Another consideration is that most of the unstable individuals who attempt mass murder specifically pick easy targets.
Some of the ones who’ve survived to be questioned and charged have explicitly stated that they avoided some potential targets due to the possibility of encountering armed resistance, and instead chose another location perceived as an easier target.
Merely the perception that a school might have any, or many individuals with concealed carry, can deter these unstable cowards.
I don't want to belabor this discussion too much, lest we venture into territory deemed unsuited for this sub. However, my goal here is to get folks to think about this differently.
I will say, I agree with
oldmanwilly
. I live in a similar district and there is a reasonable expectation that everyone is running around strapped. Someone looking to cause harm to a vulnerable target is going to end up having a bad day. However, these are hill people, rednecks, and yes, arguably great marksmen with a rifle. They grew up with rifles in their kitchens and trucks. They know how to shoot.
Very few have any other kind of training though, and fewer do not know how they will actually act in a high stress violent situation. It's a very important distinction. How many of you have had training in clearing a school in the event of a violent event? I have. It's stressful, even in a controlled environment where kids are running at you with fake guns.
We don't live in a society where that old adage, "An armed society is a polite one", works anymore. The world is more complicated, the US is far more complicated. The US alone has more guns in the hands of its population than it ever has before, and our violent crime (though trending downward) is still remarkably high. Marketing from firearms manufacturers has shifted from targeting the good ol' boys and gals to fellas cosplaying Call of Duty characters and gun bunnies. Less about personal and home defense and more about militancy. We have a widespread mental health crisis that our government has shown little initiative in addressing. What happens when you combine a lack of significant mental health care with an abundance of firearms and irresponsible marketing? We see the answer to that question play out just about every single day.
In short, we don't have enough data to support that simple assumption/perception can act as deterrence. It's a feel-good sentiment that feels like it should work in the real world, and perhaps it does in small sample sizes. Unfortunately, my little community is vastly different from Portland, which is an hour and a half away, and what may make sense here will not fly in any measurable way up there. Relying on such a nebulous assumption, thinking it is actual deterrence, only works until it doesn't. In the use of force continuum, physical presence is the very first stage of deterrence. We aren't presenting that actual presence with concealed carry; we are only conveying an assumption. Plenty of folks who aren't right in the head will be plenty willing to take that gamble.
We need to stop being so simple minded about this. The US is far bigger and way more complicated than it was 50+ years ago and it's long time we start to recognize it and adjust our thinking and arguments accordingly.
To cite another example of arming teachers being a terrible idea: My wife is an educator, more specifically she works in behavioral health. All day, every day, she is getting beat up by grade school kids with behavioral issues and developmental disabilities. She is the one that gets called when a teacher is over their head. She doesn't carry anything more on her person than a radio and her badge, lest even a pen get taken off her in a scuffle and she get injured. So many of us don't have any real understanding of our public schools, yet we think that arming our teachers is going to solve a bunch of problems. Sorry, it's straight up a terrible idea. Go volunteer for a week at a local public school, I guarantee it will make an impact on your thinking.
A better solution is to implement a security presence. But again, we have to prioritize that in the budget, and someone has to pay for it. If you don't want to volunteer at a populated school, watch the second episode of the show Adolescence. The whole episode is in a high school and it's absolute madness. Public schools aren't Pleasantville anymore.
