Senate Bill 406 pertains to the carrying and storage
of handguns by school marshals. The idea behind this bill is that implementing
armed marshals in schools will reduce the likelihood of a school shooting from possible
threats.
I believe that having armed marshals on school
campuses will increase the safety of students. The action of arming marshals in
school makes schools harder targets. You don't see bad guys going into places
where there are a bunch of armed citizens. You don't see bad guys going into
NRA conventions or the like. That is because they know it is a dangerous place
for them to be. Most people won’t deliberately put themselves in a position that
could be harmful to them.
One of the reasons school shootings happen is because
there is limited immediate threat towards the shooter. Allowing school marshals
to carry a concealed firearm and informing people that there are school
marshals on campus, will put potential assailants at a disadvantage.
In the animal world, creatures like bobcats pray on
the defenseless. Often, given the opportunity, bobcats will slaughter more
animals than they can possibly eat. They kill for sport. These predators can be
accurately compared to many school shooters. A defenseless school for a demented
shooter, is like an unguarded chicken coop for a bobcat. Once the predator is
in, there isn’t much to stop it from killing everything it sees. It is natural
for predators to attack easy targets. Therefore, we must make our schools hard
targets.
Lt. Col. David
Grossman, in his book On Combat, points out that there are fire extinguishers
and fire suppression systems in schools. People would go crazy if schools didn’t
have these things. Yet, few people are willing to accept prevention systems of
school shootings. Even though the likelihood of a school shooting happening is
much higher than the likelihood of there being a school fire.
Obviously, the school marshals must go through
extensive training to learn what to do and when to do it, should an active
shooter situation arise. Background checks, proper licensing, and through training
must all be required of armed marshals. They will be the first responders to an
active shooter situation and thus, must know what they are doing.
Armed marshals will act as a deterrent towards evil
doers, which is why I believe all schools should have them.
