Why Armed Security Inside Schools Will Work, And Why Detractors Are Apoplectic

"Why armed security inside schools will actually work, and why are detractors so apoplectic?" 
Why do anti gun rights groups continue to misrepresent what happened with Columbine and Virginia Tech "Security Guards?"  

Rather than even consider armed security being put to use in schools immediately to try to stop another mass killing that could happen as this is read, excuses as to why not to do it are flying off the shelf faster than liberal's campaign promises. Anti gun rights forces are happier with the status quo of no armed resource officers on campus, and for students and staff waiting for police to arrive after a 911 call only to drive to the scene and find everything is over and the gunman has killed himself. 

The excuses of why armed security will not work in schools are astonishing.  They are factually challenged and pathetic too. One is “We can’t pay for it.” That’s a real corker from those who use taxes and fees to pay for every social program ever known to man. That’s the same group who enforced payment for Obama phones and universal internet availability through additional tariffs (taxes) found on everyone’s monthly phone bill. The same taxes that funded a grant to study why people cheated at tennis. And,  the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration was given $2 million to research a prototype police patrol car that was never completed. The car was loaded with gadgets and would have cost $49,078 each. Its estimated that there are between 500,000 and a million police cars in the USA. The cost of security is estimated at about $69,000 per year for each of the 100,000 public schools in the USA. 

High on the list is, “Armed guards at schools do not work.” The naysayers quickly point out the failure of the armed deputy at Columbine and the failure of the campus police at Virginia Tech.

However, one of the big anti firearms rights organizations against armed security in schools is consistently using misinformation, omissions of facts, and the usual half truths in its internet assault on armed guards at schools. They will remain nameless here. The group says it has been tried and it didn’t work at Columbine and Virginia Tech. And, gullible readers with the same agenda accept the twisted story obediently as absolute fact. The reason security failed at those places is simple. Armed security was not present at the scene and/or inside the schools when the carnage broke out.

The fabricated internet piece concerning Columbine unravels when their account is examined and compared with facts from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s department.  The first false recurring Columbine claim accepted by the anti firearms rights advocates at the site was that there were TWO armed law enforcement “agents”  present at Columbine during the shootings. In reality, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, there was ONE armed deputy assigned to the school and one unarmed school security officer who was a school district employee. However, the anti gun rights group portrayed events to appear that two armed guards were present and inside the building or on the grounds as the slaughter began. That is false.

On the morning of the killings, the unarmed security guard was inside the building and the armed Deputy was sitting in his car and eating his lunch at the “Smoker’s pit”, an off campus area where high schoolers congregated to smoke. Smoking was about the biggest on campus issue at that time.

He received a call from the custodian to come back to the school. He was not even in the building when the havoc started with an exploding propane tank.

By the time he drove back and arrived in a school parking lot, he saw Harris, a killer, take 10 shots from outside the school at his car before his gun jammed. He ran back inside.  The deputy returned 4 shots from 60 yards away. It is likely that he returned fire with his service handgun. He could not get closer to the school. Let alone, get back into the building. He was pinned down from a window above.

They also say claim security didn’t work because the Columbine security was “outgunned.” They fail to mention that this happened in the days before it was commonplace for an AR15 was carried in nearly every patrol car. Some police still carried grandfathered Colt 1911.45 pistols. An intimidating sidearm still. However, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department report, 141 shots were fired by law enforcement officers compared to 188 fired by the murderers. These include the fatal bullets that killed and wounded students. They didn’t fail because they were outgunned. They failed because they were outside.

A third fabrication was that “They” engaged the killers twice. In fact, the only shots in the initial confrontation were the four fired by the lone deputy in the parking lot at Harris. And, the “assault rifle” being fired by the student malfunctioned when it jammed.  Again, the only people inside the school building were the two armed killers. By the time the deputy assigned to the school drove back in his patrol car and arrived at the school, it was the typical police response in any emergency call. There in minutes when seconds count.

The other shootings always being brought up now are the killings at Virginia Tech. Sure, the College had its own police force. And, they responded as police always do…late.

The first murders were at a dorm at 7:15 am. The police got there at 7:30 am. The killer went back to his dorm room for a couple of hours. Then between 9:00 am and 9:15 am, he went to Norris Hall and chained the doors shut.

At 9:42, a 911 call went out alerting that shots were fired at Norris Hall. Police arrived three minutes later at 9:45 am and found the doors locked. Between 9:40 and 9:51, the killer had shot 53 people, killing 33. Police took 5 minutes to assemble the proper team, clear the area and then break through the doors. They heard shots as they entered the building. At 9:51 am they reached the second floor, found the carnage and found the killer who had killed himself. Nine minutes elapsed before the police reached the actual crime scene. Again, response in minutes when seconds count.

In both instances that anti gun rights groups primarily use to prove that armed security at schools do not work, there were no armed security personnel present inside the buildings. They responded from the outside of the buildings.

An El Cajon police officer stopped a man after he blasted the door of a school with a shotgun. Before the man could begin shooting with a handgun, an El Cajon police officer posted daily inside the school and prepared for any armed confrontation shot the man and stopped him. Much to the chagrin of anti firearms activists, that officer has said that trained security armed needed for schools. 

Another County is taking the lead in armed school security is Okaloosa County Florida, where the Sheriff is placing an armed Deputy inside every elementary school in the county. Armed “Resource Officers” have been in the middle and high schools there since 2007. No parents with children in the county schools appear to be complaining about elementary school students getting armed protection. The only people who are complaining are those who are posting on the internet who don’t even know the history of armed security in that county.

The Sheriff’s Department’s Resource Officer is a trained law enforcement officer. Each is an armed presence for their school campus. They are prepared and trained to protect students, teachers, and administrators from intruder. And, they are constantly on the alert. They also provide security for school events.

Armed, on site security will work as evidenced by just a few examples below. Examples that Anti gun rights proponents ignore because they don't comport with their agenda. 

An off duty policeman who was shopping at Trolley Square Mall in San Antonio fired at a man who had just shot several  shoppers. He ran to the noise when he realized it was shots fired. He fired at the gunman and cornered him until other officers arrived. 

An off duty Sheriff’s Deputy who was working security at a San Antonio theatre heard gunfire at a restaurant at the mall where the theatre was and then in the theatre area itself. She ran toward the shots and found a gunman coming out of a bathroom. She shot him four times

An armed security guard in Melbourne, Florida killed one armed robber at an internet café there and ran off his two accomplices by firing at them.

And, an armed off duty deputy doing security in a church's. parking lot shot and killed a lunatic who had killed two and wounded three at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, 

Armed security even works when alert would be victims have to retrieve a handgun from their car as seen below. 

A vice Principal at Pearl High School in Mississippi chased down a 17 year old who had just killed several students and wounded others , and held him with his handgun to await arriving police. As the man held him on the ground, the thug said “You know me, I gave you a discount on pizza delivery last week.” The young killer had murdered his mother several hours earlier.

Two students at Appalachian Law School subdued a rampaging student with their handguns. He had just killed three there and wounded several others.  They held the criminal at gunpoint until police arrived and stopped further carnage.

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