than blinking neon signs telling a deranged shooter that the people there are helpless, defenseless, and frankly, targets. Texas is changing that.
