Powerful DesNews Editorial in favor of Teachers trained w/ guns.
Date: Dec 17, 2006 3:48 PM
Sunday, December 17, 2006

Format for printingE-mail story

Armed first responders are needed in schools
By Fred Willoughby
I am a retired military veteran (Marine Corps and Utah Army National
Guard) with 45 years of law enforcement experience, including the Los
Angeles Police Department during the 1960s and 1970s in Watts and shift
commander on the sheriff’s department in Boulder, Colo., and I personally
encountered numerous incidents where deadly force had to be used. I even had
to take a life in my front yard as I defended my family against five armed
attackers while my family and two neighbors looked on.
So I was saddened and frightened at the flawed opinion of the Deseret
Morning News and the highly respected Utah Chiefs of Police Association that
concluded guns should not be inside our schools. Based upon the UCPA’s
conclusions, I wonder how many of them have ever had to use deadly force?
Those opinions tend to influence the public to the point that it could set a
destructive and deadly precedent in our community that someday may prove
tragic for children and adults in schools.
Make no mistake, having no guns inside schools will almost always
ensure that our children and adults – at some unknown location and date in
America – will surely die or be injured. Killers almost always pick on the
helpless and weak. They love to shoot unarmed people because it’s easy and
safer for them. Shooting unarmed people in school or any other place is like
shooting fish in a barrel to such shooters.
What the Deseret Morning News editorial did not point out – and most
of the general public does not fully understand – is that highly trained,
professional police officers and SWAT teams are second responders, not first
responders. They do not have the element of surprise in a combat shooting
situation. First responders are the people already at the scene, such as
school officials. First responders do have the element of surprise. This is
very important in shooting incidents. Rarely do second responders ever come
upon the scene until the children are dead, wounded or taken hostage.
This is why it is so important to have right-thinking, well-trained
people inside the schools to surprise and incapacitate the shooters at the
earliest possible moment before the problem escalates.
Any right-thinking, mature person – if properly trained – can
effectively use deadly force, even in a crowded school. A policeman’s badge,
the color of his uniform or his SWAT training is no assurance that things
will go right. Highly trained police did not prevent the shootings at
Columbine, nor have they at any other school. That is because, as second
responders, they come in after the fact.
I am very familiar with many police shootings that have gone bad
because of poor judgment and lack of proper training. These shootings have
prompted civil lawsuits and criminal charges against the officers, their
agencies and the jurisdictions they work for. New Orleans, New York and even
our Granite School District police are just a few examples.
Our Founding Fathers’ great wisdom is just as good now as it was when
they wrote the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Our Founders
thought very highly of personal protection. That is why they put the Second
Amendment second – only after freedom of religion and free speech.
Please, Deseret Morning News, don’t ignore their great wisdom in favor
of political correctness. And Utah Chiefs of Police Association, please
honor the oath of office you took to uphold and defend the Constitution.

Fred Willoughby is an adjunct professor and has taught numerous criminal
justice courses over the past eight years.

James D. “Mitch” Vilos
Attorney at Law
P.O. Box 1148
Centerville, Utah 84014
Local Tel.No.: (801)295-3340
Mobile: (801)560-7117
1(800)530-0222
Practice Concentrating in Accidents and Personal Injury, Insurance Law,
Medical Malpractice, Defective Products, Workplace Injuries (not Worker’s
Compensation), and Firearms Law (representation of gun owners in criminal
actions, and expungements).

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !