December 21, 2012
By Josh Levin
In today’s NRA press conference, (click here) the group’s executive vice president Wayne LaPierre called for “armed security in every school”:
LaPierre is right—it’s possible that an armed guard could have stopped Adam Lanza. But is it likely? Consider the case of Columbine High School.
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and one teacher at Columbine. On the scene that day was Neil Gardner, an armed sheriff’s deputy who had been policing the school for almost two years.
As a CNN report describes, Gardner was eating lunch when he got a call from a custodian that he was needed in the school’s back parking lot. A few minutes later, he encountered Harris and the two exchanged gunfire. Harris was not hit and ran back inside the school. At that point, “Gardner called for additional units to respond to the south parking lot of Columbine High School. … While he was on the radio calling for assistance, five other Jefferson County deputies already were on their way, arriving only minutes after the first report of a ‘female down’ at Columbine High School.” Later, Gardner saw Harris again, through a broken window. Once again, he fired. Once again, he didn’t hit him....
Officer Gardner responded as he should have, but, he was alone with two young men in the building with very different style guns than he was carrying and with pipe bombs, luckily that didn't ignite.
Look at this footage and tell me if Officer Gardner was in the room that it would have ended the assault. Probably not, but, some students might have been able to get out of the library.
Let me add this, did the Columbine killers know there was an armed sheriff's deputy in the school? Sure they did. Why did they choose the library during lunch hour to begin their assault? These young men weren't stupid. We know they had plans to continue their assault after they killed everyone at Columbine. They didn't expect to die. They had plans to hijack a jet.
The additional law enforcement was already on their way to Columbine because at least one of the survivors of those attacked used his mobile phone to call for help.
The arguments of the NRA are 'sucker punches.' If there was only a "Good Guy with a Gun" it would stop the "Bad Guy with a Gun." That is a cigarette commercial telling the audience smoking doesn't cause cancer. There was a good guy with a gun at Columbine doing his job well and acting in defense of the students and teachers. So, what does the NRA want, an armed detachment to guard every school?
By Josh Levin
In today’s NRA press conference, (click here) the group’s executive vice president Wayne LaPierre called for “armed security in every school”:
LaPierre is right—it’s possible that an armed guard could have stopped Adam Lanza. But is it likely? Consider the case of Columbine High School.
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and one teacher at Columbine. On the scene that day was Neil Gardner, an armed sheriff’s deputy who had been policing the school for almost two years.
As a CNN report describes, Gardner was eating lunch when he got a call from a custodian that he was needed in the school’s back parking lot. A few minutes later, he encountered Harris and the two exchanged gunfire. Harris was not hit and ran back inside the school. At that point, “Gardner called for additional units to respond to the south parking lot of Columbine High School. … While he was on the radio calling for assistance, five other Jefferson County deputies already were on their way, arriving only minutes after the first report of a ‘female down’ at Columbine High School.” Later, Gardner saw Harris again, through a broken window. Once again, he fired. Once again, he didn’t hit him....
Officer Gardner responded as he should have, but, he was alone with two young men in the building with very different style guns than he was carrying and with pipe bombs, luckily that didn't ignite.
Look at this footage and tell me if Officer Gardner was in the room that it would have ended the assault. Probably not, but, some students might have been able to get out of the library.
Let me add this, did the Columbine killers know there was an armed sheriff's deputy in the school? Sure they did. Why did they choose the library during lunch hour to begin their assault? These young men weren't stupid. We know they had plans to continue their assault after they killed everyone at Columbine. They didn't expect to die. They had plans to hijack a jet.
The additional law enforcement was already on their way to Columbine because at least one of the survivors of those attacked used his mobile phone to call for help.
The arguments of the NRA are 'sucker punches.' If there was only a "Good Guy with a Gun" it would stop the "Bad Guy with a Gun." That is a cigarette commercial telling the audience smoking doesn't cause cancer. There was a good guy with a gun at Columbine doing his job well and acting in defense of the students and teachers. So, what does the NRA want, an armed detachment to guard every school?
