Beslan In America, Part 2: Changing The Mindset of Americans

I carry a gun. My job says I must carry a gun, and with a few exceptions, 24/7. I think guns are good in the right hands.

Statistics have shown that in states where carry-concealed laws are in place, crime has declined. The reasoning behind this is simple: Bad guys like easy targets. If some low life idiot wants to try to rob someone, he doesn't want resistance. If he thinks that a potential mark may be armed, chances are he'll move on to another.

Terrorists probe. They scope. They do their homework, gather intelligence, and find easy targets. Their goal isn't confrontation, it's striking terror in the victim's hearts. This is where our weakness is in school security and where guns would balance things out.

Anywhere you go, in any state, you see signs around schools denoting that it is a gun-free (And yes, drug free) zone. This has always struck me as a big advertisement for people with ill intentions: Come on in, we can't defend ourselves. There are very few schools in the United States that have armed security. They are mostly confined to large urban area schools with gang problems. Smaller schools in rural areas are more than likely not going to have any armed security, unless they happen to have a school resource officer or DARE officer.

In the absence of armed officers, I am wholly in favor of teachers being trained and going armed. The arguments against doing so are flawed and we won't discuss or debate this issue here. Just think about this for a moment: If only one teacher at Columbine High School had been armed, chances are the outcome would have been very different. I am not under the illusion that no one would have been injured or killed, but the casualties would have been minimal. One armed teacher, well trained with a side arm, could have eliminated the threat of two shooters in short order.

Just think of the advantage of having all teachers armed in any school. You basically have a platoon of armed soldiers. Even in small schools you would have ten to twenty teachers plus support staff.

At Beslan School Number One, there were 59 teachers plus a number of other staff. The Muslim terrorists who sieged the school numbered approximately 32. The terrorists were outnumbered 2 to 1. I think that the situation would have been much different if the teachers and support staff were armed and trained.

I also believe that armed parents should be welcomed at schools. We have to change our mindset when it comes to schools and guns. We cannot think of guns as something that just jumps up and kills people. Sure, there is a chance that someone with ill-intentions will come onto school grounds armed, but that has always been a possibility. When the good guys outnumber the bad guys it shouldn't be much of a concern. The concern, as I am trying to lay out, is multiple targets with ill intentions and the ability of someone to eliminate, or at least severely limit, the threat.

In my personal time, you will more than likely find me armed. This is the case even when I just run to the store to get some milk. I go to church armed. Unless it is practically impossible to go out armed, Mr. Glock and I usually have a date.

For those who cannot or will not go armed, there are things you can do also. There is an old saying in law enforcement: It is better to be a good witness than just another statistic.

We no longer live in an age where just a single school shooter is possible. That world is forever gone after 9/11. We have to start thinking in terms of small arms combat, close-quartered, on American soil, in our own backyard. To do otherwise is not only foolish but naive.

In part 3 I will discuss what to do and what not to do in case of a hostile takeover of a school.

Part 3: What to do if an attack occurs