At least 19 children and two adults died on Tuesday after an 18-year-old opened fire at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The shooter, now deceased, previously warned on social media that “the kids should watch out.”
Tragedies like the shooting in Texas are heartbreaking but far too common. Since 2018, there have been 119 school shootings wherein at least one person was injured or killed. Name-calling, blame-shifting, and calls for gun restrictions fill social media in the public’s quest to find a solution. But to protect the most precious, innocent lives among us, parents must educate their kids at home.
It is clear now from the long list of school shootings in recent years that families can’t trust government schools, in particular, to bring their children or teachers home safely at the end of the day. The same institutions that punish students for “misgendering” people and hide curriculum from parents are simply not equipped to safeguard your children from harm.
While some school districts devote time and resources to screening, training, and licensing teachers to carry firearms in their classrooms, most states and districts have policies that explicitly prohibit educators from carrying guns on school property for self-defense. Instead, they create gun-free school zones and allow only one or two security guards a weapon meant to protect hundreds of people in a crisis. Democrats on the national level have also blocked federal funds from arming and preparing teachers for the worst-case scenario.
Schools should be a safe place for children to learn, but saying “guns have no place here” only stops good people with kids’ best interests in mind from being able to protect them. At home, parents don’t have to worry about jumping through bureaucratic hoops to shield their kids from a bullet, the trauma of seeing their classmates slaughtered, or even terrifying shooting drills. They live and teach in a controlled environment where guns can be safely carried for self-defense or locked away when not in use.
You can’t protect your kids from everything. There’s no telling when a crazy gunman might open fire in a movie theater or a grocery store. You can, however, do your best to prevent them from being sitting ducks at frequently targeted locations such as schools by keeping them by your side.
Educational choice doesn’t save children from hardship or danger, but it gives every mother and father an opportunity to exercise their parental duty to love, protect, instruct, and empower their children until they are properly equipped to leave the nest — no bulletproof backpacks necessary.
Source: The Federalist
