Thread by @KoolMoeSteve

1/ On Wednesday I happened to have the TV on and saw the #ParklandShooting on the news from the moment in started. The last three days there's been numerous times where I've seen posts, videos, and interviews and I'm reduced to tears. There were brave kids, brave adults,

2/and so many innocent people who should never have to carry around images of such carnage for the rest of their lives.
I'm not going to get into politics here. I'm not going to debate anyone with this post. So save your arguments. I'm reposting a post about THIS SAME DAMN THING

3/ from 5 years ago when it happened in New Town. If you don't know, when I was in my 20's and early 30's I was a police officer. I was also a firearms instructor. I used to own many guns. I trained with them often. I taught others how to use them tactically. I currently own no

4/ guns. I keep a small baseball bat next to the bed. That's about it. I'm open to any questions or thoughtful comments. But please, let's not fight while bodies are still being dealt with in a tragedy that feels like it should be an anachronism. This should be something from our

5/ past, not our present...
LET TEACHERS TEACH AND LAW-ENFORCERS ENFORCE
Since the shootings in Connecticut, we’ve all been bombarded by different opinions, ideas, and proposed solutions on dealing with gun control and protecting schools from gun violence. This is a complicated

6/ issue that needs a lot of thought and probably a combination of many measures. Among the many opinions and ideas though, there’s one that kind of sticks in my gut that makes me feel the need to comment. The idea I’m talking about is that of arming teachers.

7/ Many people I know have mentioned this. All of the people that I know of who propose this are legal gun owners, so I get it. I have to say though that this is a terrible idea. I think that this idea gets proposed because many law-abiding people legally own guns and possess

8/ concealed carry permits allowing them to carry a gun for self-protection. What I think many people don’t consider is the difference between qualifying on a gun range to carry a weapon under a license and training with a gun so that they are suitably trained to defend others

9/ publicly.
Going to a range and shooting a stationary target at 20 yards in good lighting and showing basic safety proficiency is great. But I think many gun-owners don’t understand the level of training a person should have when charged with the duty of protecting others.

10/ If you own a gun and think you are prepared to defend yourself and others, let me ask you some questions:

11/ -Have you trained at shooting moving targets?
-Have you thought about the fact than an assailant might not be standing with their entire torso facing you straight on like they do on the paper target?
-Have you trained in low light?
-Have you trained in no light?

12/ -Can you load and unload your weapon in no light?
-Have you trained at shooting from the hip?
-Do you know how to disarm an assailant with a pistol and/or long gun at close range?
-Do you know how to prevent being disarmed by someone at close range?

13/ -Do you know what a tactical reload is?
-Can you shoot with one hand?
-Can you reload your weapon with only the use of one hand?
-Can you do all of the above with your weak hand?

14/ -If your strong arm suddenly became unusable could you both shoot and reload your weapon with the use of only your weak-side arm?
-Do you understand that tunnel vision can (and likely will) keep you from noticing anything other than 1 threat at a time?

15/ -Would you know how to address 2 imminent threats?
-What about 3 imminent threats?
-Do you know the difference between cover and concealment?
-Have you shot your weapon from behind cover, in prone position, or from a supine position?

16/ -Are you justified shooting someone with a knife?
-What if they have a knife but are 20 feet away? What about 30 feet? What if it’s a pocketknife, a butter knife, or a baseball bat? What about scissors?
-Should you shoot someone if they’re holding a gun to someone’s head?

17/ -What if they’re holding a knife to someone’s throat?
-Can you take a human life?
-Can you do any combination of the above with adrenaline surging through your body, your pulse and breathing at likely double their resting rate?

18/ -Do you know you’ll lose control of your fine motor skills under these physical stresses?

19/ One more question: Do you think teachers should take on the burden of this kind of training? I don’t. Let teachers teach. Let trained law enforcement officials handle being trained for all of the stresses and tactical possibilities that can and do happen in real-world

20/ combat situations. Should we put a cop in every school? Perhaps. But putting teachers through basic training where they can operate a weapon and perhaps become accurate at shooting paper under ideal circumstances is not enough training to be arming them to publicly protect

21/ children. And I know the argument someone will make – well at least if teachers have guns, they’ll have some kind of chance. Yes, they will have a very small chance. However, a person who isn’t thoroughly trained in real-world combat situations is more a threat than help in

22/ these situations. What if Mr. or Ms. Teacher was disarmed and your child was shot with his/her gun by another student? You’d be suing the school for allowing teachers to carry guns. The legal liabilities go on and on.

23/ Finally, if you’re someone who owns a gun, maybe taken a class, shot some paper, and bought a holster and a gun safe, you haven’t done enough. I’d encourage you to look over the list of questions I wrote. Consider all of them.

24/ If you’re serious about protecting yourself and/or others with a gun, find a training facility that is equipped to train you in real-world combat situations.

Let’s let teachers teach and law-enforcers enforce. /END