Urban colleges, including Washington’s George Washington University, are joining rural schools in arming campus police, agreeing that when an active shooter starts firing, every minute counts.
The shift by urban schools follows a rash of recent city shootings in which police were able to arrive quickly but still not fast enough to neutralize the gunmen.
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In explaining why GWU shifted policies, school President Mark Wrighton said, “When weapons are involved, minutes matter.”
Many urban colleges do not arm their police forces because armed city police are usually nearby.
NEW: Interim University President Mark Wrighton said the Board of Trustees approved a policy to arm roughly 20 GWPD officers with 9 mm handguns https://t.co/KYLKTI8JqM
— The GW Hatchet (@gwhatchet) April 13, 2023
But experts have shifted their view and are now arguing for a host of preventive measures on every campus.
GWU law professor John Banzhaf is one who has advocated guns, hardened doors, and other measures to thwart potential mass shooters on campuses.
In fact, he goes further in his recommendations than just training and arming campus police. “I keep reminding administrators and members of our Faculty Senate of the need to be prepared for the next school shooter, and arming teachers is one of the recommendations,” he told Secrets on Friday.
He has been especially focused on rural schools arming police and teachers. “As I’ve often written, the need for someone to be armed is greatest in schools which are rural and where the response time is likely to be more than a few minutes,” he said.
In addressing the move to arm some campus officers at his downtown Washington university, Banzhaf added, “GWU’s leaders are finally recognizing that even in the middle of a large city, where the response time to a report of a shooter on campus may only be minutes, those are minutes in which a deranged person with an AR-15 can kill or seriously wound dozens of innocent students and faculty if not immediately confronted.”
The minutes it can take police to arrive at a shooting scene has also been a driving reason many are purchasing handguns and taking defensive training and concealed carry classes.
Justin Anderson, the marketing director at one of the nation’s largest gun stores, Hyatt Guns of Charlotte, N.C., recently told Secrets that preparing a school for an attack can stop one from happening.
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“We need to harden our schools and make them unattractive targets. Create carded entries and people traps. Get more armed and well-trained school resource officers to guard our children. Teachers should be armed randomly and well trained to use firearms proficiently. School shooters are cowards. If they see a sign outside that says: ‘Be aware that the staff at this school is armed and trained and will use whatever force necessary to protect our students,’ they will move on. These maniacs want to be the center of attention, and the last thing they want is someone shooting back,” said Anderson.
Banzhaf has written a report listing measures and agrees with Anderson’s recommendation. One part reads, “Signs advising ‘WARNING, SOME PROFESSORS ARE ARMED’ should provide a significant deterrent to a potential shooter because neither students nor outsiders will know the number or identity of those armed, and an armed professor may be able to stop, or at least contain, a shooter before law enforcement personnel arrive, if such action is necessary.”
He added, “Most would agree that a professor with a gun, even if not well trained, is more likely to be able to stop or contain a shooter than one who is not armed.”
