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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIve been shot in combat. And as a veteran, allowing teachers to be armed is an asinine idea
After the most recent school shooting, this time at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a 19-year old gunman was charged with killing 17 people, debate flows freely, yet again, on how to best prevent these tragedies from ever happening. Anyone with a heart can surely agree this is the overall goal. The morning after the shooting, NC State Representative Larry Pittman (R-Cabarrus County) stated that he wants to work with police to train and allow teachers to carry guns in attempt to limit the death and destruction caused during a school shooting.
We have to get over this useless hysteria about guns and allow school personnel to have a chance to defend their lives and those of their students, Pittman said during a meeting of the Joint Legislative Emergency Management Oversight Committee, as reported by the News & Observer.
Defending children is a must, but putting a firearm in the hands of even the most trained teacher isnt the answer. Anyone suggesting this solution has clearly never experienced a situation like the one seen in Parkland because it oversimplifies the complexity of an active shooter situation, especially in close-quarters. It is not as easy as a good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun.
I ask that you take a few minutes to understand my perspective and why I feel strongly about this matter. Before recently moving to Charlotte, I served for three and half years as an Army infantryman, stationed at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska, and I deployed to Afghanistans Kandahar Province in 2011. By the time my tour was over, I left a place that claimed two members from my company, cost six others at least one limb, wounded over 25 percent of our total force, and left me with shrapnel in my face and a bullet hole in my left thigh. When I saw the news flash of another school shooting I couldnt help but think of the firefights I had been involved in and how these students and teachers just encountered their own version of Afghanistan.
Make no mistake, the fear and chaos they faced is no different than what my fellow soldiers and I faced in Afghanistana fear and chaos that I still remember like it happened yesterday.
Martin! MARTIN! is still audible in my mind six and half years later. I turned and saw three members of my platoon pinned down in the field behind me. Their screams still clear as day, as they called for help. A routine patrol in the Panjwai District had turned into an ambush, with us taking fire from three enemy positions, some as close as 20 yards (the distance of a pitchers mound to home plate). I, along with some of my fellow soldiers, began to return suppressive fire. Just as the first man safely reached us, the feeling of Arnold Schwarzenegger swinging a sledgehammer into my leg rushed over my body. Thats what being shot by a high-powered assault rifle felt like to me.
Assisted by an extremely calm and poised Sergeant, I was able to move to cover in a canal, as bullets cracked and whizzed by my head and exploded in the dirt around me. The sound a bullet makes as it passes mere inches away is another sound that will forever stay with me.
Luckily, or so I thought at the time, a medic was already there to start administering aid. There was only one problem. The medic froze.
The medic, who had spent at least the last year of his life training for this exact moment, could not move. When this news made its way down the line to the other medics, they came to my location and ensured I received proper medical attention.
The bullet traveled through my left thigh, shredded my left hip flexor, moved through my left butt cheek before ultimately stopping halfway in the right one (theres a Forest Gump joke in there somewhere). Big picture, the bullet missed my colon and spine by a half-inch and traveled over a foot inside my body.
Now, I share this story not to draw attention to my actions during this firefight or as a condemnation of the medic. I simply want to illustrate how even the best trained members of the military react differently when bullets start flying. Someone shooting at you, specifically trying to kill you, is probably the most terrifying life event a person could ever experience.
Regardless of training, you dont know how people will respond in life and death situations until the moment comes. You dont know how people will react when they hear gunshots. You dont know how people will react when the person next to them is shot. You dont know how a person will respond when their task is shooting someone they know or taught. You just dont know.
And now we are expecting teachers, even with training, to perfectly handle this situation. I say perfectly because anything less could mean even more tragedy and death. This isnt a movie where bullets always miss the hero. These teachers arent action stars. These are average people, who more likely than not, have never come close to experiencing anything like this.
Few people actually run towards gunfire. Most search for cover. Some cant function. Fight or flight. Adrenaline floods your body. Time doesnt exist. Your heart beats outside of your chest. Fine motor skills stop working. People urinate and defecate themselves. Good luck holding steady aim at a moving target. Even the simplest of tasks, such as reloading can become difficult. Your hands shake for hours afterward. Its chaotic on a level that is beyond comprehension until you experience it.
This what I want you to consider when the discussion moves toward Rep. Pittmans assumption that allowing teachers to arm themselves is the proper action to take.
There is barely enough time in the school year to train teachers on basic lesson planning and data use, a friend who currently works for CMS told me. So adding weaponry is just so absurd.
Members of the military and police spend hours, days and weeks at a time training with their weapons. They train on close quarter tactics with partners, teams, squads and platoons. Safety and awareness is ingrained in you from day one. Dry runs are the norm. You practice and train methodically, going door by door, hallway to hallway, communicating and marking cleared rooms as you pass.
You do this over, and over and over. Why? Because no two professions better understand the devastation of a gun when things go wrong. No two professions better understand the actual stress of being shot at and the absolute need to remember and implement the months and years of training for these exact types of situations. The margin for error in close quarters combat, such as a school environment, is razor thin. There is a reason its already part of a profession that involves life and death decision making and not placed in the skillset of a high school math teacher.
The only responsibility a teacher should have during a school shooting is ensuring the safety of the students in their classroom. Period. They should be barricading doors to ensure the shooter cant enter and leading the students by example as they implement active shooter lockdown procedures.
Further, Rep. Pittman totally disregards that a person or teacher with a gun, even with the best intentions, can create a tragedy on their own. There are what ifs on top of what ifs. What if during the chaos of an active shooter situation a teacher shoots an innocent student? Are we willing to accept this as a society? What if the teacher is shot (a very likely scenario)? What if the shooter knows exactly who the armed teachers on campus are? What if on a regular day a teacher goes to break up a fight in the hallway and the firearm is accidentally discharged?
According to an FBI study about active shooter situations, police officers who engaged the shooter were wounded or killed in 46.7 percent of the incidents. Were talking about individuals who are specifically trained to respond to these situations and not teachers trained over the the weekend or during summer break.
The potential collateral damage is not worth it. There are just too many possible negative outcomes and risks that so severely outweigh the small chance that they stop an active shooter threat, where most of the death and destruction is carried out in the first few minutes. If you dont believe me, watch here to see what can happen in this exact situation.
This piece is not meant as a knock against teachers, nor am I by any means questioning their bravery in these situations. God knows our country has seen example after example of teachers and students shielding others from gunfire. Heroic doesnt begin to fully explain the bravery of the person behind those actions. Im completely certain there are teachers willing to volunteer for this role and almost positive that some have already secretly brought a firearm into school. I dont question a teachers commitment toward protecting their students.
My goal here is to bring the reality of the situation to the forefront. Politicians who are blasé about the complexity and rigorous training required for these types of engagements and who underestimate the physical, physiological and psychological toll a combat environment brings to those involved, should be forced to place themselves in these types of simulations.
Ultimately, Im saddened by the fact that weve reached a point where people in this country want teachers to arm themselves as moonlight deputies. I dont have all the answers, but Im confident that arming teachers isnt the answernow or ever.
https://www.charlottefive.com/arming-teachers/
democrank
(11,096 posts)Very powerful
Guilded Lilly
(5,591 posts)Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)I'm laughing my ass off just thinking about it.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)These teachers just sitting around getting fat and lazy? Let's issue some guns and a day of marksmanship training, and suddenly we have free soldiers! Right there in the classroom, and they're already watching the kids!
Meanwhile GOP reps get another year or two of NRA contributions before it becomes obvious that nothing has improved.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)was intense and specifically designed to turn you from normal human beings into a group killing machine.
And it was all about the group-- when the battle starts you are part of a unit and have no mind of your own. Your senses are acute, and your training overrides your revulsion at killing and fear of being killed. Unless you freeze. Even police training doesn't go this far.
Training or not, it still ain't easy. The FBI tells us how many rounds are wasted or hit the wrong target (often an innocent one) when cops open fire. But, back when I was drafted the Army was experimenting with the newish Trainfire ranges. It was explained that after WWII they added up the rounds fired and when compared to enemy casualties, it was thousands and thousands of rounds to even injure one German or Japanese. So, they came up with this thing with popup targets to give us a better feel for battlefield shooting.
I don't know if it worked or not, but if trained infantry have problems getting the bad guys, what the chance do English teachers have?
roscoeroscoe
(1,370 posts)Utterly impractical. This proposal is completely detached from the expense, easily foreseeable tragic consequences, and unintended consequences to follow.
This could be a step along the way to "It Can't Happen Here" and brown shirts with the bullying power of the walkin' boss.
Classic distraction from real, workable measures.
Zorro
(15,740 posts)Archie's solution to airplane hijackers was to arm all passengers. It got tremendous laughs because it was so ridiculously absurd at that time.
The Archie Bunker solution now appears to be the preferred solution by Trump and the Republicans. How far have we fallen from considering common sense policies.
Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)This could be something you would see on Fox News today.
Jarqui
(10,126 posts)I thought of the same thing. Back then, we thought it was really funny.
It's much harder to laugh when the ignoramus touting it is President
pazzyanne
(6,556 posts)I am amazed by the understanding of the teacher's point of view as well as the ability to describe in detail the negative results from such a plan from both sides. Teacher's main focus in such situations should be on their students who are terrified and need support to make the necessary choices to protect themselves. Children look to their authority figures to provide them with answers they do not have their experience to rely on. Armed teachers leave those children at the mercy of an active shooter, the result of which would be more victims in my opinion.
kentuck
(111,103 posts)lastlib
(23,244 posts)Excellent piece! Required reading!
dlk
(11,569 posts)nolabels
(13,133 posts)and heinous, abhorrent, despicable, loathsome, Orwellian
Mostly we will run out words for outright unhinged crap put forth. They have everything to lose and we have everything to gain. Please expect that they will not stop at anything and leave no outrage or insult uncoupled or uttered. Please expect it
dlk
(11,569 posts)Eliot Rosewater
(31,112 posts)NRA has nothing to do with rights or the Constitution, they merely use a warped version of them to sell their products.
Wayne and company are rich because they sell guns, how many people die is of no importance to them other than when a gun person dies they stop buying guns.
Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)movie theatre massacre. Now can you imagine a bunch of people wildly shooting in a dark movie theatre. I believe studies show that even trained police hit their target less than 50% of the time while under fire. More guns is not the answer.
rgbecker
(4,832 posts)There are legions of nuts out there and America is in trouble. I wish the student survivors well and will join them in their marches, but do not underestimate the power of the NRA across America.
Can you believe just last week we were talking about how to allow Dreamers to stay in this Country? As if anyone would want to.
askyagerz
(776 posts)Instead of suicide by cop we will start seeing suicide by teachers. Scary thought for a bunch of kids going through all that teenager drama
tblue37
(65,403 posts)justhanginon
(3,290 posts)arming teachers stupidity. Thank you sir for bringing both your experience and rationale to us.
Locrian
(4,522 posts)There are way too many people that believe the fantasy world of "action movies" / games etc. Anyone who has been in a real situation knows better.
harley_weewax
(10 posts)...and this is not allowing teachers to be armed. This would be requiring teachers to be alarmed. Schools have already been trained in ALEC. And every time there is another shooting, the teachers/staff wonder what else they could have done. They followed all the ALEC procedure, and it didn't work.
I remember having air raid drills when I was in grade school and then the drop-down drills in the classrooms in later years. We had these drills because of worries about foreign nations, not about our own citizens coming into classrooms.
My daughters had the whole stranger training when they were in school. Once my daughter pinched her hand in a shoe store door downtown. The owner drove us up to the clinic to get her checked out. She worried he was a stranger. I assured her that I had known him since I was a child, and he was an okay guy.
My last years in education, we were dealing with the whole lock-down training and also the very beginning of cyber-bullying being recognized. When I retired, my daughters told me they were glad I wasn't going to be in schools anymore as they worried about me every day.
Enough is enough!
heaven05
(18,124 posts)We need leaders to guide us out of this forest of lies, deciet, greed and madness with the intelligence I read here.. I have, many years ago, been where you have been. The idea put forth by this potus is just plain pandering to the gun lobby and truly shows his priorities. He is a con man with no ability to do anything but to keep doing the bidding of Putin and to keep trying to rally his base around him like some kind of laager. I am amazed at his ability to keep conning his group of supporters.
Our ship of state rudderless and in real danger of sinking.
Ilsa
(61,695 posts)Newt Gingrich, who chose not to serve.
Thank you for your post. K&R.
Grammy23
(5,810 posts)The emotional, gut reaction to the school shootings we have all read about (but hopefully not experienced) is to do something that allows the victims to fight back. Dont leave them as sitting ducks. But once you begin to apply rational thinking, concrete evidence of what works and what is counter productive, you begin to understand why arming teachers is a bad idea, full of false security.
Luckily for me, I have never faced a situation like combat and hopefully never will. What I have experienced is being present when a man shot and killed his wife with 5 bullets, one that pierced her heart, killing her almost instantly. My instinct at the sound of the first shot was that it was firecrackers, but a split second later realizing it was gunshots. In a moment of blind confusion and terror, I began screaming (to no one in particular and anybody within the sound of my screams), He is shooting her! I screamed that sentence over and over as I ran for cover. My throat was sore for days from the sheer force of my screams.
Finally, I found myself across the street, hiding behind a privacy fence, barely out of sight of the shooter. I watched as he came out of the house, looked at his wifes lifeless body and glanced around looking for ME. It was so surreal and as the young man said yesterday, time stood still. I watched him casually walk away as I repositioned myself so he could not see me. Once he was gone, I ran back to my co-workers side to stay with her until police and paramedics arrived.
I tell this story not to elicit sympathy or pity. It is to say that events like this usually happen without warning. You are fine one minute. On your way to a meeting. And then, literally, all hell breaks loose. I was not a combat trained military person with months or years of specialized training. Just an ordinary citizen who was fighting for survival. My instinct was to run away from the immediate danger. Hide, take cover. I did yell for help. I always wondered if I would find my voice in a situation like that. And that day I got my answer. But the instinct to get to a safe place also led me to run like hell and get out of the way of bullets, intended for me or not. I found out later, from a detective who interviewed the man that he would have shot me had he been given the chance. So my instincts, first to get out of the house before the shooting began and then to run away, were correct.
We cannot expect our teachers to be military trained security guards. If one happens to go into the teaching profession, fine. But most people do not go into teaching to defend against a madman, intent on murder and mayhem. Those moments when someone enters a school, church or concert catches everyone off guard. And when the realization hits them that they are in a life or death situation, you do not know with certainty how people will react. But one thing is for sure, they will do everything their brain allows them to do to fight and try to live.
What they fail to consider is that we need to keep the guns out of the wrong hands. If no one could get a gun who is intent on shooting up a school (church or concert, etc) we dont need to turn our schools into armed camps. If our screening and background checks were better, the madmen cant easily get a gun capable of mowing people down in their desks. Stop them before they get to a school. Catch them and place them into treatment before they commit such horrible, irrevocable acts. Then teachers only need to worry about having enough paper and pencils for their students. Not whether they will all be alive when the dismissal bell sounds.
Jarqui
(10,126 posts)One other point I'd add: with all these teachers armed at school, how long before a mentally unbalanced kid swipes their weapon and starts shooting?