Fierce Patriots

Conservative Political News

  • Subscribe

<![CDATA[student safety]]>

Texas House wants armed response on all school campuses

by Leave a Comment

Consider this a follow up to today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co, where we discussed armed school staff with FASTER Colorado’s Laura Carno. According to the school safety advocate, interest in the program is soaring in Colorado in the wake of the Covenant School shootings in Nashville, but clearly the strategy is growing in popularity in other states as well.

Texas already allows for school districts to put armed staff members in place through either the School Marshal or Guardian programs, but a bill that sailed through the state House this week would make an armed response mandatory on every public school campus in the state.

House Bill 3 by Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, would require any armed officer or employee who is placed in a school to complete school safety-specific handgun instruction training. The bill would also require at least one annual intruder detection audit in each district, and it calls for local law enforcement in rural counties to meet with school district officials about safety.

HB 3, which the House passed by a 119-25 vote, would provide districts with at least $100 per student and $15,000 per campus to maintain and improve school safety.

“At the end of the day, teachers, students and their families deserve safe classrooms, and school administrators need the support of the state and cooperation of law enforcement to make those safe classrooms a reality,” Burrows said.

The handful of legislators who opposed the measure brought nothing but anti-gun talking points to the debate, which failed to persuade the bipartisan majority that signed off on HB 3.

Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, worried there aren’t enough specifications in the bills about the type of training campus employees would need to complete before being allowed to carry guns in schools.

“How are we going to make sure that those people who are armed on school campuses are making them safer, not making them more dangerous?” Goodwin asked.

Still others were alarmed that the bills would open the door for any district employee, including teachers, to carry guns in schools. HB 3 requires each school to have at least one armed officer or employee, and that person would need to undergo training.

Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos, D-Richardson, offered an amendment Monday that would have narrowed the type of employees who could carry a weapon in schools, but that proposal was shot down.

“Expecting to confront and neutralize an active shooter is not realistic, and frankly (it’s) absurd,” Ramos said. “Putting in a teacher in a position to possibly have to shoot their own student, this is definitely incredible that we’re even having this conversation today.”

Again, Texas already has two different programs that allow for armed school staff on campus, so it’s not like lawmakers are having to re-invent the wheel here. And none of the dozens of districts where the School Marshal or Guardian programs are already in place have seen issues with training or a lack of volunteers.

As for Ramos’s assertion that it’s “absurd” to think that a teacher or staff member could confront or neutralize an active shooter, I’d argue it’s even more absurd (and dangerous) to allow an armed threat on campus to go unchecked for even ten or fifteen minutes while waiting for police to arrive. Sadly, as Uvalde showed us, even when officers are present they may not engage the threat. Having an armed school staffer doesn’t guarantee a faster response, but if definitely increases the odds that an armed attacker will be met with deadly force within seconds, not minutes.

I don’t think any teacher or staffer wants to be in a position where they would have to shoot their own student, but if it meant saving the lives of the other kids in their classroom I think that’s a burden they’d shoulder… especially given the alternative.

The presence of these armed staffers will also make schools harder targets, which will likely lead to fewer targeted attacks on campus to begin with. Most of these killers are cowards who are looking for a slaughter, not a gun fight. The Covenant School shooter in Nashville reportedly picked their target in part because they were concerned about security at another potential location, and if potential school shooters know that they’re probably going to be met with a near instantaneous armed response that may very well cause them to shift their plans or abandon them altogether. HB 3 is a big step in the right direction, and I hope that it’s received with just as much support by the Texas Senate in the days ahead.

Interest in armed school staff soaring in Colorado

by Leave a Comment

The last time FASTER Colorado’s founder Laura Carno joined us on Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co it was shortly after the shootings at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, and Carno told us that the horrific incident had prompted a number of school districts around the state to reach out and learn more about their training for armed school staff. On today’s program, Carno tells Bearing Arms that the recent shootings at Covenant School in Nashville has resulted in an even larger surge in demand for FASTER Colorado’s services, with about three times as many districts reaching out over the past month than in the weeks after Uvalde.

FASTER Colorado has been around for seven years, inspired by the FASTER Saves Lives program implemented several years earlier in Ohio by the Buckeye Firearms Association. During that time hundreds of educators and school staffers from dozens of schools across the state of Colorado have taken part in the group’s training sessions; many of them from rural districts where a dedicated school resource officer may not be an option given police staffing issues and school budgets.

But Carno says she’s seeing interest even among districts that do have the resources to provide for an armed school resource officer, which is a very good thing. As she points out, the goal is to stop an attack as quickly as possible, and a uniformed officer on campus may not be in a position to provide an immediate response if a targeted attack on a school takes place. Having armed school staff in place helps to reduce a response time from minutes to seconds, saving lives in the process.

Carno also dispelled several myths about armed school staff during our conversation, starting with the claim by anti-gun activists that armed teachers or staff members could end up using their lawfully-carried guns to hurt students. Carno’s heard all kinds of outlandish scenarios from the gun control lobby over the years, including the prospect of a teacher shooting a student during an argument about grades, but just as we don’t see stories about teachers punching students in the face over disputes about homework, armed school staffers are not whipping out their guns every time a student pushes back on their grades.

Carno also says it’s important to remember that not every school employee carrying a firearm to protect the students under their care are actually classroom teachers. About 40% of the staff that undergo FASTER Colorado instruction are working in a classroom setting, but Carno says the organization has also taught school nurses, counselors, superintendents, front office staff, and even lunch ladies how to serve as a first line of defense for students.

Another myth: that the instruction these staffers receive is all about shooting to stop a threat. While range time is absolutely a major part of FASTER Colorado’s focus, Carno says that instructors are also teaching de-escalation techniques that can prevent a shooting from taking place without having to pull the trigger of their own firearm.

And unlike school resource officers, armed school staffers are not serving as law enforcement officers on the job. They’re not patting down students, searching for drugs, or making arrests on campus. Instead, they’re going about their normal job duties. Only if there’s an active threat on campus do these staffers switch into guardian mode, willing and able to protect the kids on campus with deadly force if necessary.

Carno and the FASTER Colorado trainers are truly doing life-saving work, and I’m so glad to see so many districts are taking an interest in providing another layer of security to their campuses. If you want to learn more about FASTER Colorado you can do so here, and you can also support their efforts with a donation. FASTER Colorado strives to make the training they provide free of charge as often as possible through the use of scholarships and donor support, so show them some love if you can and be sure to check out my entire conversation with Laura Carno in the video window below.

2023 National Train a Teacher Day approaching

by Leave a Comment

The big talk is that people are supposed to #dosomething whenever there’s some sort of a problem or conflict. The hashtag brigade is not something that’s completely owned by the progressive left, and they’re not the only ones who care to enact change in our communities and the lives of those around us. Gun owners and Second Amendment supporters are often more quiet about the work that they do, and that might be a matter of modesty or just the practicality of being industrious. 

Regardless, there are Second Amendment supporters and instructors that do #dosomething. That’s why it draws my ire whenever I hear the talking points of the gun-grabbers saying that gun owners don’t care about the children, mass-casualty events, or protecting our communities. Dedication from the Second Amendment crowd is evident in a number of programs and initiatives, and the organizers and volunteers of the National Train a Teacher Day is one such group that puts their money where their mouths are.

A recent announcement by the organizers of NTATD set the date to be June 17, 2023. But what is the National Train a Teacher Day, and why did it come about?

NTATD Co-Founder Grant Gallagher (ScotShotLLC, NRA and USCCA Training Counselor) called Klint Macro on the phone the day the horrible act of evil took place in Parkland, Florida. Grant said, “We need to do something! The ENTIRE firearms training community needs to do something. Something that educates and endorses exercising our Rights instead of restricting them. Perhaps a ‘National Train A Teacher Day’, what do you think?” Klint Macro said, “let’s make it happen!” Klint had the website domain secured with in the hour and he had built the website and published the next day. The first National Train A Teacher Day was in 2018. Each year this grassroots movement of independent instructors from across the country grows and reaches more of those who are charged with the safety and education of our children.

Gallagher and Macro are now celebrating the 6th annual NTATD. The core of the program is to ensure the people who interact with our children are trained and ready, should the unthinkable occur where who’s most precious to society are educated or engage in play.

Teachers, custodians, administrators, religions educators and others have understood that they have a choice. They have the choice to be active in the face of adversity. They have the choice to fight back if they need to. They have the choice to provide life-saving first-aid. They have a choice to exercise their Rights to care for and protect those in their charge.

To support this demand, trainers all across our great country are stepping up to offer their skills free of charge. This training is in first-aid, situational awareness, pepper-spray, and TASER, as well as understanding mass shooter events, crisis management and defensive firearm use.

Trainers are invited to participate in the 2023 program. The list of requirements is on their webpage, where one can review them, as well as contact the organizers to volunteer. This is an opportunity for the eligible instructors out there be able to give back and #dosomething.

If you’re an educator that’s interested in participating in getting training from one of the instructors, the NTATD site has a list of participating instructors.

Each Volunteer Instructor, Trainer, or Coach listed has agreed to offer free training to Teachers, Administrators, and School Staff on Saturday, June 17th, 2023.

To contact an Instructor, Trainer, or Coach, find one close to you and enter your name and email address in their contact field, once they receive your notification, they will contact you shortly.

The directory of instructors and their locations, organized by state, can be viewed HERE.

Seeing instructors and advocates get together to make a difference is a great thing. Programs like NTATD show that gun owners do care about the safety and wellbeing of our fellow man. Drawing a comparison to some of the Astroturf groups, none of them host any type of training to add to the corporal or intellectual knowledge and skill set of their followers. Gallagher and Macro’s efforts need to be applauded, as well as their volunteers! Thank you gentlemen and ladies!

National Train A Teacher Day is sponsored by the United States Concealed Carry Association and Sabre Red. For more information about volunteering or participating in the program, be sure to visit their homepage at NationalTrainATeacherDay.com/ and check out an informational video there, or in the embed below.

Texas school district says “yes” to armed school staff

by Leave a Comment

While Democrats in the Lone Star State’s legislature are demanding their Republican colleagues enact a host of gun control measures to improve school safety, including a ban on sales of semi-automatic rifles to adults younger than 21, one school district in central Texas is taking a more substantive approach to keeping kids safe on campus.

This week the San Marcos Independent School District voted to establish a School Marshal program that will ensure an armed presence at each of the city’s eight elementary schools. With the 6-1 vote the district joins dozens of others across the state that have adopted either the School Marshal or Guardian programs, both of which allow for armed school staff to serve as a first line of defense in case of a targeted attack on a school campus.

In this case, it sounds like San Marcos may not have had another option if it wanted to maintain an armed response in schools. The San Marcos school district currently utilizes off-duty officers for that purpose, but once the School Marshal program those resource officers will go away. The local police chief says that’s not the ideal situation, but believes those resources are needed elsewhere in the city.

To be hired as marshals, applicants would be required to have certification from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. The marshals will also take part in regular training through the San Marcos Police Department, according to district officials and San Marcos police Chief Stan Standridge, who spoke during the Monday school board meeting.

Standridge, the San Marcos police chief, said he agreed the best solution would be to have more uniformed school resource officers on the district’s campuses. He said the city doesn’t have the resources to make that happen, mainly due to swift population growth in San Marcos that has contributed to an increase in violent crime.

If school officials asked for more school resource officers, “even if I had the additional officers, we would not assign them to campuses,” Standridge said. “Why? Because we need them in the field responding to 911 to mitigate this remarkable increase in violent crime.”

The population of San Marcos has exploded in recent decades, with a 50% increase in the number of residents reported between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. The city’s police department has not been able to keep up with the rise in population, with Standridge complaining last year that staffing levels in his department were far below what’s needed.

According to the Advisory Panel, the San Marcos Police Department has faced staffing issues for over 10 years now, resulting in an insufficient number of officers to attend to crimes. San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge expressed the difficulty staffing issues have caused for the police department.

“We have as many as 25% of our workforce out, meaning they’re functionally not working because of COVID, family medical leave, or long-term injury,” Standridge said. “I’m greatly concerned because we have unprecedented crime numbers in San Marcos at a time when staffing couldn’t be worse.”

Ideally the San Marcos schools would have both SROs and armed school staff, which researcher Dr. J. Eric Dietz of Purdue University’s Homeland Security Institute says is the fastest and most effective way to stop an active shooter on a campus. But if that’s not an option in San Marcos because of the staffing issues, at least having those trained and vetted staffers in place will provide some ability to respond within seconds, not minutes.

We’re going to be talking more about armed school staff next week on Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co with FASTER Colorado’s Laura Carno, but be sure to check out more on the San Marcos situation in the video window below, as well as an update to an armed citizen story involving an Iowa mom who prevented her child from being abducted earlier this year. We’re also taking a closer look at the mob violence last weekend in Chicago and the Good Samaritan who stepped in to help save a couple after police allegedly drove right past the attack on a young couple without stopping.