School districts allowing armed teachers and administrators on campus during the school day, as a policy, hasn’t been around for long, so there hasn’t been much official research. But thanks to Dr. John Lott, and the Crime Prevention Research Institute (CPRI), that is changing.
In a recent email to subscribers, Dr. Lott reports the release of findings from a recent study, which found “no one has been injured or killed in any shooting during the hours from 6 AM to midnight when there might be a chance of a teacher carrying a gun…”
Still, it seems the only media covering this positive news are conservative outlets such as Fox News, conservative talk radio, TownHall.com, and the NRA. But we’ve grown accustomed to the left ignoring any idea or innovation coming from the right, haven’t we? Can you imagine? Would these folks truly rather put America’s children in danger than consider an effective idea just because it comes from the “other side”?
Dr. Lott reminds us of the Colorado students and parents attending a vigil for students shot in a recent school shooting who walked out, angered at the politicization of the event by anti-gun Democrat politicians. Although the left rants about “reasonable gun laws,” their vitriolic rhetoric betrays their true anti-gun stance.
In the late 90s, we saw this deranged reaction in my city after a bank robber armed with a semi-automatic handgun shot an officer. The officer was armed with only a revolver. Following this incident, Police Chief Norm Stamper authorized the department to transition to the semi-automatic 40 Cal. Glock model 22 (15 rounds) from the revolvers (6 rounds) the department had issued officers in the academy. This greatly increased the rounds each officer could carry as well as the speed with which they could reload.
Anti-gun activists predicted Wild West shootouts and carnage in the streets. Of course, it never happened. It never does. Rather than decreasing officer and public safety, as the left predicted, it increased officer and public safety. The left reacted similarly years later when our department instituted an AR-15 rifle program. Again, with no catastrophe, and officers and the public made safer.
In meticulously detailed and well-cited new research, the CPRI has released a study of school districts that have established policies authorizing the arming of teachers, administrators, and other willing and able staff on school property, during the school day.
From the study, here are the simple questions asked:
“Does letting teachers carry create dangers?”
“Might they deter attackers?”
Aren’t those the basic questions everyone wants to know the answers to, both left and right? Without any studies or facts, the left believes the answer to the first is yes and the answer to the second is no. But the results of the study prove the opposite.
American school districts currently allow qualified school personnel to carry guns in 20 states. Last year, I wrote about one. In fact, the CPRI study references that school district as it’s example for Washington state. The Toppenish School District has 19 armed administrators serving in its eight schools. I’d call that a deterrent. The motto on an armed administrator’s Toppenish School District t-shirt puts it very well: “Do what’s best for our kids.” I would add, no matter who comes up with the idea.
And what does the CPRI say about “doing what’s best for our kids”? Here is the payoff from the study: “There has yet to be a single case of someone being wounded or killed from a shooting, let alone a mass public shooting, between 6 AM and midnight at a school that lets teachers carry guns.”
Think about it. You’re a walking blotch of human mucus looking for a school where you can kill children. You scout out possible locations to commit your dastardly act. At one school you see “Gun-Free Zone” signs plastered on the school walls. In front of another school, you see a sign that reads, “ATTENTION: Please be aware that the staff at this school may be armed and will use whatever force is necessary to protect our students.”
Which school do you think the lowlife will choose? Duh!
Now there could be a shooting at a school with a policy allowing teachers to carry guns, tomorrow. The world works like that…the exception proves the rule and so on. However, the statistical truth is school is a safe place for kids to be. According to familyeducation.com, “Despite the extraordinary media coverage of violence in our schools, students are safer there than in any other place except their homes.”
But evil still exists, and in the real world it walks on two legs. Like the reason we carry insurance policies even though we are careful, safe, and tragedy is unlikely to happen, we need to protect our kids with the most effective, practical means available. Fortunately, we have the means to do this. And, in reality, the left’s fears that school personnel carrying guns would lead to all manner of calamity have not materialized.
Aside from one accidental discharge outside school hours that resulted in no harm, the CRPI found there have been no problems with teachers and staff carrying guns on school property. By contrast, the report shows the number of people killed at schools that do not allow school teachers, administrators, and staff to carry guns “has increased significantly.”
Isn’t the information from the CPRI study at least worth some serious consideration from those on the left? If you say no, you may want to ask yourself if your commitment to keeping America’s kids safe at school is as strong as your commitment to your political party.
