"Street Tactics: Reality Based Gun & Knife Fighting:
Preventing Mass Murders in School And Elsewhere "
"...Guns were specifically not allowed on the premises by official policy or by law...."
by Gabriel Suarez;Reprinted From: Concealed Carry Magazine- Introductory Issue
Law says you can't (carry a gun)? . . .I'll point out some dead people who would love to be living outlaws.
Some people will be shocked at the tone of this article. They should be.
February 2, 1996 - Moses Lake, Washington: Two students and one teacher killed, and one wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class.
March 13, 1996 - Dunblane, Scotland: 16 children and one teacher killed at Dunblane Primary School by Thomas Hamilton, who then killed himself. 10 others were wounded in the attack.
February 19, 1997 - Bethel, Alaska: Principal and one student killed, and two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16.
October 1, 1997 - Pearl, Mississippi: Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan.
December 1, 1997 - West Paducah, Kentucky: Three students killed, and five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School.
There you are with a gun held to your neck. Do you have the skills to save yourself?
March 24, 1998 - Jonesboro, Arkansas: Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside, as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods.
May 21, 1998 - Springfield, Oregon: Two students killed, and 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home.
June 15, 1998 - Richmond, Virginia: One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway.
April 20, 1999 - Littleton, Colorado: 14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, and 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves.
April 28, 1999 - Taber, Alberta, Canada: One student killed, and one wounded at W. R. Myers High School, in first fatal high school shooting in Canada in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school after he was severely ostracized by his classmates.
May 20, 1999 - Conyers, Georgia: Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend.
November 19, 1999 - Deming, New Mexico: Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School.
December 6, 1999 - Fort Gibson, Oklahoma: Four students wounded by Seth Trickey, 13, at Fort Gibson Middle School. May 26, 2000 - Lake Worth, Florida: One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol on the last day of classes.
March 5, 2001 - Santee, California: Two killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High School.
March 22, 2001 - Granite Hills, California: One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman shot and wounded Hoffman.
March 30, 2001 - Gary, Indiana: One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School.
November 12, 2001 - Caro, Michigan: Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself.
February 19, 2002 - Freising, Germany: Two killed in Eching by a man at the factory from which he had been fired. He then traveled to Freising and killed the headmaster of the technical school from which he had been expelled. He also wounded another teacher before killing himself.
April 26, 2002 - Erfurt, Germany: 13 teachers, two students, and one policeman killed, and ten wounded by Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, at the Johann Gutenberg secondary school. Steinhaeuser then killed himself.
April 24, 2003 - Red Lion, Pennsylvania: James Sheets, 14, killed principal, Eugene Segro, of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself.
September 24, 2003 - Cold Spring, Minnesota: Two students killed at Rocori High School by John Jason McLaughlin, 15.
March 21, 2005 - Red Lake, Minnesota: Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather and companion, then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead.
November 8, 2005 - Jacksboro, Tennessee: One 15-year-old shot and killed an assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously wounded two other administrators.
August 24, 2006 - Essex, Vermont: Christopher Williams, 27, looking for his ex-girlfriend at Essex Elementary School, shot two teachers, killing one and wounding another. Before going to the school, he killed the ex-girlfriend's mother.
September 13, 2006 - Montreal, Canada: Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon at Dawson College.
Anastasia De Sousa, 18, died and more than a dozen students and faculty were wounded before Gill killed himself.
September 26, 2006 - Bailey, Colorado: Adult male held six students hostage at Platte Canyon High School and then shot and killed Emily Keyes, 16, and himself.
September 29, 2006 - Cazenovia, Wisconsin: A 15-year-old student shot and killed Weston School principal, John Klang.
October 3, 2006 - Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania: 32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts IV entered the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School and shot 10 schoolgirls, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years old, and then himself. Five of the girls and Roberts died.
Quite a list, isn't it? Four school shootings in the last couple of months. Add to that the Islamic terrorist in Seattle. We can only speculate why these events happened. We cannot fathom what goes on in the mind of evil. And make no mistake my friends. There is in fact evil out there. But let's see if we can solve this problem of evil men targeting the weak.
What did these places and events all have in common?
1. Guns were specifically not allowed on the premises by official policy or by law. Some locations have specific legal prohibitions, while others rely only on "company policy." Murderers will ignore signs telling them that something is prohibited. Clearly, if the state prohibits guns on campus, the good people will obey and leave their guns at home. But quite clearly, these signs did not dissuade the killers. Think about it. The only people obeying the law and the signs were the good people...the victims.
Skills with weapons of opportunity, and edged/pointed weapons are essential in our days of restricted environments and soft targets.
What is the reason behind the "no guns" policies? Many in authority seek control above all else. They want to control things, and people walking about armed cannot be controlled as easily. Obviously, they lose control when the sign-ignoring, armed killers come.
2. Those inside were unarmed and totally helpless. The terrorist would call these gun-free places "soft targets." Notice how none of these terrorists ever pick a gun store, a police station, or even a shooting course?
3. The police were called to each one of these events. But unless the police happen to be exactly there when the shots are fired, and have the mental perspective and courage to run to the sound of the guns for the sole purpose of locating and killing the gunman outright, the delay in response will be several minutes in the best case scenario. And once there, even with the extensive "active shooter" training in police circles, the overriding goal is to control and capture, rather than to locate and kill the gunman, which is the only real way to prevent the death of innocents.
4. The events were eventually resolved by the police presence, but not without some victim deaths. Repeatedly, we see that in the majority of these events, the killing is done fairly quickly in the beginning moments of the event.
5. There has been some discussion about arming teachers. As my good friend, the late, great Col. Jeff Cooper said, "One is no more armed because he possesses a pistol than he is a musician because he owns a piano." In such events, teachers and principals will be useless unless they have self-selected themselves to cultivate the very opposite of what their job is. How many teachers or principals have the internal strength to pull a trigger on one of their students? How many would do the things that we would do? I'm sure there are some, but they are certainly not the majority.
How can we prevent the next one? (And there will be a next one.)
1. Understand that your safety is your own responsibility. Carry a weapon... everywhere. Company policy says you can't? Hide your gun better. Law says you can't? Tough choice, isn't it? But I'll point out some dead people who would love to be living outlaws.
Can't have a gun under your circumstances? Then carry a knife and learn how to use it offensively. Spend money and get trained with your knife. Buying another competition .45 will do you no good if you cannot carry it with you 24/7/365. Are there metal detectors? Carry something deniable as a weapon but easy to stab with. You need to be armed. If the rules prevent you from doing so, find a way around them. Think like a criminal. A knife may not be equal to a shotgun, but you have a choice. You can die on your knees defenseless, asking yourself why you obeyed the sign, or you can die killing the crazy gunman. You might even prevail against him.
2. Make those who pass these stupid "no gun" laws responsible for their decisions. The parents and family members of the victims should sue the pants off of the institutions that support such stupid policies. Sue the Jewish Center. Sue the school. Sue the principal of the school, the board of education, the police chief, the mayor, the governor, everyone. I'm certain that there are plenty of pro-gun attorneys here. Put your skills to use. If these people do not understand morality and the Constitution, perhaps they will understand poverty.
3. If teachers and principals aren't interested in CCW, push for an armed cop at the school during all school hours. If this takes some extra tax money, consider it cheap insurance. In police circles, the job of a "school resource officer" has always been characterized as a cushy job suitable only for those who don't want to work on the streets. This needs to change, and it needs to change right now.
If the city has money to fly the mayor around, and work incessantly on perfectly good streets, they can put a police officer on duty at every school during school hours. And by the way, we need an armed and trained officer who will run to sound of the guns, not some fat, donut-eating slob who is three weeks away from retirement. You pay the tax that employs them and the customer is always right. Take a page from the liberals. MAKE NOISE!
4. Many of the kids were actually corralled by the school officials into rooms ready for the gunmen. This lock-down concept is again the product of "controllers." A locked door will not dissuade anyone who really wants to get in. As your kids get older, teach them that rules are relative. My kids are told to ignore orders if the orders seem stupid. How easy is it to break down a door and kill a classroom in lock-down? Their standing orders are to run like hell if they hear shots in a school. I have promised them that they will not get in trouble. Teachers would also be better served by telling the kids to run. One teacher mentioned that they cannot "lose control of the classroom like that." I told her that when the bad guy kicks the door in and begins shooting, she will have already lost control. Teach kids about cover, and how to RUN!
Also, as they get older, teach them about ferocity and how to put an attacker down for good with what they have. Teach them how to bludgeon his head with a chair or a sack of quarters. Teach them how to stab a pencil into the gunman's eye. Their safety is eventually their own responsibility, as well as yours.
