The Argument for Guns in Schools

There’s no arguing that school shootings are a problem in the United States. That much we know. The question is what should be done about it. And that’s where things begin to polarize. However, it isn’t all that difficult to determine an answer. Allow those with concealed carry permits to carry on school grounds.

What? One can almost hear the hue and cry from the left as we dare to speak such logic and truth to the situation. But there it is folks. Nothing stops a gunman faster than return fire. Period.

Aren’t we tired of leaving our children helpless and hopeless in their classrooms for some maniac to come along and just blow them away? Sorry to be so indelicate here, but these are the facts and it must be said.

Columbine Survivor Agrees

By the way, it isn’t just Second Amendment folks are taking this posture. A survivor of the Columbine school shooting is saying the same thing. Patrick Neville has introduced a bill in the Colorado statehouse that calls for concealed carry permit holders to bring their firepower to schools. As House minority leader, Mr. Neville told The Washington Times:

“This act would allow every law-abiding citizen who holds a concealed carry permit, issued from their chief law enforcement officer, the right to carry concealed in order to defend themselves and most importantly our children from the worst-case scenarios.”

In fact, Neville has introduced this legislation every year since 2014. Now it seems that some people are finally listening. The Columbine survivor maintains that some of his classmates who were gunned down might still be alive today if there were firearms in the right hands on that fateful day in 1999. We can’t know that for sure, but their chances would have been a whole lot better.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the average duration of an active shooter incident at a school is 12.5 minutes. But the average response time for law enforcement is 18 minutes. As they say in outer space, “Houston, we have a problem.”

Now let’ take a moment and look at the response time of a firearm on school grounds. The speed of a bullet depends upon a variety of factors: the cartridge size, the bullet weight, the muzzle velocity, the muzzle energy and the maximum pressure. But any way you cut it, a bullet from a good guy with a gun is going to reach an active shooter much faster than the police. As gun owners are wont to say, "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."

Now the argument can be made that an armed policeman was already on the scene at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. True.  However, high schools in the U.S. tend to be very large buildings with multiple facilities. Since Resource Officer Scott Peterson was elsewhere on the 45-acre campus, he wasn't much help.  But this only strengthens our point. How much better would it have been if there were more than one firearm at the school? Even one policeman who is paying attention couldn’t do the job as well as a dozen concealed carry permit holders.

As someone who has gone through the process of getting a concealed carry permit, I can tell you it’s no simple feat – and that’s true for most states despite local variance. People with concealed carry know how to shoot, often practice at the range and have an excellent working knowledge of what it takes to drop a bad guy. After all, self-defense is the reason most people carry.

Looking for Answers in all the Wrong Places

Gun grabbers want to blame the president for school shootings. Polls are showing that a large number of Americans blame Congress. But these folks are looking for answers in all the wrong places. Citizens must step up just like Patrick Neville and ask for – no demand – that concealed carry permit holders be allowed on school grounds. Some have even suggested that school principals and administrators be required to undergo handgun training.

It would be one hell of a deterrent for a potential shooter to know that their school was armed to the teeth with people who carry. They could be down every corridor and in any hallway.  As it is now, a mentally deranged shooter can have free reign over our school grounds because they know the police are not going to get there before they accomplish their mission. And that is neither logical or right.