A year ago, the deadliest K-12 school shooting since Sandy Hook occurred. In May 2022, a gunman killed nineteen students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. In the aftermath of the tragic event, one of the main stories reported on was the conduct of the police during the event.
The security footage of the shooting, provided by the New York Post, is both horrifying and baffling to watch. Police officers arrived on the scene after the shooter entered two adjoined classrooms. They attempted to move up the hallway toward those classrooms but ran back down once gunshots were heard. The shooting continued. More heavily armed police arrived on the scene but even after about thirty minutes, no rescue attempt was made.
It’s especially difficult to watch when you realize that, while the police positioned themselves at the end of the hallway, aiming at an unlocked door, the gunman fired four more rounds. The police moved up the hallway and still didn’t breach the classroom. Finally, after 77 minutes, moments after watching one officer use the nearby hand sanitizer and check his phone, the police finally killed the assailant. By this point, all twenty-one people had already died.
The video should have been a message to Americans about the ineffectiveness of police in response to active shooter situations. However, after the attack, an article from the Texas Tribune found that many high-ranking Texas politicians continued to push for more on-site security at schools, including the Lieutenant Governor. The state’s governor, Greg Abbott (R), as well as Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and former President Donald Trump, attended the National Rifle Association (NRA) convention the Friday after the incident. About ten years ago, after Sandy Hook, an NRA Executive Vice President claimed that “the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
While it’s a nice slogan for an organization whose stated goal is to “"promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis,” the idea of “a good guy with a gun” being a solution to school shootings hasn’t held up over time.
As explained by the National Criminal Justice Association, “researchers have found that campus policing does not reduce gun violence. A 2021 JAMA Network study examined the presence of armed officers on the scene and the occurrence and severity of mass school shootings from 1980 to 2019. The data suggested ‘no association between having an armed officer and deterrence of violence in these cases’ and ‘no significant reduction in rates of injury.’”
However, the myth of “the good guy with a gun” still pervades our society today and legislators still use it as a basis to deflect from the real issue. Whether it's good guys with guns or single-entrance schools or mental health, all alternative solutions to gun violence in schools pale in comparison to the only method that consistently works: restricting guns themselves.
Uvalde proved that a good guy with a gun can’t always save the day. Children shouldn’t have to rely on consistently incompetent police to feel safe at school. And the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is if he doesn’t have a gun in the first place. 🆅
The opinions expressed within this piece are solely the author's and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of North Mecklenburg High School or the Viking Voice.