A survivor of one of America’s most infamous mass shootings believes every school in the nation should be secured with armed guards of some form.
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“The most infuriating part, when I look at these, is most of the protocols that are in place right now, they completely ignore the two biggest factors that we need,” Columbine survivor Evan Todd recently told CBN’s “Faith vs. Culture.” “And that’s one, an armed presence to immediately deal with a threat. And then, two, a medical response if something like this happens. Both of those things can save lives.”
Todd has been a longtime advocate of safer schools and a vocal opponent of increased gun control measures after he was shot and injured April 20, 1999, inside the Columbine High School library in Littleton, Colorado.
Two student gunmen infamously killed 13 people, injured scores of others, and then took their own lives, horrifying the nation and setting off a decades-long debate about school safety.
In the wake of the tragic shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, that left three students and three adults dead, Todd is renewing his call for armed security. It should be noted there are reports some staff at the school might have been armed, though definitive details are unclear.
Regardless, Todd believes, in general, there needs to be a greater focus on armed security in American schools.
“The first thing that people do when someone comes in … shooting and trying to kill people — the first thing they do is call for law enforcement,” he said. “They call for people with guns to come stop it … and so why are we waiting seven, 10, 15 minutes for police to respond when we can have either armed security, armed teachers, armed staff, a Marshall program.”
Todd added, “There’s a lot of ways, but we need to have an armed presence in our schools.”
Watch his comments:
The Columbine survivor said the issue shouldn’t be fodder for a political debate or a divide and should be considered a safety essential.
“We need to protect our schools,” Todd said. “Every child should be, and every school and every community should be protected every single day.”
Todd added that it’s “infuriating” there aren’t more safety measures in place at every school in America.
With the Nashville shooting the latest horror to make national and international news, he said the emotions of his own experience re-emerged as they so often do when mass shootings unfold.
“It’s heartbreaking,” he said. “I know what’s going through those family’s minds and going through the students [who were there]. It brings those feelings back, and it breaks my heart that people have to experience that kind of pain and … uncertainty.”
Watch the full conversation with Todd here.
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