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Protecting School Children with Automatic Weapons?! We Have some Better Ideas to combat School Shootings

School shootings are becoming more common every day, and after horrors like the Uvalde Massacre which occurred in May earlier this year. The elementary school shooting left 19 children and two teachers dead has many wondering: “How can we better protect the children?”

NBC News reports that schools in Madison County, North Carolina are taking measures including the use of AR-15 rifles for school resource officers to use in the event of an active shooter. The county’s Sheriff, Buddy Harwood, said that one of the semiautomatic rifles will be placed in each of Madison County’s six schools. Each gun will be locked in a safe, Harwood said. We at BPS Security cannot think of a worse idea. In this post we will break down but this is a bad choice and explore better alternatives.

“No words can describe their stupidity… these people are ridiculous and I am embarrassed to say we are in the same line of work….these are the type of guys that get all of us labeled idiots by association…..because he is a security officer….”

-Rene
Operation Manager BPS Security

Problems - School Shootings

Here are a few reasons why using automatic weapons to protect schools is a bad idea:

These weapons can be stolen and used by perpetrators, especially from the untrained.
WHY do we need automatic weapons in schools? A handgun does the same job with less danger to those around the individual using it, and less training required.

This is a black and white photo of an automatic rifle. This image is used in the BPS Security article titled, “Protecting School Children with Automatic Weapons?! We Have some Better Ideas to when combatting school shootings”.
There is this notion in our country today that more guns are the solution to the prolific gun violence our country faces daily. More guns stopping guns sounds oxymoronic to us. BPS suggests beefing up security in other areas as a first line of defense. We believe this is where things like private security can really make a difference.

Solutions

Instead of AR-15s, we suggest these actions as a first line of defense:

  • Control school access, lock outside doors during school hours.
  • Hire additional security guards.
  • Use facial recognition software and cameras to control entry and notify police and guards of potential danger.

Law Enforcement Failure

One of the most shocking aspects of the Uvalde Shooting were systemic failures and “egregiously poor decision-making” of law enforcement which resulted in more than an hour of chaos before the gunman was finally confronted and killed by a special-ops team, according to a report from the Texas House of Representatives’ investigative committee.

This idea of having AR-15s in schools doesn’t sit right with Stephanie Scheller, a San Antonio business owner who is deeply involved in her community.

“Because why are we expecting SCHOOL TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS to pick up that weapon and defend our kids when fully armed and protected officers won’t? Not to mention…really? We trust them to protect the kids with their lives…but don’t trust them to teach those same kids? Who’s paying for range time so they can become comfortable working with those weapons? And lastly….they are NOT getting paid enough to potentially have to take someone’s life…”

-Stephanie Scheller
San Antonio’s Impact Authority & Founder of Grow Disrupt

Official Public Statement by BPS: The problem at Uvalde was not a lack of equipment, but a lack of training in high-volatility situational decision making. This is a very poor decision. These guns are a liability to school security unless they are being constantly carried by a trained guard.

Conclusion

Schools in one North Carolina county will stock AR-15 rifles for school resource officers to use in case of an active shooter once classes resume later this month. The optics are not only discomforting for many, but BPS Security believes there are better and safer solutions to protect children during school shootings.
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