The killing of two students and two teachers in a Georgia high school this week was a tragic reminder of how vulnerable our children are to mentally disturbed suicidal individuals who are hell bent on wreaking carnage.
We can have the continued debate about gun laws and a better mental health system, but we can no longer ignore that lives can be saved immediately by ensuring that our children are protected by police personnel stationed at their schools and, most importantly, are armed.
As tragic as the killings in Georgia were, it could have been far, far worse. The killer was confronted early on by school resource officers who confronted the killer with their own guns and got him to surrender.
At some later point, local police would eventually arrive, but it would not be for several minutes. That would have been enough time for the killer to murder several, maybe dozens, more children and teachers.
In these instances, seconds matter.
So why do we still have so many Long Island school districts not protecting our children?
Fortunately, the trend has been for more districts to wise up and install armed officers. We are up to around twenty districts now. But what are the other scores of districts on Long Island doing? Why are they procrastinating?
If there is a mass shooting on Long Island and children are mowed down in the fifteen minutes they were huddled in the corner waiting for local police to arrive, their blood will not only be on the hands of the deranged perpetrators, but also on the administration officials who refused to properly protect them by having armed security on site. We are not talking about rent-a-cops. We believe the job can be done by retired officers who are well-trained and are affordable.
We at LILP were among the first to call for an armed presence to protect our kids. This Georgia case proves it can save lives. What in the world are we waiting for?