Almost two years after a shooter murdered 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the Department of Justice released a 575-page report on Thursday. The document confirmed what we already knew from Texas’ report last July. The police made serious mistakes and shouldn’t have waited outside the classroom. There is one big difference between the two reports. The Justice Department report starts its executive summary by emphasizing that the attack used “an AR-15 style assault rifle.”
But what can we do when the police don’t save the day?
Mass Murderers Pick Soft Targets
With guns being banned at the Uvalde school, there was little prospect of teachers or staff fighting back. Had the school allowed guns, the shooter might not have attacked at all. After reading the Nashville Covenant School murderer’s manifesto last year, Nashville Police Chief John Drake revealed: “There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to.”
The killer considered two public schools but passed on them because “the security was too great to do what she wanted to do,” according to Nashville City Council member Robert Swope.
Twenty states already allow teachers to carry concealed handguns. In Utah and New Hampshire, any teacher with a concealed handgun permit can carry. In other states, it is up to school boards or superintendents to decide. And there have been no shootings in schools with armed teachers.
The reports focus on the failure of police. It is understandable that police are fearful of running toward an attacker. Teachers in the classroom, however, have no choice but to defend their lives and the lives of their students.
Hellbound and Down 