School Safety can’t be Gained by Gun Control or Police Officers in School: trained Concealed Carry Staff and Volunteer Retired Military Officers and NCOs is Best Approach

The most stringent new gun controls are not going to stop a determined or psycho person from shooting up a school, a McDonalds, or any other situation. Nor will stationing policemen stop this — the gunman just shoots them first. The only feasible way to avoid major deaths is hundreds of thousands of trained, trusted concealed carry personnel.

There are about two million retired military personnel in the U.S. A program limited to officers and senior NCOs, taking volunteers with no PTSD or other potential problems, giving them a short (less than a day) training and then free concealed carry permits could field a force of several hundred thousand volunteers. Many retired officers and NCOs are already in schools as teachers, but probably none of them are armed now. If you happen to be in McDonalds when a shooting occurs, hope that I am there. I spend a lot of time on the computer at my “McDonalds offices” and unless I’m on a business trip, I’m carrying a 9mm pistol with 9 rounds. As an Academy graduate, retired Colonel, with a concealed carry permit, I’m more valuable than a police officer sitting in McDonalds. The policeman is obvious, so the shooter will come from behind him or her, draw, and kill the policemen. A shooter is unlikely to suspect me and after his first rounds are fired, possibly after he draws if I’m suspicious and watching him, he’s soon going to be shot down.

Retired military officers and NCOs would volunteer for this service — no need to pay us. We’ll even put up with a day of training if its sensible best practices, not basic gun safety we already know. If you waived the fees and hassles of not just getting a concealed carry permit, but having to travel and go back to the Sherriff’s office and (in my case) then travel to another town to get the carry card printed and issued, we’d have additional incentives to serve.

This is a sensible, low to no cost approach to provide much better security than fielding an additional million policemen or foolishly thinking that gun control laws are going to stop crazy people, criminals, or terrorists.

Dr. Drew Miller, Col USAFR (Ret)