This will drive the libs crazy.

As you read the article, remember the source.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/0...guns-in-schools.html

Florida School Hires 2 Combat Veterans to Take Down Active Shooters

By Christina Caron
Feb. 11, 2019

By the end of February, the students at Manatee School for the Arts in Palmetto, Fla., will see two combat veterans in body armor roaming the grounds, each carrying a 9-millimeter Glock handgun and a semiautomatic rifle with a 17-inch barrel.

If an armed intruder were to enter the campus, “we’re not looking for a fair fight,” Bill Jones, the principal, said in an interview. “We’re looking at an overwhelming advantage.”

Legislation passed after the Parkland massacre last year requires schools in Florida to have at least one “safe-school officer.” Manatee School for the Arts, a charter for 2,100 middle and high school students, is the only school in Manatee County that chose to hire guards who carry rifles, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Department, which trained the guards.

“It’s just a much more effective weapon than the handgun is,” Dr. Jones said.

The decision to patrol with long guns is “very unusual,” said Michael Dorn, the executive director of Safe Havens International, which has performed security assessments at dozens of public school systems throughout Florida, including three of the state’s largest school districts.

Mr. Dorn said he was not aware of any school guards in the United States who openly carry long guns, though it is not unusual in some areas overseas.

“It’s not something that we typically advise our clients to do for a variety of reasons,” he added, in part because someone might knock out the officer and take the weapon, and it’s more difficult to subdue and handcuff an assailant while carrying a long gun.

Manatee School for the Arts is also adding a guard shack to its entrance and will raise its perimeter fencing by two feet.

Florida’s bill, named the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act after the school where the Parkland shooting occurred a year ago this week, gave schools the option of choosing between a school resource officer, who is employed by a law enforcement agency; a school safety officer, who is employed by either a law enforcement agency or by the district school board; or a school guardian, a school employee trained to stop lethal attacks.

Last year, an Associated Press survey found that nine of the state’s 67 countywide school districts were supplementing officers by employing full-time guardians. The survey did not specify the type of weapons the guards would be using.

The district’s public middle and high schools have school resource officers, he added.

Manatee School for the Arts hired one guardian with 15 years of infantry experience who has now been on campus for a couple of months, Dr. Jones said. A second guardian, also a combat veteran, is finishing his training and will begin working this month, he added.

Guardians are required to complete at least 132 hours of firearm safety and proficiency training.

Dr. Jones said the school hired combat veterans because he wanted guards who wouldn’t hesitate to go after a gunman.

“I don’t want this to be the first time they’ve had someone shooting at them,” he said.

So far, Dr. Jones said, “most parents have been very accepting.”

To assuage safety concerns about the high-powered weapons, the school requires its guardians to keep the chambers of their Kel-Tec RDB semiautomatic rifles empty, and the guns are not stored on campus.

The presence of an armed guard doesn’t necessarily deter violence. During the shooting last February that left 17 in Parkland dead, there was an armed school resource officer standing by the door to the building who was later widely criticized for not entering. (He said he thought at the time that the gunman was outside.)

And in 2016, a teacher in Michigan was grazed in the neck by a bullet when a school resource officer negligently fired his gun. And in some cases, agitated students have grabbed officers’ guns, even while the guns were in holsters.

Dr. Jones estimated that the total cost of the new security measures would be close to $200,000 for the 2018-19 school year, and said the armed guards would earn a yearly salary of about $50,000. It “substantially exceeds” the money received from the state, he added.

Despite the heightened fear over school shootings, active shooters are statistically rare.

Unintentional injury, which includes traffic accidents and drowning, is the leading cause of death for American school-age children.

“Our mind-set is so locked into the rare but truly catastrophic active-shooter event,” Mr. Dorn said.

On school property, students and school employees are more likely to die by suicide than a mass shooting, he added.

Spending a lot of money to arm security officers addresses only one type of school safety concern, said Amanda Klinger, the director of operations at the Educator’s School Safety Network, an organization that trains educators and administrators in violence-prevention measures.

“We don’t know that those security interventions will stop the things that they’re seeking to stop,” Ms. Klinger said. “My question is, what else are they doing to keep kids safe in schools? What are they doing to keep kids safe from risks or threats other than active shooters?”

Peace through superior firepower

The elites children are protected by armed guard, about time the rest of them are.

quote:

a semiautomatic rifle with a 17-inch barrel

17 inches? That sounds scary.

In his 2005 book, Terror at Beslan, John Giduck, a former SEAL (as I understand his background), recommended this exact same thing for U.S. schools. Not surprisingly, he recommended relying on former special operations types, but otherwise the idea was the same: hire highly qualified military veterans for full time security at our schools. They would guard the schools and events and train as necessary during the summer. At the time I wondered if such a practice would ever come about in America.

Unsurprisingly, that article doesn't miss a beat in pointing out all the liberal talking points, same shit different day for the NYT.

Rocking the KelTec RDB.

What amazed me was that there wasn’t enough resistance to the idea from parents and staff/faculty to absolutely kill it. We have places in the U.S. where school resource officers—real police officers—cannot be armed in school. And it’s not just limited to hoplophobes. When I polled the question here some years ago about allowing armed volunteers to provide security in schools, some of the responses by members were, “I don’t want Bubba protecting my kids!”

I recently spent some time with several of the arts teachers from this school. They are some great folks.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
John Giduck, a former SEAL (as I understand his background)

No.

He is not a former SEAL. He's not any sort of former special operations. His military career consists of being discharged from the Army after 58 days in Basic Training.

He's an author and speaker who likes to make vague allusions about having "worked with various (mainly foreign) spec ops units" in an attempt to make himself seem more credible.

He's careful not to make specific claims these days, after being called out repeatedly in the past for lying about having been a Green Beret, Ranger, LEO, and some sort of Russian Special Forces Superman.

A Google will turn up plenty of webpages and forum threads debunking his various claims/allusions to fame.

We really need to take a page from Israel's book on security.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
We really need to take a page from Israel's book on security.

The Israeli school teachers that carry have all done military service. Most of the teachers here hate the military or anyone that carries a gun.

Well, it appears at least one school in Florida has its head screwed on right. Good for them. Unfortunately, since most public schools are governed by leftists, I doubt this will be a wide spread solution across the state.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Rocking the KelTec RDB.

Surprised, and bit disappointed they didn't go a M4 style patrol carbine.

Kel-Tec RDB, right?

quote:

Originally posted by Mountain Man:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Rocking the KelTec RDB.

Surprised, and bit disappointed they didn't go a M4 style patrol carbine.

Might have gotten a deal since Keltec is a Florida company.

I can see the desire for a bullpup in this case, a smaller overall rifle, harder for students to bump into / grab / etc.

But I would take an AUG or Tavor any-day over a Keltec.

I'm unfamiliar with the RDB. Was it the shorter length they wanted?? Trying to look for advantages over an M4 platform for a combat veteran to seize upon.

I dunno.
That untidy ensemble has a range ninja vibe to it.

Well, thank goodness that we're not missing the point.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
No.

Thanks. When his name came up some years ago JALLEN made reference to some inflated claims (as I understood him), but as he knew/was related to at least one SEAL himself and didn’t make a categorical statement about Giduck’s status, I thought that left open the possibility he had had some special operations experience. But maybe that was just his lawyer’s conservatism about saying bad things about someone that I misunderstood.

The book Giduck wrote about Beslan was nevertheless very informative, if not the definitive work on the subject, and he did make the well-reasoned (IMO) suggestion about effective school guards.