Arm teachers, but not with guns

As a young Army lieutenant in 1969, I qualified as an expert in firing the .45-caliber pistol and was tasked with giving the pistol firing instruction in my company. Based on this and my long experience as a criminal justice professor, I don’t believe that one or even two or three school teachers, armed with pistols, would be able to stop a shooter armed with an AR-15. Recall that when a gunman ambushed police officers in Dallas in 2016, he managed to kill five and injure nine others.

But there is a potentially effective way to stop shooters: bullet-proof shields. I believe I would be much more effective and safes against a shooter with a bullet-proof shield than with a pistol, especially if there were several other shield wielders.

I found tall bullet-proof shields on the internet for just $750. They include a bullet-proof glass area so you can see in front of you.

It would be possible to recruit maybe 10 to 20 school employees or possibly even students who would be willing to be shield wielders. They would need to be strong, fast, well-trained and drilled regularly, so they’d know how to react to a shooting incident, and particularly how to coordinate their actions. When the attacker is reloading, several shield wielders could charge him and physically overwhelm him.

Bullet-proof shields aren’t a panacea, but school districts and police should carefully consider them, along with other strategies.

The State publishes a cross section of the letters we receive from South Carolinians in order to provide a forum for our community and also to allow our community to get a good look at itself, for good or bad. The letters represent the views of the letter writers, not necessarily of The State.

This story was originally published March 2, 2018 at 9:35 AM with the headline "Arm teachers, but not with guns."