56 The last word
THE WEEK 17 August 2019It’s abeautiful quiet
morning in the Ohio
countryside, deep in the
heartland of America.
I’m standing between
Jenna,anursery school
teacher all of 5ft 2in tall
with her blonde hair in a
neat ponytail, and Robert,
alocal school principal
with abroad smile and a
belly to match. We’re in a
line of two dozen school
staff, including teachers,
principals, class assistants
and administrators, all
wearing ear protectors
and safety glasses. We are
just 4ft from our targets,
stapled to posts, anatom-
ical silhouettes showing
the bad guy’s head, torso,
heart and lungs.“The line is hot! The line is hot! Three rounds from the close
draw position!” shouts an instructor. Taking care to keep our
non-shooting hands out of the way of the 9mm rounds, we draw
our guns and fire from the hip inasudden, terrifying burst of
firepower. There isalook of stern concentration on Jenna’s face
as she reholsters her Glock 43–asmall gun designed to make
“concealed carry” as easy as possible. It is the weapon she will
wear in her school.As we step back from the line,
Icompliment Robert on his
shooting–three holes grouped
in the heart and right lung.
The accuracy required on this
course is set atahigher level
than the Ohio police firearms
qualification, which means hours of practice on the range. “I went
to my school asastudent,Icame back asateacher and now I’m
the principal,” he says inaMidwest drawl. “Things have
changed. Our main priority used to be education. Now it’s
keeping the kids safe, then education.” He’s not smiling.Imoved to Washington DC last year and my two children, aged
five and seven, joined the local elementary school. As well as a
monthly fire drill, they have two annual “lockdowns”–school
code for coping with armed attack. These drills are part of
everyday life inacountry with 120 guns in civilian ownership per
100 people–twice the rate of the next highest nation (Yemen) –
and where the names of the worst school shootings are familiar to
all: Columbine (1999), Virginia Tech (2007), Sandy Hook (2012),
Parkland (2018). Last year, there were 61 shooting fatalities in US
schools, the highest total since records began.The first step of the Washington plan for “surviving an active
shooter event” is “run”. If children in school cannot safely flee
then they have to “hide”, and are locked in their classroom until
the all-clear. Step three, which is not rehearsed with elementary
school pupils, is “fight back”. The guidance states: “Be aggressive.Improvise weapons.
Commit to your actions.”
And at school attacks
across the US over the
years, this is what brave
staff have done. They
have put themselves in
the line of fire and paid
the ultimate price.When President Trump
last year floated the idea
of arming teachers, I
couldn’t believe my ears.
“If you hadateacher
who was adept with the
firearm, they could end
the attack very quickly,”
he said, adding that
schools could arm up to
20% of staff and train
them to stop “maniacs”.
My first reaction was
one of astonishment. Arm teachers with guns? Shoot-outs in the
library?Seriously?So Idid what any concerned parent would do.
Isigned up foraschool active-shooter response training course.“Folks, you are now stepping intoanew life,” says John Benner,
chief instructor of the Tactical Defence Institute in West Union,
Ohio, addressing his latest class. Benner has designed the
“FASTER [Faculty/Administrator Safety Training&Emergency
Response] Saves Lives” three-day course, which has trained 2,000
school staff from 15 states and is the leading programme in the
US. The seven women and 19
men on the course are volunteers
from schools across the state.
Ahandful are “school resource
officers” (uniformed armed
guards)–but most are teachers
who will carryaconcealed gun.In most of their schools it is policy to keep their identity secret,
because the idea of having weapons in class divides parents and
staffrooms alike.Iagreed not to use course attendees’ full names.
“You don’t need permission to fight for your life,” says Benner,- “The bottom line is, if you are competent with your handgun,
you can takeaguy witharifle or shotgun, no problem. But you
have to be competent and you have to [understand] your
abilities.”AVietnam veteran withalong police career asaSwat
(special weapons and tactics) team leader, Benner delivers this first
lesson suckingacigar. “Folks,aword about mental preparation.
If you see this person and you know they’re the killer, don’t say
anything to them. Shoot them.Idon’t care if it’s in the back, the
side, the front. Just shoot them. It’s your job to stop the killer.”
For aroom full of teachers, it has fallen very quiet. Over the next
hour, Benner sets outahistory of mass school killings, drawing
lessons from some of the worst incidents–atrocities seared into
the minds of every educator in the US. He tells us what happened
at Colorado’s Columbine High School in 1999, when two
students, aged 17 and 18, usedarange of firearms to murder
12 pupils andateacher; at Virginia Tech in 2007, when aMeet the teachers who aretaking guns into the classroomAttendees and instructors at the FASTER Saves Lives course in OhioWith school shootings in the US now at record levels, President Trump thinks staff should be armed and willing
to fight back. David Charter joins America’s leading “school active-shooter response training course”“If you see this person and you know
they’re the killer, don’t say anything to them.
Just shoot them. It’s your job to stop them”©PATRICK FRASER/TIMES MAGAZINE