Friday, May 18, 2018, became another very sad day within our school system. Another horrendous shooting that left at least ten people, mostly students dead and another ten with injuries. This time the weapon of choice was not an AR-15; it was a shotgun and a .38-caliber revolver. There are also reports of homemade explosive devices being discovered in the school and nearby.

I have written two blog posts in recent weeks dealing with this terrible subject. Each is available in earlier posts below and offer my specific concerns and suggestions as to what specific actions should be taken by the U.S. Congress and state/local authorities.

Today, Saturday, I have heard much rhetoric. First, I heard that a plan under consideration in Illinois is to "Replace armed school officers with therapists." You really don’t want to know my thoughts on this one! Next, other recommendations centered on "hardening" practically every school within the U.S. and doing things like securing all doors, and having only one entry point; installing metal detectors; performing bag checks; using door monitors; assigning police officers to premises; even one "expert" talked about assigning an armed police officer to each floor of school buildings. Would such strategies be effective? Yes, but consider the length of time such "hardening" studies and implementation phases would take. Can you imagine the total costs that would be associated with each... Don’t kid yourselves, once the politicians got a look at those recurring expenses, the cost-cutting hatchet would be promptly at work.

Never forget, 17 individuals were killed in Parkland and 20 in Sandy Hook. Starting back 19 years with the devastation that took place in Columbine, we have heard all types of promises from our political leaders, but these shootings continue! WAKE UP AMERICA! Direct your energies to your state and federal politicians: Demand effective actions be taken and insist that a specific timeline for completion be included.

Here are my short-term recommendations:

1. Do away with those politically correct "gun free zones" and signage. They are no deterrent to the shooter who is hell-bent on leaving a number of innocent victims behind. If anything, a message has been sent to the shooter that there is a minimal risk of return fire;

2. Work with your local law enforcement agency, identify and arm a few highly qualified school teachers and staff/custodial personnel who are willing to accept this important responsibility. Each should be intensively trained and certified once the training period is over. Those taking on this critically important assignment should also be incentivized with a higher rate of pay or other acknowledgment. Learn from others; talk with administrators already arming select teachers and other personnel in schools such as Clarksville School District in Arkansas, two school districts in South Dakota, Highland, Utah, and the administrator of those 100 public school districts in Texas.

(Note: Don’t let someone put the spin on my words. I am not advocating arming ALL teachers, etc. I want to be perfectly clear, ONLY train and arm those few highly qualified personnel who are willing to accept and perform this important responsibility.)

Please pray for those who lost their lives and for their families. Also, pray that we will not have to deal with this deadly topic in the future. However, mark my words, if prompt, realistic and positive preventative measures are not put in place in the immediate future, . . . We will have another repeat!