A recent Newsday article confirms that more and more school districts on Long Island are opting for the commonsense measure of having armed, retired police officers in our K-12 schools to protect our kids from an intruder. https://paper.newsday.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?edid=7d74f5b2-4800-43bd-99e2-07507e914d2a&pnum=2 This is what we called for all along. https://lilifepolitics.com/opinion-editorials/dammit-when-will-we-learn-get-armed-police-in-our-schools/
We say bravo to those school boards and encourage the remaining schools on Long Island to do the same.
When it comes to an armed intruder on a school campus, seconds matter, not minutes.
Our police departments respond very quickly, but even that may not be enough.
We were never supportive of indiscriminately arming teachers or untrained security. We called for security guards who were retired trained police officers. They have the right to carry a firearm going into a Walmart. Why shouldn’t they have that firearm on them to protect our most vulnerable children?
The claim that police having a gun in school will create problems is unfounded. We do not know of a single instance where a retired officer acting as a security guard in a school used that firearm improperly.
Not only does the armed retired officer provide us with an opportunity to disable an intruder more quickly, thereby saving lives, but it also can act as a deterrent to these intruders, who often seek the path of least resistance.
How silly it is to think our kids are safer because we put up a sign that says “gun free zone.” The intruders intent on slaughtering children don’t care about the signs. The signs don’t stop them. An armed police officer does.