Second Amendment Works

            The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday must be the Second Amendment because of the school shooting in Florida last week. Every single time that some deranged individual decides to shoot up a school, liberals at all levels start demanding more gun control. They want more laws in order to stop people who do not obey the laws that are already on the books. The young man who killed seventeen students and staff members and injured several others did not pay any attention to the state law that proclaims school to be “gun-free zones.” Why would another law stop him?

            Before going any further, I want to review the Second Amendment, which was passed by Congress on September 25, 1789, and ratified by the states on December 15, 1791. It is the second of ten amendments in the Bill of Rights. It says: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2015, in a 5-4 majority, that the Second Amendment confers the right to keep and bear arms on individuals.

            Along with the liberals who keep demanding more gun control laws in an actual effort to control people and not guns, there are people advocating for training teachers to handle weapons safely. At some time during 2016 the Claude Independent School District in West Texas put that theory into practice. The school district now has trained and armed teachers on their campus. 

Staff members who carry are required to practice at a shooting range once a month. They also train with the Armstrong County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Public Safety.

            In addition to having armed staff members on the campus, the district informs the public of the situation. They place prominent signs on the campuses that state the following: “ATTENTION: Please be aware that the staff at Claude ISD is armed and may use whatever force necessary to protect our students.” I believe that this sign is much more of a deterrent than a sign that proclaims: “Gun-Free Zone.”

            One may ask how the parents and students feel about guns on the school campus. All reports are that the students and their parents feel safer knowing that the school staff is prepared to protect the children from any would-be shooter.

            Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd in Florida might have heard about the school district in West Texas – or not. However, he wanted to arm teachers and end gun-free school zones nationwide. He says, “There has to be a line-of-defense.” It’s not something we want to do – it’s something we have to do.”

            Judd calls his idea the “Sentinel Program.” It is a plan to “Arm teachers with concealed weapons and train them to effectively defend students should the need ever arise.” It is a program that is already at place at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, which is in Polk County.  

            The sheriff explains that only teachers with “impeccable, crime-free backgrounds” would be selected. The selected teachers would then “undergo rigorous training that includes meeting standards beyond those that Florida law enforcement must maintain. In addition, each selected teacher undergoes intense psychological evaluation.” Once a teacher passes the “rigorous training” and “intense psychological evaluation” they become “special deputy sheriffs” and are allowed to carry guns on school campuses. The program is active only in Polk County, but the sheriff is attempting to convince state leaders to implement it statewide.

            Armed staff members on school campuses are one way to protect the children from deranged shooters. Kelly Guthrie Raley, 2017-2018 “Teacher of the Year” at Eustis Middle School in Florida, sent out a Facebook post calling for a change in American culture. She looks at the nation as a whole and shows how it contributes to mass shootings. She seems to have no fear in stating the obvious, and puts the blame squarely on the decline of families and society. She was very pointed in her words, part of which is as follow.

Until we, as a country, are willing to get serious and talk about mental health issues, lack of available care for the mental health issues, lack of discipline in the home, horrendous lack of parental support when the schools are trying to control horrible behavior at school (oh no! Not MY KID. What did YOU do to cause my kid to react that way?), lack of moral values, and yes, I’ll say it-violent video games that take away all sensitivity to ANY compassion for others’ lives, as well as reality TV that makes it commonplace for people to constantly scream up in each other’s faces and not value any other person but themselves, we will have a gun problem in school. Our kids don’t understand the permanency of death anymore!!!

            Americans who understand why we have the Second Amendment and what it does are not willing to allow liberals to destroy the right to keep and bear arms. Yet, liberals continue to call for more gun control, as if it is the guns that need to be controlled. Intelligent people understand that the Second Amendment is there to protect Americans from their government. It has done so for more than 200 years and will continue to do so if allowed.