New School Research Makes it Clear Armed Teachers Prevent School Shootings

We’ve had some big debates on school shootings and gun control since President Trump took office. The frequency and magnitude of mass shootings is on track to shrink quite a bit in 2019, but that doesn’t stop the fear. People are still worried about this problem, and in all fairness, if we could find an effective way to stop mass shootings, we would take it.

Well, there’s an answer to this problem after all. New research has vigorously studied mass shootings and school shootings in particular, and there’s a single change we can make that pretty much annihilates this problem across the country.

Many states and local communities were ahead of the game and put these measures in place. They’re thriving. For everyone else, this new research will show them exactly how to stop these shootings before they start.

The Crime Prevention Research Center

The CPRC is run by Dr. John Lott. If you watch conservative news, you’ve probably seen him give an interview or two by now. Dr. Lott is one of the leading pro-gun researchers in America. He and his research center have worked tirelessly to debunk countless gun and crime myths that have been started by the anti-gun crowd.

The CPRC has set the record straight on international mass shooting statistics (the US is doing way better than you might think). They have shown the world that virtually all mass shootings happen in gun-free zones. They have even conducted statistical research to show how much anti-gun bias is in mainstream media. This is a group of amazing researchers who do good work every day.

The New Study

Before we get into the details, you need to understand the magnitude of this new research. The Social Science Research Network is basically the hub for social science and statistics. You can find papers on everything from the application of Asian law in Australia to introductory game theory. With such a wide range of vetted, reliable research, the Network is used by scientists and policy makers all the time. If someone wants to back an important claim, they probably found their source here.

So, when Dr. Lott’s latest paper is one of the five most downloaded on the site, that’s BIG news. Out of roughly 400,000 scientific papers, his is one reaching and influencing more researchers and scientists than pretty much anything else out there. He’s completely changing the game with this good research, and his influence isn’t limited to conservatives. The entire field of social science now has to rethink its understanding of school shootings.

So, what does a groundbreaking study on school shootings reveal? It tells us how to stop them. Dr. Lott looked into every school shooting in the U.S. since Columbine. That’s 20 years of data. He compared different policies and how they’ve worked.

To save you all of the boring parts, he came to an unmistakable conclusion that one measure is clearly more effective than anything else we’ve tried: arming teachers.

As of today, there are 20 states that allow teachers to carry. There have been at least some teachers concealing firearms for the full 20 years of the study, and the number has grown steadily over that time. That provided Dr. Lott with plenty of data for comparison.

He found that in the last 20 years, there have been 0 school shootings at campuses where teachers carry. That’s thousands of schools. In the meantime, shootings at schools without armed teachers have doubled in frequency each decade since Columbine. There is a runaway problem with school shootings, but it’s only in places where kids are truly defenseless.

Additionally, among the many thousands of armed teachers, there has only been 1 accidental discharge. No one was injured in that incident.

This argument is over. No other countermeasure has had even a fraction of this success. Clearly, the best way to stop a school shooter is to shoot them first.

Even better, the presence of armed teachers has been enough of a deterrent to keep anyone from even attempting a shooting at any of these schools — in 20 years. If that’s not enough to convince you, then you’re beyond the reach of reason. If you want to protect children, defend them with guns. The numbers don’t lie.