Is it realistic to believe that a teacher could effectively defend against an active shooter, using an AR-15, armed with only a handgun?

If you are in a tank and exposed, and I shoot you with a snub nosed .38 Special will you not fall if your brains come out the other side? You can be the baddest PX commando out there, but no one has 360 degree vision.

I heard an interesting conversation on a radio station out of Louisville KY recently. The guest trains pilots to carry concealed in response to 9\11. He said he could easily adapt his training for teachers and staff. The teachers could be taught to defend the students in a classroom and the staff not having a class, could be taught to hunt the shooter. The prerequisite is the interested teacher or staff member must already be a licensed concealed carry permit holder, that way they understand the legal side and have some training with a weapon and generally know how to conceal their handgun without notice.

In general an armed teacher might make a difference, but a shooter who more than likely expects to die won’t care about return fire. Let teachers teach and let’s hire armed security to be the deterrence.

I can’t speak for elementary, middle, and high schools in a variety of locations and states, with the different social values and customs and outlooks therein. Though I’m both a middle school teacher and military officer, I’m not speaking on behalf of either of those institutions.

The schools I work in teach us to use ALiCE training. Alert, lockdown, counter, and evade though not necessarily in that order. Depending on where the shooter is will dictate response. I’m the only teacher in my school to drill my students, in each class, on what to do. I have items to blockade my door, to facilitate window escape, and to counter a shooter with. My room is right next to the outside door, and outside my window are the woods. I’m one of six veterans /reservists in a staff of 60.

If there’s an active shooter, the odds are I’m getting my students out of the window or the doors. If there’s a shooter on my hallway, he’s probably already hit other classrooms, so I have the warning and time to lockdown and prepare to counter. My kids are getting out of the window and I’m shoving my filing cabinet against the door, securing the door arm, and possibly handing my students who have no chance of getting it of the room in time items to throw, like canned foods from fundraisers.

A shooter would have to get past the lock, past the door arm measure, through the filing cabinet, while (assuming I have no chance to get through the window) im able to stand next to the door he’s about to breach.

I’d say my odds with a handgun are pretty good, even for a chaplain.

A local CWP instructor has offered districts in the upstate free training for teachers who want to carry a sidearm, IF the districts ok the teacher to carry.

Trained teachers willing to vounteer to both carry and be trained, on top of one veteran/reservist teacher on each hallway. Admittedly, that’s not covering a shooter in the media center, gym, or library. But with a handgun I’m not engaging the shooter, I’m protecting myself and my students.

Let's talk about the Elephant in the room: A SRO who did not do his job and confront the attacker! That was the first real issue here in FL, not that no teachers were armed. If the SRO had done his job and rushed to the sound of gunfire, as Police are supposed to do (like Military) we might not have lost 17 kids and coaches to gunfire. Instead, he stood outside and waited for backup. Even after backup arrived he was no help in identifying the shooter, his location, or anything else. He was fired for his lack of action, as well he should have been, but then we get into the whole teachers - armed teacher thing.

Yes, I do believe that having it known that there are armed teachers inside schools will provide deterrents to armed shootings. In case you have not noticed, most of these Shooters, are taken alive, they are trying to make a name for themselves, not "die for a cause." If they realize that their chance of survival is low, I feel they might not want to engage.

They do in Israel. The difference is that every person in Israel must serve in the Armed Forces and a lifetime of reserves most of it inactive. They have been trained on how to shoot and how to react to violence quickly. Most teachers(being a former one myself) I would NEVER trust with a gun. They vote and support Democrats for a reason. They will not put their own life in danger. There are some who will and that is where we need to have those teachers located near any entry way so that they will and can operate quickly. There are many other ways that we can keep schools safe. Fits is a double door where both are locked and an individual has to swipe their ID to get in. This last shoot the former student would have never been able to get into the school due to not having an ID. Second is to have security at the doors whenever they are open and for all events. Parents and other guests will have to go through the double doors and get searched when they get inside the first set of doors. There is always a janitor on duty and having a few teachers certified to carry and be trained will never hurt a situation. Finally schools have threat, fire and emergency weather drills. We need our administrators and teachers to take these drills seriously. Most of them do it because they have. Then when they are needed to be used in real life they freeze up and people get hurt.

After these horrific events I believe we all have the desire that an armed hero just happened to be there and shoots the shooter before he does so much harm. We are disheartened that person was not there. Just likes in the movies or stopping the terrorist on a train. I am not sure what would be the response time for a teacher, coach, principal in cases like this. As an aging former military, skydiver, What's in my mind is not what s in my body. Jumping off the ladder to drop and roll before I fall or using my martial arts training ( I don't conceal carry). Weapons training probably is not realistic. I am sadly no longer a bad ass in body. Only in mind. It's just heartbreaking that we are at this point. We have too figure this out.

I disagree with your analysis of the Dallas shooting. The fog of war made the location of the shooter difficult. Once the location of the shooter was known and he could be identified as the target, his retreat was cut off and he was isolated. It was his position, not the Fog of War that determined the best course of action to bring him down. The on-scene commander decided that a robot with an explosive charge made more sense than moving a police shooter into a firing position, while exchanging shots, at close combat distance.

The tactical situation for an armed intruder entering a school building is entirely different. It is closer to the tactical problem the police faced in Dallas, than the tactical situation the assailant faced. I believe the armed teachers should probably not be "riding to the sound of the guns." That is a task better left to the police who should have body armor and hopefully pyro-technics like flash bangs.

The armed teachers first responsibility is to make a decision to shelter in place with the students in his or her area of influence, or to evacuate. The armed teacher should then stick to that plan until it is complete, or no longer the best course of action.

If the shooter has closed on the teachers position and the threat is imminent, the armed teacher should seek a defensive firing position that affords concealment and/or cover plus observation of the shooter's approach. At this point the teacher would engage the shooter to either kill or delay, or take an ambush shot if feasible.

If the armed teacher's students are, as best as possible, sheltered in place, or evacuated; then the teacher can assess which of three courses of action seems best,

1) remain in place protecting the students in the immediate area
2) block the shooters pursuit of evacuees, or
3) move to an offensive posture and seek to locate, close with, and kill the armed intruder.

This substantially increases the difficulty of an armed assailant, hell bent on inflicting as many casualties as possible. Will this end school shootings...? No it will not. Will it reduce the number and severity of casualties...? I believe so, but we will never know regardless of what decision is made.

Yes-A bullet if it hits in the right place regardless of if it's delivered by a rifle or a hand gun will kill or incapacitate the shooter. I will grant that in general rifles are more accurate than hand guns. One point I think you miss is that most of these mass shooters are basically cowards and the mere threat that they might get shot might be enough to stop them. I will also admit that I think it's very sad that we need to have armed guards in our schools but what other viable alternative do we have at this point?

I think those without any knowledge of the AR-15, or firearms in general, overestimate its capability. It's cumbersome, conspicuous, and other legally obtainable firearms have more stopping power. I'm not sure giving teachers weapons is the "fix," but on its face it's better than having sitting ducks as targets. Very difficult answer to a difficult question.