Tired of the empty rhetoric about school safety, one charter school in Florida has decided it’s time to bring in the big guns, literally, to protect its students from threats. Palmetto’s Manatee School for Arts has just hired two combat veterans — whom they’ve armed with semi-automatic rifles and handguns — to, as the principal put it, “put down” anyone who comes on campus intending to do harm.
In a move reported by the Bradenton Herald, Manatee School for Arts Principal Bill Jones explained that his school is not interested in trying to “talk” or “negotiate” with potential threats — they’re just going to take them out.
“If someone walks onto this campus, they’re going to be shot and killed,” Jones told the paper. “We’re not going to talk with them. We’re not going to negotiate. We are going to put them down, as quickly as possible.”
The Herald notes that the Public Safety Act enacted in 2018 in response to the horrific mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School requires all public schools in the state to have armed security personnel on campus. While many schools have lawmen assigned to the schools as resource officers, the new law allows for some alternatives. Being a charter school, Manatee has even more leeway for who it uses for security — and how it chooses to arm them.
“Manatee School for the Arts, which has more leeway than regular public schools, has taken a more aggressive approach to the guardian program, hiring only military veterans with combat experience and arming them with Glock handguns and Kel-Tec RDB 17-inch semi-automatic long-guns, both which they carry at all times,” the Herald reports. “The rifle is a bullpup, a configuration that allows for a shorter firearm with a long barrel, and uses .223 caliber ammunition, same as an AR-15.”
Principal Jones stressed that while there’s “no guarantee” the officers will be where they’re needed at a particular moment, “certainly, the long gun gives you a better range.”
“People might think twice, particularly in our case, if you pull up and see a guy who is carrying a full-long gun,” said Jones. “If someone tried to come on campus with a weapon, before we had our guardian program, there really is nothing much to stop that.”
The choice of using only military veterans and allowing them to carry their semi-automatic rifles has gained national attention, including from CBS Miami. While many schools do provide security personnel rifles, they do not carry them; instead, the rifles are usually stored in security racks in their vehicles.
The administration has also mandated that the guardians use ammo for the long-guns that does not “over-penetrate,” specifying shells that will pierce basic body armor but not go through the intruder, which would pose a risk to others.
Jones also addressed the school’s decision to hire only combat veterans. “If you’re ever going to have an event on campus, I don’t want it to be the first time they’ve been shot at,” he told the Herald. “I don’t want them trying to figure who they are and how they are going to respond. That’s a life-changing experience and these folks, I don’t want this to be the first time they’ve asked themselves, ‘What am I going to do?'”
Broward County’s response to the Parkland mass shooting last February has been widely condemned because of the failure of security personnel to confront the shooter, which almost certainly resulted in more lives lost.
The Herald reports that the first guardian hired by the school is “a 15-year U.S. Army veteran who served three tours in Afghanistan and Iraq,” while the second “is currently undergoing required training by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.”
via Daily Wire
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