Centennial High School Shooting: The quick response by an armed school guard – a local sheriff deputy – proves the NRA is right – good guys with guns stop bad guys with guns.
Mainstream media quickly dropped recent school shooting that took place in Centennial, Colorado December 13, 2013 once it was reported there was no AR-15 involved by Law Enforcement Officials. However, in regard to the gun debate, and what might be done to prevent violence at our schools, the most important fact is that the incident was over in less than 80 seconds because of the rapid response from an armed police officer on campus. “[The shooter] committed suicide in the libraryas an armed deputy stationed at the school cornered him, police said.”
Following the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy in Newtown, CT, the NRA advocated the use of armed personnel, in whatever form any particular school district deemed appropriate, police, retired law enforcement, or armed faculty and staff. Many school districts utilize local police and sheriff’s departments. In fact, according to the Department of Justice, nearly 17,000 officers from almost half of police and one-third of sheriff departments serve as School Resource Officers (SRO’s) in roughly half of all schools. Following Newtown, some districts have also allowed for school staff to be armed while at school as well.
The NRA was severely criticized by liberals, mainstream media, and anti-gun organizations as crass and insensitive. ‘How dare they?’ liberals quipped. ‘Isn’t it obvious the last thing we need is more guns in schools?’, they berated.
It turns out the NRA was right.
What actually should be obvious to any observer with even the smallest hint of objectivity is that if nearly half of schools are already utilizing armed ‘good guys’ that it should be looked at as a serious option. Liberals might be shocked to learn that President Clinton signed a bill that provided millions in additional funding to do just that following the tragedy at Columbine, just miles from the Centennial shooting.
This most recent incident is tragic – an innocent girl murdered. Yet it could have been much more tragic were it not the extremely rapid response from armed officer at Arapahoe High School. “In less than 80 seconds”, the incident was over. By contrast, the Columbine incident lasted nearly an hour.
The shooter took his life after being cornered. Facing armed response from a good guy who could shoot back should he attempt violent resistance, or the prospect of facing the consequences of his actions if he surrendered, he choose to shoot himself. Parents and school boards everywhere should be taking note: “The rampage might have resulted in many more casualties had it not been for the quick response of a deputy sheriff who was working as a school resource officer at the school,” said Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson. “Once [the deputy] learned of the threat, he ran …yelling for people to get down and identified himself as a county deputy sheriff. We know for a fact that the shooter knew that the deputy was in the immediate area and, while the deputy was containing the shooter, the shooter took his own life.” The Sheriff also credited the adoption of the so-called active shooter response protocol, which was developed after Columbine, and lockdown rehearsal drills practiced by school staff and students.
Barring the rapid response from an armed officer, there very likely could have been more innocent children killed. The shooter had a pump-action shotgun, 125 shotgun shells, a machete, and three molotov cocktails, one of which was used in the library where he shot Claire Davis, and attempted to shoot the school librarian. Because of the SRO’s quick response, he was contained in the library, where he also took his own life, with no more innocent loss of life. This is not the assessment of the “evil” NRA’s say-so, this is the local, elected-and-accountable-to-the-people Sheriff. The NRA is vindicated, again, by this outcome: a good guy with a guy and the threat potential of returned force to the bad guy, prevented any further innocent deaths.
By Matt MacBradaigh. Matt
is a Christian, Husband, Father, Patriot, and Conservative from the
Pacific Northwest. Matt writes about the Second Amendment, Gun Control,
Gun Rights, and Gun Policy issues and is published on The Bell Towers, The Brenner Brief, PolicyMic. TavernKeepers, and Vocativ.
Follow Me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/2AFight
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Centennial High School Shooting Fast Response Proves NRA Right – Good Guys With Guns Stop Bad Guys
Centennial High School Shooting: The quick response by an armed school guard – a local sheriff deputy – proves the NRA is right – good guys with guns stop bad guys with guns.
Mainstream media quickly dropped recent school shooting that took place in Centennial, Colorado December 13, 2013 once it was reported there was no AR-15 involved by Law Enforcement Officials. However, in regard to the gun debate, and what might be done to prevent violence at our schools, the most important fact is that the incident was over in less than 80 seconds because of the rapid response from an armed police officer on campus. “[The shooter] committed suicide in the library as an armed deputy stationed at the school cornered him, police said.”
Following the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy in Newtown, CT, the NRA advocated the use of armed personnel, in whatever form any particular school district deemed appropriate, police, retired law enforcement, or armed faculty and staff. Many school districts utilize local police and sheriff’s departments. In fact, according to the Department of Justice, nearly 17,000 officers from almost half of police and one-third of sheriff departments serve as School Resource Officers (SRO’s) in roughly half of all schools. Following Newtown, some districts have also allowed school staff to be armed while at school as well.
The NRA was severely criticized by liberals, mainstream media, and anti-gun rights organizations as crass and insensitive. ‘How dare they?’ liberals quipped. ‘Isn’t it obvious the last thing we need is more guns in schools?’, they berated.
It turns out the NRA was right.
What actually should be obvious to any observer with even the smallest hint of objectivity is that if nearly half of schools are already utilizing armed ‘good guys’ that it should be looked at as a serious option. Liberals might be shocked to learn that President Clinton signed a bill that provided millions in additional funding to do just that following the tragedy at Columbine, just miles from the Centennial shooting.
This most recent incident is tragic – an innocent girl murdered. Yet it could have been much more tragic were it not the extremely rapid response from armed officer at Arapahoe High School. “In less than 80 seconds”, the incident was over. By contrast, the Columbine incident lasted nearly an hour.
The shooter took his life after being cornered. Facing armed response from a good guy who could shoot back should he attempt violent resistance, or the prospect of facing the consequences of his actions if he surrendered, he choose to shoot himself. Parents and school boards everywhere should be taking note: “The rampage might have resulted in many more casualties had it not been for the quick response of a deputy sheriff who was working as a school resource officer at the school,” said Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson. “Once [the deputy] learned of the threat, he ran …yelling for people to get down and identified himself as a county deputy sheriff. We know for a fact that the shooter knew that the deputy was in the immediate area and, while the deputy was containing the shooter, the shooter took his own life.” The Sheriff also credited the adoption of the so-called active shooter response protocol, which was developed after Columbine, and lockdown rehearsal drills practiced by school staff and students.
Barring the rapid response from an armed officer, there very likely could have been more innocent children killed. The shooter had a pump-action shotgun, 125 shotgun shells, a machete, and three molotov cocktails, one of which was used in the library where he shot student Claire Davis, and attempted to shoot the school librarian. Because of the SRO’s quick response, he was contained in the library, where he also took his own life, with no more innocent loss of life. This is not the press release of the NRA, this is the assessment of locally elected and accountable-to-the-people Sheriff. The NRA is vindicated – again – by this outcome: a good guy with a guy and the threat potential of returned force to the bad guy, prevented any further innocent deaths.
This article was originally published on Brenner Brief. Original publish date Jan 18, 2014. Original author, Matt MacBradaigh.
All public places should have armed security
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