This article was originally published by Dagny Taggart at The Organic Prepper
A year ago today, Nikolas Cruz opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing seventeen defenseless students and staff members and injuring seventeen others. During the mayhem, a sheriff’s deputy was on the scene…hiding behind his vehicle.
It was an event that probably could have been prevented, if the police, the FBI, and others had paid attention to all the warning signs that Cruz was deeply troubled and likely dangerous. He even left this comment on a YouTube video: “Im [sic] going to be a professional school shooter.” That comment was reported to the FBI, but the agency claims it could not track down the person who wrote it.
The day after the tragedy, a Florida teacher named Kelly Guthrie Raley posted a rant on Facebook about the real cause of school violence. Here’s an excerpt.
Okay, I’ll be the bad guy and say what no one else is brave enough to say, but wants to say. I’ll take all the criticism and attacks from everyone because you know what? I’m a TEACHER. I live this life daily. And I wouldn’t do anything else! But I also know daily I could end up in an active shooter situation.
Until we, as a country, are willing to get serious and talk about mental health issues, lack of available care for the mental health issues, lack of discipline in the home, horrendous lack of parental support when the schools are trying to control horrible behavior at school (oh no! Not MY KID. What did YOU do to cause my kid to react that way?), lack of moral values, and yes, I’ll say it-violent video games that take away all sensitivity to ANY compassion for others’ lives, as well as reality TV that makes it commonplace for people to constantly scream up in each others’ faces and not value any other person but themselves, we will have a gun problem in school. Our kids don’t understand the permanency of death anymore!!!
I fully agree with Mrs. Raley. Guns are not the problem. Something much deeper is at the root of these tragic events.
Because school shootings are a real risk, actions do need to be taken to keep students, teachers, and staff safe.
It appears that Florida is attempting to implement tools that may actually help.
On March 9, 2018, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act was signed into law in Florida. “The legislation outlines significant reforms to make Florida schools safer while keeping firearms out of the hands of mentally ill and dangerous individuals,” according to the Florida Department of Education. The law includes several provisions, including the creation of the Office of Safe Schools, the use of a mobile suspicious activity reporting tool, the establishment of a safety commission, new requirements for mental health services and training, safety assessments for each school, and requirements for a safe-school officer at each public school.
The Act also established the Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program, named after a coach who died while shielding students during the Parkland massacre. It allows some school employees to become qualified and trained to carry guns on school campuses. Teachers who exclusively perform classroom duties are not eligible. The exceptions are JROTC teachers, current members of armed services, and former law enforcement officers. Administrators, support staff, and professionals who do not work exclusively in classrooms are eligible to become guardians.
Guardians would have no authority except to respond with deadly force to “prevent or abate an active assailant incident on school premises,” according to the law. They do not have the authority to make arrests.
One school in Florida has decided to take a more aggressive approach to the guardian program.
At the Manatee School for the Arts in Palmetto, they aren’t taking any chances.
Principal Bill Jones recently explained the charter school’s security plan to the Bradenton Herald.
“If someone walks onto this campus, they’re going to be shot and killed,” Jones said. “We’re not going to talk with them. We’re not going to negotiate. We are going to put them down, as quickly as possible.”
The school went above the requirements of the law – it’s guardians are all military veterans with combat experience.
“If you’re ever going to have an event on campus, I don’t want it to be the first time they’ve been shot at,” Jones said. “I don’t want them trying to figure who they are and how they are going to respond. That’s a life-changing experience and these folks, I don’t want this to be the first time they’ve asked themselves, ‘What am I going to do?” (source)
That certainly sounds like a wise plan, considering the abysmal response of the Broward County deputies who stood outside of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and hid behind a car while students and staff members were being massacred inside the building.
Many school resource officers assigned by local law agencies in Florida are armed with rifles, but they do not carry them. Instead, they are kept secured in racks built into their vehicles. But at the Manatee School for the Arts, guardians carry both Glock handguns and Kel-Tec RDB 17-inch semi-automatic long guns at all times. The rifle is a Bullpup, a configuration that allows for a shorter firearm with a long barrel, and uses .223 caliber ammunition, same as an AR-15. And, guardians at the school wear body armor that is similar to what is worn in combat.
The administration was also very particular in the ammunition used with the long-guns to avoid over-penetration. Officials selected a shell designed for hunting that can go through basic body armor an intruder might be wearing. But it won’t go through the intruder, lessening the risk to students and staff. (source)
The school is the first in the country to have guardians armed with long guns.
“There’s no guarantee that the guardian’s going to be where he’s needed at the time, but you do the best,” Jones said. “And certainly, the long gun gives you a better range.”
“If someone comes in with a handgun, great, then we have a tremendous advantage and we will use that advantage,” Jones added.
The school has hired two guardians. The first guardian, a 15-year U.S. Army veteran who served three tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, already patrols the campus. The second guardian is currently in training by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
“People might think twice, particularly in our case, if you pull up and see a guy who is carrying a full-long gun,” Jones said. “If someone tried to come on campus with a weapon before we had our guardian program, there really is nothing much to stop that.”
The Manatee School for the Arts has also hired a mental health counselor, and time has been spent talking to students about security during various classes.
In addition to the armed guardians, the school is adding a guard gate that visitors will have to pass through to enter the campus.
As of now, Jones said he is not comfortable with the idea of all of the school’s teachers being armed.
“There are some, I’d feel very comfortable with,” Jones said referring to teachers who are military veterans. “But in general, I’d be a little bit hesitant to have an awful lot of people just walking around with a concealed weapon.” (source)
What do you think about this school’s approach to safety?
Does it go too far? Or, does it not go far enough? Do you think an armed guardian program should be expanded across the country? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
About the Author
Dagny Taggart is the pseudonym of an experienced journalist who needs to maintain anonymity to keep her job in the public eye. Dagny is non-partisan and aims to expose the half-truths, misrepresentations, and blatant lies of the MSM.
Please feel free to share any information from this article in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to The Organic Prepper and the following bio.
Daisy is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting, homeschooling blogger who writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, and the pursuit of liberty on her websites, The Organic Prepper and DaisyLuther.com She is the author of 4 books and the co-founder of Preppers University, where she teaches intensive preparedness courses in a live online classroom setting. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter,.
Central banks of the world bought more gold in 2018 than in the previous 47 years.
Seismic change is coming. Do as the central banks do. You have enough beans and bullets.
Prep with real wealth. Gold and silver. You will thank yourself later.
If you have 20 different guns around the house, you might want to sell about 15 of them.
Buy precious metals with the proceeds. Don’t wait too long.
Gold and silver will not be affordable forever. Do as the banks do. You’ll come out on top.
Great idea however they better meet often with the police so they can identify good guy from bad guy upon their arrival to minimize the chance of a “friendly fire” casualty. A Blue Tooth communication would be helpful.
It’s a fecked up decision.. having to put active/armed military guards at a school. But those who profess the need to keep us safe have fell way too short. Frankly I don’t need an armed escort to watch over me and will refuse it if asked. I skin my own cats, all I need maybe is someone to hold its tail.
Raised up where this happened. I used to fish/hunt in the Glades not far away from Parkland. Too many dam Yankees down in Broward now to live there.
According to Breitbart News DJT will sign the bill and declare a National Emergency to build the rest of the wall. No one in their right mind can expect the Commies will sit by and let this happen. CIVIL WAR 2 STARTING THIS SPRING! lock and load
As we say down here in the Sawgrass, Watch out fur dem hogs!
Commies don’t have the guns. We do.
They’ll need to meet with the police responders often so that the risk of friends fire casualties are minimized.
you can bet they already do, thats who they are training with. Both the school and the sheriffs office know they will need to coordinate, and I’m sure they already have comms and procedures.
Now these are the most secure public school students. That little bitch Hogg is attempting to have them removed. I predict a bad end for him.
Menzo, Hogg’s day is coming, along with the rest of the scum out there.
Here it is,folks. National Emergency #32. Even now,Pelosi threatens a Democrat president will declare a NE to take guns. Finally,after all this time,the lines are becoming clearer. Lock & Load for a long hot summer!
I hope it happens so we can kill them all.
The Wall has no Constitutional blockade either for or against and its not too far fetched that as CIC securing the border is within Presidential authority. Guns, nope, it is codified as a right upheld by Heller and McDonald. Their nipping at the edges but a confiscation? Nope.
No violence, the system will handle this.
LOL, a irreparably corrupt system will handle it. I’m holding my breath. The founding fathers wrote that this system of government would fail when it’s moral code disintegrated. Here we are. They resorted to violence when they had to, as will we. Or perish.
Most all conspiracy theories are like Parkland, in that the most boring, most official version of the story is still an embarrassment to the authorities.
Send your kid into a war zone.
If he’s that crazy — no problem. He will be above criticism. Noone will notice someone that crazy for 13 years. Or, it’s called bullying.
If he’s just one of the sheep, you only get him back, by permission of the state, upon jumping many bureaucratic hurdles.
25 and 30yrs ago, we were being drilled, to be evacuated to locations, which would not be disclosed to our parents. Get on that bus, fast, to you-know-not-where. Fast. Fast. No talking. Don’t think. Act.
When a field fire happened, in highschool, stupid kids got on the bus and became a real burden to their parents. Smart ones disobeyed orders and ran the hoses over their houses.
Crazy people have an unusual fixation on some too-big-to-fail, that failed, so will be in need of funding. Unfireable people sometimes get fired, so will be in want of nicer things.
If they use abc123xyz weapon, that same exact make and model will be on the naughty list, before the bodies are cold.
His demographics are whatever you want to profile.
Crisis actors will have wildly inappropriate emotions, on camera, and look strangely like people at the last 5 or 10 exercises.
Officials will conveniently be holding some gala, right next door.
Associates will look like something out of Dr. Strange.
I guess, all those times could have technically happened on accident.
So true!
A bit out of my price range, although they can be found, in used condition. The metal, trixial milling device can reproduce a functional key, to open a padlock, from a photo. This is apparently, how guns are made in the factory, nowadays.
Onus is now being placed on the glorified flare gun, made in a plastic printer.
I guess, noone needs to rely on Red China. Self-reliant people can make their own plastic thneeds.
This is now a profilable activity, because of Ghostgunner and a cheesy exercise.
I don’t know the situation down there other than what has been on the news, but I’m glad that this school is being pro-active instead of reactive and actually doing something for the safety of the school and students, compared to other schools in the country.
Re. K-12. No thank you. We will continue to sacrifice/prioritize to be able to school our children at home. Armed guards might protect some children from bullets but they do not solve the problems of government indoctrination and moral depravity.
Yank your kids out of public school UNLESS you want them to be EXACTLY like the Millennial freaks you loathe.
I takes a remarkable professional soldier with terrific accuracy, precision, a calm demeanor under fire, and tactics to take out a school shooter who has likely planned the op for a month.
The Kentucky Senate passed a concealed firearm bill which means no permit is necessary. Now if the House passes it, KY is one the premier gun friendly states.
Amen to that, M!
One must remember Security Forces (police/guards)are generally reactionary in nature… this being said of the killer is determined and able to get in range there will be casualties regardless of who is providing security or what weapons they are carrying…..school design (safety/security) and armed protection are only some of them factors In keeping the children out of harms way…..
I still don’t think Cruz did it. There’s a video out of one of the female students who said she was walking down the hall with him heading to an exit, while there was shooting going on on the other side of the school! I think it was a planned ff so that’s why the deputies were hiding. They were told to stand down.
This is a great option. No one will screw with these guys unless they are insane. Look at Israel; they have teachers armed in schools. Do they have issues? I don’t think so. Of course, just about everyone there of military age, has some kind of military experience too.
If your Christian children, that you so carefully raised in the faith, are not in public school, then they are at little risk, RIGHT?
Pray about that. Is a public school that is going to indoctinate them with 18,000+ hours of leftist antichrist doctrine where a young impressionable person needs to be?