Who Will Fight For Them?
I have spent the last 30 years protecting citizens of the United States. I am a former FBI Special Agent who has trained hundreds of agents and officers in Active Shooter. I am intimately familiar with the tactical differences and protocols between an Active Shooter situation and a Hostage/Barricade situation. This article is not about that.
This is about something else entirely. It is about a virus affecting the children of our nation. I have written before about this virus, after Parkland, and here we are again. This time 19 children and 2 teachers have been murdered in a Texas school. And the same questions, the same non-answers, the same finger pointing, and the same BS is being espoused until another event. No real changes and no National Strategy.
There is a virus in our schools alright, but it is not Covid. Why is there no National Strategy for the prevention of school shootings – more than 20 years since Columbine? How can US policy makers agree so quickly on giving $123 Billion to Covid safety measures for our nation’s schools but no such influx of money to deal with another virus killing our children and teachers?
To suggest there is one strategy to prevent these events is juvenile and is often offered by individuals who lack expertise in security or protection. How do you protect what you care about? If we can at least all agree that our nation’s school children are worth protecting, then the first step is to get involved.
As a parent, I have read the Active Shooter plans for the schools my children have attended. In each instance, the principal was surprised that I would take the time to review the plans and would often say something to the effect of: “In all my years here, no parent has sat down and read that document.” Shocking.
Can you walk into your kid’s school without being challenged? Have you even tried? If you can walk into the school unchallenged, you have a problem. If you cannot – excellent and good for them!
Parents have to get involved and not assume anything about the safety at their kid’s school. Spend as much time researching this area as you would the basketball coach or AP classes being offered. The passionate work of Michele Gay and Max Schachter should be shared by all and not just survivors – it takes all of us to fix this.
We Get the Society We Tolerate
The National Strategy must lie in a holistic protective strategy. The US President is not protected in his home by just an armed agent. There is a labyrinth of security around the White House and is something we call: Concentric Rings of Security. Some of these rings are visible and some are invisible.
This can be done and it will be expensive and hell yes, it is worth the cost. It will be hard, but Americans have historically done hard things. After 9/11, we hardened every cockpit in every plane of every airline operating in the US.
It is within us to do this.
