Columbine

We support the prohibition of access (through sales or any other means) to lethal weapons by obviously psychotic and criminal individuals, while at the same time granting full second amendment rights to all responsible citizens.  The word responsible implies local licensure, regular competence and safety demonstration, safe storage, and regular local home inspection.  The word local implies that no police agency: not FBI, State BI, Sheriff, town police, or any other be allowed to control such regulation.  Only privately held, local businesses or social organizations can be trusted with such power.

On May 27, 1999, the following statement was made to the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on crime.  Opposing statements were also heard.  According to Snopes, these statements were available to the Associated Press and reported in several big-city newspapers.  According to Snopes, partially false or misleading copies of this statement are being widely circulated.

We republish this statement here simply because it relates to our contemporary pain.  Arming teachers is not a long-term solution, teachers already have more than enough to do.  Stationing armed police in every school corridor is not a long-term solution either, our schools already look too much like prisons.  The only key long-term solution is to keep evil invaders out of and far away from our schools.  This statement proposes one way to do exactly that: keep evil invaders out of and far away from our schools.  While all of us may not agree with Mr. Scott’s opinion at least he seems to be focused on the right problem.  We need proposals that offer a way to keep evil invaders out of and far away from our schools.

Quote

Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women.  We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence.

The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain.  Their blood cries out for answers.

The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field.  The villain was not the club he used.  Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association.  The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA.  I am not a member of the NRA.  I am not a hunter.  I do not even own a gun.  I am not here to represent or defend the NRA – because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. 

Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended.  If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy – it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies!  Much of the blame lies here in this room.  Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves.  I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air. 
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer. 
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die. 
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed. 
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

Men and women are three-part beings.  We all consist of body, mind, and spirit.  When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc.  Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history.  Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries.  This is a historical fact.  What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence.  And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs – politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA.  They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties.  We do not need more restrictive laws.  Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors.  No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre.  The real villain lies within our own hearts.

As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school.  I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools.  Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain.  Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him.  To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA – I give to you a sincere challenge.  Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!

My daughter's death will not be in vain!  The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!

Unquote

Darrell Scott

Arming Teachers 2

Should Our Teachers Be Packing?

How Do We Deal With the Grief?

Whatever we do, we must never lay this at the feet of the grieving people of Newton, MA.  Socially, this is a national disaster.  However, we must solve this disaster locally in every community.  The facts seem to be that our neighbor cried out for help and we did very little about it.  How do we do that without accusing the grieving people of Newton, MA?  Newton’s grief is our grief, so at square one, we need to buy into it.  We need to man-up and woman-up and accept our responsibility.  This is my problem, and I need to take ownership of it.  We need to talk.  We need to solve this together.  This is a Biblical, Spiritual problem and, we’re not doing a very good job, either Biblically or Spiritually.  We deal with grief by sharing its burden.

Is More Law Enforcement the Solution?

More law enforcement won't necessarily keep evil perpetrators out of the hallways.  This particular perpetrator was known and identified well ahead of time.  Nobody dealt with him sufficiently.  We the people allowed this evil person in the door.  We set up the social conditions that permitted this perpetrator to act.  We permitted, by our attitudes and lack of actions, the slaughter of twenty-six innocent people.  This is not Newton’s problem.  This is our problem.  More law enforcement won’t necessarily do the job that needs to be done.

Is There Biblical Wisdom On This Topic?

Moses suggests that it is perfectly possible for devoted, God fearing, spiritual parents, to get in over their heads parenting.  In such a case Moses requires the town elders to handle the problem.  We might not want to apply the solution exactly the way that Moses applied it, but we ignore Moses’ wisdom and principles to our own peril (Exodus 21:15, 17; Deuteronomy 21:18-21).  This parent was clearly in over the head parenting.  There is something about our society that prevents the necessary help from arriving.  The (repeated) outcome is alarming tragedy.  When a parent gets in over their head, society needs to take parenting support action.  That support system failed in Newton, but it also is a failure in Norman, Oklahoma, and everywhere-else-town, USA.  DHS has not proved to be a reliable solution.

How Can We Become More Vigilant?

While it is true that we don’t always see trouble coming, this only indicates that we are not being watchful enough.  Perhaps we don’t need to become hyper-vigilant, but we certainly need to become more vigilant.  Perhaps we fail at the necessary vigilance because our sense of community has been greatly diluted.  We need to find a way to fix our sense of community.  It does take a village.  We cannot become sufficiently vigilant by ourselves, isolated, alone.

What Is The Real Goal?

The bottom line is that we need to keep perpetrators out of our school hallways.  We need to stop them before they get through the doors.  That is the objective.  That is the goal we must accomplish.  Can we agree to stay focused on this?

What Environment Are We Creating?

I don’t really like the idea of cops in every hallway, locks on every door, and bars on every window.  Think about it.  Aren’t we turning our schools into prisons, instead of the fun, exciting, learning places they ought to be?  Maybe the safety zone should be larger than the building walls, maybe it should be the property fence or beyond, and maybe nobody should get inside the fence without being thoroughly vetted.  Maybe then, we can safely take the locks off the doors, the bars off the windows, but install bullet proof glass in every window.

Should Mentally Disturbed People Have Guns?

I’m a hawk, not a dove.  I actively oppose excessive gun control and gun paranoia.  However, I find it difficult to cope with a society that believes that the mentally disturbed and criminals ought to be allowed to be armed, while responsible citizens ought to be disarmed.  It is simply illogical that it is not a felony to sell guns to the mentally disturbed and criminals.

Is Psychological Vetting Possible?

Every citizen should be psychologically vetted before being allowed to buy their first gun.  The problem is that such vetting is expensive, and is easily twisted by those with one particular viewpoint or other.  How would we ever exercise such power reasonably and responsibly?  I don’t know that we are capable of handling such power.  I do know, what everybody else now knows, this kid should have never been allowed near a gun.  Nevertheless, playing Monday morning quarterback will not cure our social problem.  We should recognize when somebody steps over the line repeatedly.  How do we go about doing that?

Is Reliable Citizen Control Possible?

Gun ownership and use is every bit as big a deal as driving a car, buying a drink, or smoking a cigarette: all have serious lethal capability.  No one should be allowed to own a gun without demonstrating the necessary safety knowledge, use skills, and controlled storage capability.  That means licensing.  That means annual firing range testing.  That means mandatory vault ownership.  That means surveillance to prove that the vault is in use.  After all, we do require mandatory auto seat safety belts, and this is much more serious.  The problem is that I don’t want the FBI, or the OSBI, or the sheriff, or the local police chief monitoring such gun regulation or even knowing that I have a gun; but maybe I need a contract with my next-door neighbor or the person who sold me the gun.  I get private furnace inspections every year without police involvement, why not mandated annual gun security inspections ($50)?

Are We Being Realistic?

Unfortunately, if we don't find a way to keep perpetrators out of the hallways, more bullets will fly.  However, teachers are already overloaded with tasks.  They don't need one more duty to juggle, otherwise I could support guns for some teachers under some conditions, but I could never support guns for all teachers under all conditions.  If such legislation were ever passed, we would need some assurance of security other than, “It's locked in the teacher's desk drawer.”  Guns in the classroom is a sort of Band-Aid, as are effective SWAT operations, but neither of these deal with the fundamental problem: namely, the perpetrator got past the school door.  But I’m not willing to give up effective SWAT operations.

Yesterday’s Thoughts

“Well, arming teachers may not do the trick, at least not in every case.

But changing our attitudes is very important.  We have altered police attitudes nationwide so that police now engage school threats immediately.  But ours is a nation built on patriots and patriotism.  “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot” does shrink.  The attitude of the whole town must be turned.  We must all learn immediately to engage threats to children, the weak, and the helpless.  We must cease standing idly by while another human being is being abused.  We must learn and know how to engage threats.

That’s a pretty personal decision for [each of] us.  We must plan ahead and decide what we will do with a given threat.  If you decide to huddle with the children in a safe room, that’s fine with me.  If you vote to have an armed police squad in every school, I’ll support you.  But if you decide that you want either a taser or a 9mm or both locked in a secure place, and are willing to take the training to use whichever you choose, I’m with you all the way.

We need a plan that stops perpetrators from getting into schools to begin with.  If an alert armed teacher on the playground can stop a perpetrator before the perpetrator gets in the building, before the police can possibly get there, I’m all for it.  We need to do something, and we need to do it better, right now.

That does not mean that I should force you to pack a Glock against your will.  But both of us need to be active participants, willing and able to engage any enemy.

Your weapon of choice might be words.

I’ll take the guard job armed with an assault rifle, shotgun, 45, taser, cuffs, club, and uniform, thank you.”

Today’s Conclusions

So, No, I don’t really want my teachers to be forced into packing.  Teacher carry fails to accomplish the basic objective: namely, keep evil perpetrators outside of the building, outside of the school yard, outside of quiet and well-ordered society.  Teacher carry fails to provide a safe and fun learning environment for our kids.  Teachers already have much too much to do, they do not need to tack on one more serious responsibility.  But if we as a society fail to step up, teacher carry may be our only recourse.

Arming Teachers

Should Our Teachers Be Packing?

Well, arming teachers may not do the trick, at least not in every case.

 

But changing our attitudes is very important.  We have altered police attitudes nationwide so that police now engage school threats immediately.  But ours is a nation built on patriots and patriotism.  “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot” does shrink.  The attitude of the whole town must be turned.  We must all learn immediately to engage threats to children, the weak, and the helpless.  We must cease standing idly by while another human being is being abused.  We must learn and know how to engage threats.

 

That’s a pretty personal decision for us.  We must plan ahead and decide what we will do with a given threat.  If you decide to huddle with the children in a safe room, that’s fine with me.  If you vote to have an armed police squad in every school, I’ll support you.  But if you decide that you want either a taser or a 9mm or both locked in a secure place, and are willing to take the training to use whichever you choose, I’m with you all the way. 

 

We need a plan that stops perpetrators from getting into schools to begin with.  If an alert armed teacher on the playground can stop a perpetrator before the perpetrator gets in the building, before the police can possibly get there, I’m all for it.  We need to do something, and we need to do it better, right now.

 

That does not mean that I should force you to pack a Glock against your will.  But both of us need to be active participants, willing and able to engage any enemy.

 

Your weapon of choice might be words.

 

I’ll take the guard job armed with an assault rifle, shotgun, 45, taser, cuffs, club, and uniform, thank you.