The tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut bring to mind a similar situation in the early ‘80s. On Oct 1, 1981, like any other day, children went to school to learn in a safe, free environment. However, on this day, Luke Woodham, a 16-year-old sophomore, decided to bring a Marlin model 336 .30-30-caliber rifle to his high school in Pearl, Mississippi.
Luckily for the school, assistant principal Joel Myrick retrieved a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol from his truck, ordered the gunman to the ground in the parking lot, and subdued him, clearly preventing the situation from escalating.
As authorities would later learn, if it hadn’t been for Myrick, Woodham would have continued his plans to escape to Pearl Junior High School and take the lives of more children.
Lastly, Myrick remarked, “Here was this monster killing kids in my school, and the minute I put a gun to his head he was a kid again.” This entire event begs one question: why aren’t we placing armed security in schools across America?
By having armed security in our schools, we are increasing our chances of preventing these incidents from occurring and decreasing the severity of those that do.
Schreiber should seriously consider arming guards for the good of the entire school community.
Of course, it will not be successful 100% of the time. As President Barack Obama noted at the Sandy Hook vigil, the fact that we can never completely eliminate evil is not an excuse for inaction.
The government must protect the essential rights of its citizens, including the right to life. In no way would the students and staff of the school lose their rights if guards were employed.
As you walk through the streets of any town in America, you are defended by a police force. When you walk on actual school grounds, you could be under better protection from armed security.
Time is essential in all these cases. Woodham shot nine students. Each and every time he shot his deer rifle, he needed to reload the weapon. The average NYPD police response time is 8.4 minutes; 8.4 minutes to fire at teachers and students, reload, and repeat.
Instead, someone should always remain on the scene, armed and ready to act as both a deterrent for potential shooters and a method to fight back if an attack does occur.
Without it, the security of our schools will still retain its holes waiting for the inevitable disaster.
By taking these necessary actions, we would be taking power away from the killer and moving it towards the security of innocent people.
In some schools in America, such as a San Antonio-area district in Texas, off-duty deputies patrol every campus. In Harrold, Texas, some teachers with extensive training are armed with concealed weapons.
These schools understand the issue that faces them and decided to have some sort of armed security there to protect them.
Now, states such as Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Oregon are considering laws regarding firearms on school campuses.
Hopefully, this same course of action towards safety and security will be taken by all state legislatures in America.
If this policy were implemented at Schreiber, many students would feel a lot safer as they walked through the doors. This way, in case of emergency, the students would always know they are protected.