Blog
School Safety
Armed Faculty
Here are the top 8 armed school staff myths:
[Source]
Myth: We shouldn’t require teachers to carry a gun.
Fact:
No district is requiring any school staffer to carry a concealed
firearm. When a school district decides to authorize staff to carry,
they ask for volunteers. And most districts get far more volunteers than
they thought they would need.
There is not currently a requirement for anyone to carry, and no one is talking about making it a requirement. It would be an equally ludicrous suggestion to require all citizens to carry a concealed firearm, where concealed carry is legal.
Myth: Teachers don’t want to carry a gun, they want to teach.
Fact:
Many teachers already carry a concealed firearm in the rest of their
lives. Absent being authorized to carry on campus, they must disarm for
work.
Myth: We can’t train teachers to be police officers; they don’t have the right mindset.
Fact:
No one is suggesting they be made into police officers. Authorized
school staffers are extremely well trained in stopping an active killer,
and stopping the bleeding for those who have been injured. Both of these skill-sets will save lives.
When you talk to those school staffers who have been trained and carry on campus today, they are insulted by the suggestion that they don’t have the mindset to stop someone trying to kill their kids.
Myth: Cops won’t know who the bad guy is if teachers also have guns.
Fact:
A vast majority of these mass casualty events are over before law
enforcement arrives. Staffers are trained on how to account for
potential confusion in the 911 call, and how to advise law enforcement
who the armed defender is. Schools that have armed staff already talk to
their local law enforcement to advise them just who on campus is armed.
Myth: Kids will be frightened if they see their teacher with a gun.
Fact:
Kids don’t see the firearms. Armed school staff carry concealed, and no
one is talking about them open carrying. Some school children
interviewed actually appreciate armed staff because it makes them feel
protected.
Myth: Our school has a School Resource Officer
(SRO) or other armed and uniformed security. We are protected and don’t
need additional armed staff.
Fact: Having
armed and uniformed security staff on campus is better than no one being
armed. If a campus is large enough for an SRO, it’s a large campus. In
the 2013 attack on Arapahoe High School in Centennial, CO, there was an
SRO on campus. When he confronted the killer, the coward killed himself.
But it was not in time to save Claire Davis. The SRO responded at full
speed to the sound of gunfire, but in the 45-seconds it took him to get
there, it was too late to save Claire. Had there been an armed staff
member closer than 45-seconds away, they just may have been a chance to
stop him before he was able to kill her.
In Parkland Florida, there was an SRO on campus and that was neither a deterrent nor a guarantee against the loss of innocent life.
Myth:
Based on the low “hit rate” of law enforcement when they fire their
service weapon, there is no way an armed teacher can hit the killer.
Fact:
Most of these killers commit suicide when confronted with an armed
defender, without a shot being fired. And in a situation where an armed
staff member would have to engage the killer, any chance to stop him is
better than no chance to stop him.
In addition, FASTER trained school staff members pass a qualification test that exceeds the test that law enforcement is required to pass in their respective states.
Myth: Schools can’t afford school supplies, how can we expect them to afford guns and training?
Fact:
Groups like FASTERSavesLives in Ohio and FASTERColorado in Colorado
raise private money to help schools afford the very advanced training.
Schools spend a lot of money on SROs, video systems, and other school
security measures. Training armed school staff is a very small expense
in comparison.
/Laura Carno
Laura Carno is the Executive Director of FASTERColorado.com, an organization that trains armed first responders in schools to stop the threat and stop the bleeding.
School Safety
Faculty Tenure
While speaking with CNN Senior White House Correspondent Jeff Zeleny, Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) stated he wants “teachers to teach” and will focus on law enforcement presence and “hardening” schools rather than having teachers carry firearms.
Zeleny asked, “Governor, you believe that arming school teachers is not the way to go. Why?”
Scott answered, “I believe you ought to make sure you have law enforcement. I think, we — what I’m going to do in Florida, is [spend a lot of money] I have a $500 million focus. I’m going to work my — with my legislature. We’re going to make sure there’s significant law enforcement in all the schools, so law enforcement is going to protect these schools, along with hardening, rather than having teachers. I want the teachers to teach.”
Governor Scott says that he "wants the teachers to teach." I'm certain that's also what Scott Beigel, a geography teacher at Parkland, FL wanted to do. However Beigel, with no means to defend himself or his students, was killed after he unlocked a classroom for students to hide in. If he would have had a gun, he would have had a good chance of being alive today to continue his desire to teach.
/fl
Law
Thomas, conservatives impatient at Supreme Court's inaction on 2nd Amendment
Thomas, in an opinion released on Tuesday, criticized the courts for a "general failure to afford the 2nd Amendment the respect due an enumerated constitutional right." He was writing a dissent after his colleagues declined to take up a challenge to California's 10-day waiting period as it applies to individuals who already own guns.
It's likely that any action at SCOTUS will involve interstate reciprocity for state-licensed carrying of personal firearms. It's obvious that the legislative branch doesn't want to solve the existing problem.
/fl
School Safety
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Comment
I have a tremendous amount of respect for Condoleezza Rice, but she, like others, doesn't seem to appreciate the critical importance of time when responding to a surprise attack. Innocent people die while 'the school' waits for the police to respond.
When a psychopathic murderer enters a school, it is no longer just a law enforcement problem; it becomes an immediate school problem. Either the school is prepared to deal with the problem, or they are not. We have seen too much of what happens when they are not.
The goal is to prevent the loss of life. Every second counts!
There are some well thought out ways of making adequate preparation to interdict deadly threats.
/fl
School Safety
Need for Faculty Responders
The days of "Officer Friendly" finishing out his tenure at the local public school are clearly over!
How can anyone deny the need for trained and equipped faculty responders in our school systems after the most recent failure of government-run "Public Safety?"
Why waste valuable time waiting for the police, or anyone else, to respond to the scene when there is an strategic interdiction-capable force already in place on scene?
An added benefit of having this kind of program in place is also the greatest benefit; the more effective the strategy, the more unlikely it is there will ever be a need to implement the strategy.
/fl
Culture
How can you find a "Progressive?"
In the case of the Miami-Dade and Broward counties school system's, the answer to the above question would be: follow the trail of dead bodies!
In 2012 and 2013 while doing research into the Trayvon Martin shooting we discovered an alarming set of school policies being enacted in Miami-Dade and Broward County Florida. The policies were called “diversionary programs” and were essentially about stopping High School students from being arrested. Law enforcement was instructed to avoid arrests and defer criminal conduct to school administrators.
Students who engaged in violence, drug sales, robberies, burglaries, theft and other various crimes were intentionally kept out of the criminal justice system. County administrators and School Superintendents told local and county law enforcement officers to stop arresting students.
Sad but true.
/fl
Culture
More about "The Discussion"
Colton Haab, a student who survived last week’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, refused to participate in a CNN Town Hall on Wednesday night after he was told to ask a “scripted” question.
In contrast to CNN's charade, President Trump is exercising sound leadership by advocating the strategic placement of trained responders within our school system's.
Programs such as FASTER provide not only a timely strategic response in countering the threat, but also training in how to deal with any trauma issues that might occur.
/fl
Culture
The "Debate" over Guns
Following every mass-murder in one of those damned "gun-free zones", member's of the hoplophobic sub-culture cry out for “common sense discussions” about firearms, as one of their tactics for demonizing gun owners....
But, they usually get a little tongue-tied when they are actually confronted with a “common sense” serious question about firearms and self defense.
For example:
It’s either this “deer in the headlight” reaction, or some of them just start shouting over the person who is trying to ask a common sense question.
You can identify the ones that have been in the ‘movement’ for a while; they avoid all common sense discussions, and resort to their 'strong suit'—lies and emotional pander.
/fl
Culture
Reality Check
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) — Minnesota set a record last year for the number of gun background checks the FBI conducted in the state.
More people are carrying guns than ever before, but the crime rate remains relatively low.
Gosh, none of them must be members of the NRA!
/fl
Crime
Behavior Analysis
I wasn't going to comment on this fiasco, but since the "media" is again trying to implicate the NRA (that includes me) with guilt in the matter, I'm compelled to vent a few words.
All the way back in September [2017], the ["FIB"] was informed that a YouTube user named Nikolas Cruz was publicly bragging about wanting to become a “professional school shooter.” On Wednesday [February 14, 2018], a guy named Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 people in a Florida high school....
...the bureau was unable to track down Cruz despite him having used his real name...
Isn't this the outfit with all the prime-paid gumshoes and the famed "Behavioral Analysis Unit"? And they can't get the handle on a mass murderer that has been, since 2010, the possible subject of 39 calls to the Broward County Sheriff's Department and who was openly posting threats online using his real name?
By the way, FASTER works. It's working in Ohio. It's working in Colorado. It will work in Florida...
/fl
Politics
"America has a problem..."
America has a problem. It’s called Congress. Or, the way Congress spends our tax money. And the way Congress authorizes the borrowing of money...
What's going on here? Our economy is growing at the best pace in years, and we have to borrow a trillion! Why are we doing this?
What is particularly unsettling is the performance of the Republican Party. The GOP did very well railing against Obama's doubling of the national debt. But now it runs the House, the Senate and the White House, and it increases spending all over again.
And the lack of budget discipline isn't the only problem..
National reciprocity was introduced in the Senate on March 1, 2017, and we have now hit the 48 week mark but [Senate Majority "leader"] McConnell is still looking the other way...
Failure to hold the line on spending places an unnecessary financial burden on future generation's, while failure to enact "common sense" reciprocity legislation burdens citizen's traveling interstate with the dilemma of having to choose whether to be "legal" or "safe."
Who cares about the "problem?" Good question. We will probably know the answer come next election.
/fl
Law and Order
"A National Disgrace"
In the video below, Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton, Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett and former U.S. attorney Joe DiGenova reacts to newly released FBI text messages:
The FBI has, in the past, experienced their share of being the indiscriminate 'maestro of Charlie Foxtrot', but they are facing an impossible task of covering it up this time!
/fl
Marksmanship
Zeroing a Rifle
Former Army Ranger sniper team leader Ryan Cleckner walks us through his process for sighting in a new rifle in real-time and delivers several other shooting tips in the process.
/NSSF
Politics
Justice in the dark
"If people start looking at the FBI as a political organization, the taint will be incredible,” said James Wedick, a 34-year agency veteran...
The reason why people are "looking at the FBI as a political organization" is because there has been an overwhelming amount of evidence presented to support that view, and now we are looking at a major audit of the FISA court in order to get things straightened out.
FISA-gate may become a more worrisome scandal than either Watergate or Iran-Contra. Why? Because our defense against government wrongdoing -- the press -- is defending such actions, not uncovering them. Liberal and progressive voices are excusing, not airing, the excesses of the DOJ and FBI.
Looking back, things started noticeably unraveling in the mid-90's during the Clinton administration years.
Sad.
/fl
Law and Order
Perspective on Crime
A majority of Americans say they think gun crime has increased over the past 20 years, even though it has actually fallen dramatically, a recent Pew Research Center survey shows.
Sources: DOJ, ATF AFMER & USITC, Pew Research Center, National Safety Council, Gallup
/NSSF
Politics
"You know that you're over the target......"
Reference: The "Memo"
..... when the flak is the heaviest!
That old saying might be a little tired, but it's as true today as it has ever been.
/fl
Accuracy in Media
Media still pushing this fake news story
Despite concerns that it could lead to extra violence against minorities, a bill advanced Wednesday to beef up Utah’s “stand your ground” law — which allows people to defend themselves with force without the need to retreat, even if possible.
Such a law helped George Zimmerman escape a murder conviction in the 2012 Florida shooting of Treyvon Martin, a black teenager returning to his home from a store.
The media in general has probably not concocted a bigger fake news story so far this century than the one they made up concerning the confrontation between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin.
There is good reason why George Zimmerman did in fact "escape" a murder conviction in that renowned case; he was not guilty! Anyone who is not perfectly clear on that fact should thoroughly review all of the sworn testimony given at trial; it's still available.
In addition to that much overlooked bit of truth, is the fact that the case didn't involve any "stand your ground" law. Martin had Zimmerman pinned to the ground in a manner that made it impossible for Zimmerman to escape; hence, there is no duty to retreat when it's impossible for a victim to retreat, and "stand your ground" is irrelevant.
There is a good reason why people should not trust media reports without verifying the facts.
/fl
UPDATE 12/04/2019
Setting the record straight:
George Zimmerman Sues Trayvon Martin's Parents, Florida Prosecutors, Benjamin Crump, Rachel Jeantel and Others for $100 Million
The Travon Hoax: Unmasking the Witness Fraud that Divided America
UPDATE 01/20/2020
Some people still cannot accept the truth!:
Lawsuit filed for $ 670,000 over "The Trayvon Hoax" film screening cancelation by Coral Gables Art Cinema