Despite the passage of more gun control in their state this election, California gun advocates can cheer one major victory outside of the election of pro-Second Amendment President-Elect Donald Trump. Kern High School District trustees voted 3-2 earlier this month to allow teachers and certificated staffers with Concealed Carry Weapon (CCW) permits to bring guns to campuses.
While the Board has not yet drafted regulations, trustees have indicated that they’ll limit the caliber of the bullets that can be carried, require 40 to 80 hours of training and won’t make carrying a gun mandatory.
While critics are complaining about the timing of this vote (it was part of a special meeting during school hours), we all know that the gun grabbers really just wanted more notice to protest and grab media attention.
This new policy is not only a victory for gun rights. More importantly, it is a victory for student safety.
With so many school campuses opting to be completely gun-free, students are some of the most vulnerable victims of gun violence. Stripped of any real weapons, students and teachers are left to use whatever martial arts or self-defense moves they learned from Walker, Texas Ranger or gym class to protect themselves in the case of an intruder or rogue student.
When my older brother was in high school, two of his fellow students were lauded as heroes (rightfully so) when they pried a gun from another student’s hands. The teacher did nothing to stop the gun-wielding student, and none of the other students in the classroom did anything either. If those two students hadn’t reacted as quickly as they did, lives might have been lost that day.
Students spend hours every year training for “lock-down” situations, but what if the gun-wielding assailant happens to be a fellow student in the classroom? Then what? Duck and cover?
At the very least, it makes sense for the teacher to be trained and equipped to protect the students in their classroom. No school district is able to afford security guards in every classroom, nor can any school district predict the next instance of gun violence, but this is a simple way to be proactive.
Should students be given that right on campuses? Depending on the city, majority of kids under 18 don’t know how to handle a gun. It’s a shame, but it’s the truth. Guns have been so villainized and too many millennials have grown up without any respect for the Second Amendment.
Just for the sake of argument, even if students were given the right to carry, it only makes sense that the teacher also be trained and carrying in case an armed student decides that they’ve had enough. Thus, it makes the most sense for teachers and staff to carry.
Many teachers, especially in California, would refuse to carry, as it goes against their firmly-held gun grabbing principles. But for those who are willing, it’s only right that they are able to protect their students (and themselves) in a venue that has become increasingly susceptible to gun violence.
To me, refusing teachers and staff this right is like refusing to allow doctors to wear gloves or masks. It affects everyone, and the consequences can be fatal.
It’s important to note that this is not the first California school district to allow employees to carry a concealed weapon.
As KQED reports, school officials in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova decided earlier this year to allow some staff members to bring guns to campuses in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District, which serves some 20,000 students. The Kingsburg Joint Union High School District outside Fresno allows the superintendent to select five district employees to carry concealed weapons. Anderson Union High School District in Shasta County also allows some staff members to carry concealed weapons onto campuses.
Interestingly enough, none of those school districts have had any issues with gun violence after approving these rules. Coincidence?
Kern High School District has joined a handful of other trailblazers and should be lauded for their willingness to do what’s right. Hopefully, others will follow suit in this bastion of progressivism.
Anyone? Anyone?
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the position of Guns.com.
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