Adam Lanza Shooting: Why Teachers Should Carry Concealed Weapons to Protect the Defenseless

During a State of the Union interview on CNN Sunday morning, Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy exhibited a stunning misunderstanding of the purpose of gun rights in society and the cause of the tragedy that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday.

The governor bragged that Connecticut is fourth most aggressive nationally in limiting access to “assault weapons.” He then went on to blame the federal government and President Barack Obama for not putting greater restrictions on assault weapons,” saying that "in the absence of federal legislation, people use descriptive terms to try to get around the limitations that are built into our statutes here in Connecticut or might otherwise not happen if we had federal legislation on this issue.”

Following a tragedy which could possibly have been stopped by allowing law abiding citizens greater access to weapons and expanded concealed carry rights, this Connecticut public policy flaw is one to be bemoaned rather than proclaimed as a national template.

One of the most outlandish comments the governor made was that, “This is a violent world. We are a particularly violent country within that world.” In actuality, data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime shows the United States is far from being “particularly violent.” In fact, the 2010 murder rate in the United States was 4.9 per 100,000 residents. What are the homicide rates in some other countries with much more restrictive gun control? Honduras: 91.6, El Salvador: 69.2, Jamaica: 40.9, Venezuela: 45.1, and Mexico: 22.7. Note that the homicide rates of these unarguably violent countries are between 4 and 18 times that of the United States. The governor told a flat out falsehood on national television in an effort to advance his unbendable ideology.

Disturbingly, the governor recognized the inherent deficiencies of current security measures while recommending more of the same failed prevention tactics. The governor pointed out that because “schools are not vaults,” guarded entrances may not be a solution to the problem. In addition, he pointed out that many schools are too large for adequate lock-down procedures. The governor even acknowledged that a gunman could simply attack people in the school yard, rather than entering the building. Yet, his solution to these concerns focused on federal gun control legislation.

The lack of federal legislation banning gun control is not the problem. On the contrary, if school teachers were permitted to carry concealed weapons in their classrooms, tragedies like these could be avoided. Training is widely available to teachers to learn how to safely shoot in cases of emergency. Unfortunately, the public remains in large part unaware of the success of such measures. Massacres prevented or stopped at the onset receive far less media attention.

Sadly, politicians like Governor Malloy put the gun control special interest groups and their own blind ideology above facts and the rights of Americans as enshrined in the Constitution. Courage is required for these politicians to stand up to the ignorance, misinformation and the dogma of the extremists who would allow their own personal distaste for guns to deprive others of the constitutionally protected right of self-defense.

The grief and anguish resulting from the loss of life at Sandy Hook Elementary School should give even the most avid proponent of gun control pause for thought. Why does Connecticut state law almost guarantee that the most defenseless and innocent amongst us remain the most vulnerable to evil-doers? The law banning concealed carry by school personnel borders on being an unjust law.