Politicians will not save your children – but parents can

The horrific deaths of 19 children in Uvalde, Texas has rightfully sickened every American and in typical fashion, the politicians came out of their dungeon and began blaming everyone but themselves. Throw the lying media and the blue check twitter experts on top and it’s all out insanity.

Just as we’ve heard after other school shootings, the solution is gun control or the elimination of that scary looking ArmaLite Rifle that is being called an assault rifle. A lie that just about everyone has bought.

If you had a thought that politicians actually wanted a solution, you can stop at the ridiculous idea that banning a weapon, that has the same capabilities as a hunting rifle (but looks too military), would do anything to help.

We’ve been here before. The AR-15 Rifle was banned from 1994 to 2004 and any real evidence of it making a difference in violence simply isn’t there.

Just as now, the politicians knew it would make no difference in crime. Considering that far more homicides are conducted with hands and feet than rifles, it was clear that their “feel good” legislation would do nothing to impact violence and it didn’t.

The final report by the Department of Justice concluded that the ban’s success in reducing crimes committed with banned guns was “mixed.” Gun crimes involving the banned “assault” weapons declined but that decline was “offset throughout at least the late 1990s by steady or rising use of other guns…”

A Bushmaster .223 rifle including two handguns were used in the Sandy Hook shooting and they were not on the banned list. Once again, the politicians want to just ban the scary looking gun. Some will say to ban all guns but politicians have had 250 years to eliminate the Second Amendment and that is never going to occur so it’s nothing but rhetoric designed to grab votes.

Most aren’t convinced that banning one type of rifle would not work regardless of the past failure and I get it. It sounds like a great idea and to argue against it sets you up to hate children but I’m not interested in feel good approaches that do nothing but stoke emotion and pander for votes.

This problem must be fixed now and it’s time that America stops waiting on politicians to fix it. 

As a parent, I certainly wanted my kids to go to a school that offered them the best education along with other opportunities to prepare them for life but by far, the most important aspect to my kid’s school was safety. After all, for the majority of their youth, they were going to be in the hands of others.

So when homeschooling was over and it was time for middle school and high school, I was going to make sure the school was just as prepared as I was in their “homeschool.”

My first tour of the school was impressive. Not because of the advanced classes and the phenomenal facilities but because I saw a gun in every hallway. Well trained security personnel were in every building and many of the teachers had been trained specifically to protect kids.

The presence of good people with guns ready to do battle with evil is one thing but building security is another. There was only one door that anyone without a school badge could enter and that door funneled you into a secure room that had no access to the rest of the school.

I’ve had two kids graduate from this school and another still there. On a weekly basis, I find myself on campus and I’ve tested their protocols every time. Their record is perfect and as a parent, I expect nothing less.

Security makes some nervous and because of this, many schools don’t take it seriously because they are afraid of “upsetting” a parent. Far too often, our leaders make excuses or point to someone else to fix something and that must end.

What Can Be Done

1. Parents must demand real change. It begins with security and target hardening but should continue with every parent testing those protocols on a regular basis.
2. This is not a budget issue. President Bill Clinton funded 100,000 cops in 1994 and the vast majority went into the schools as “community officers.” Law enforcement can be both “community officers” while at the same time ready to eliminate the devil if they entered a school to harm our most precious possessions. If your local school or government can’t help with funding (trust me, they can) then it’s time for parents to take control and walk a beat if they have to.
3. Law enforcement must do their job. Yes there is equipment and training that should have already happened but we also play a huge educational role for schools. We should be testing these buildings, training teachers and making sure that every school is protected appropriately. And if a school refuses or fails, we should make it public so the parents know how derelict their school is.

Act Now

Unfortunately, we have been here before and our communities have a choice. We can get sucked into the political “blame” game and move on to another topic in a month or we can decide NEVER AGAIN.

If evil wants to visit our children, then we can decide today that there will be hell to pay.

Travis Yates is the author of “The Courageous Police Leader.” His training events along with additional resources can be located at: www.travisyates.org. 

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