Enough is enough, says an armed U.S. Army veteran in Indiana who has decided to take student and teacher protection into his own hands after the horrifying Florida school shooting and threats of school violence rocked his own town.
Mark Cowan says he is keeping watch outside North Side High School in Fort Wayne with his AR-15 and a handgun – at least until added security is in place. Cown told WANE-TV 15 that he’s standing guard to protect students and defend them against anyone who might threaten their safety while they’re in school. He has been in contact with local police and the school resource officer.
“I [decided] to get my butt off the couch and come out here and keep an eye on these kids and teachers. They deserve it,” Cowan told the news station. “They all deserve a right to go home every night without fear of what’s going to happen during the day.”
In addition to being an Army veteran, Cowan is a member of Oath Keepers, an organization of former police officers, first responders and veterans.
“These kids mean a lot to me,” Cowan told WANE-TV 15. “These teachers mean a lot to me … this is my community, and they need protecting. And our law enforcement, as good as it is, can’t be everywhere. So it’s people like myself and the other Oath Keepers that say, ‘I’m gonna take up that slack.'”
However, the school district doesn’t appear to be thrilled by Cowan’s efforts to provide more security.
“We take the security of our schools very seriously,” Fort Wayne Community Schools spokeswoman Krista Stockman told WANE-TV 15. “We understand he has a right to be out there, but we do not believe it adds to the safety of our students. At North Side, as at all of our schools, we have security procedures in place. In addition. at North Side, we have armed police officers in the building every day.”
As WND has reported, the idea of having armed military veterans and law-enforcement officers act as guards to improve school safety is not new. Action star Chuck Norris, an Air Force veteran, has promoted the idea for several years in his exclusive weekly column.
“Which one of our fine law enforcement or military personnel (in any branch) wouldn’t consider it their greatest duty and honor to take a paid or volunteer shift as a guard infront of our schools protecting those precious souls?” Norris asked in his Feb. 19 column.
And in 2013, Norris pointed to Israel, arguing that it’s a “beacon of light for how to protect our children in public places.”
“Israel mandated armed guards at the entrances to all schools in 1995, and those guards are backed up by special police forces,” he wrote. “Despite that school defenses are primarily intended to thwart terrorists, they also deter any would-be psychos who would cause harm to their children.”
Norris continued: “Back at the home of the brave, the U.S. faces multiple mass shootings on academic campuses and the majority still refuses to post any type of armed guard or even unarmed security at schools to protect our children. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 70 percent of public schools do not have a police officer, and more than half (57 percent) have no security staff. There is an old-fashioned term for that lack of security response in these times: stupid.”
As WND has reported, the idea of having armed military veterans and law-enforcement officers act as guards to improve school safety is not new. Action star Chuck Norris, an Air Force veteran, has promoted the idea for several years in his exclusive weekly column.
More Chuck Norris!
“We take the security of our schools very seriously,” Fort Wayne Community Schools spokeswoman Krista Stockman told WANE-TV 15. “We understand he has a right to be out there, but we do not believe it adds to the safety of our students. At North Side, as at all of our schools, we have security procedures in place. In addition. at North Side, we have armed police officers in the building every day.”
Wouldn't any mass shooter just shoot this guy first?
He would also be breaking the law if he actually did enter the school due to the federal gun-free zoning of schools.
The law applies to public, private, and parochial elementary schools and high schools, and to non-private property within 1000 feet of them. It provides that the states and their political subdivisions may issue licenses that exempt the licensed individuals from the prohibition.
I assume this guy is on private property where he is standing watch.
Wouldn't any mass shooter just shoot this guy first?
Or more so, wouldn’t some police officer from some outside district this Oath Keeper had not introduced himself to arriving first shoot him assuming he was the mass shooter?
Or, would that police officer say: “May I see your Oath Keepers Identification Card, please?”
: Tooconservative, ---- Wouldn't any mass shooter just shoot this guy first?
Military veterans are more than twice as likely to be mass shooters. --- gatlin
TC -- Good point. --- The solution might be to have one child's parent in every class (a volunteer parent with a cc permit). Such parents could volunteer to attend one of their children's classes every month (given a class size of 30 kids), The schools Parent Teacher Association could work out the details and scheduling.. Comments?
As to our supposed major knocking Vets... Whatta Creep..
TC -- Good point. --- The solution might be to have one child's parent in every class (a volunteer parent with a cc permit). Such parents could volunteer to attend one of their children's classes every month (given a class size of 30 kids), The schools Parent Teacher Association could work out the details and scheduling.. Comments?
Have you even met any of today's parents? LOL
The glory days of the swaggering Harper Valley PTA are long gone.
You may recall they actually made a movie based on this song back in the Seventies, starring Barbara Eden.
The glory days of the swaggering Harper Valley PTA are long gone.
I doubt those days ever existed, except in the sit com mind.
--- The solution might be to have one child's parent in every class (a volunteer parent with a cc permit). Such parents could volunteer to attend one of their children's classes every month (given a class size of 30).
Individual School Boards would have to work out the details and scheduling, of course,_and vet the parent volunteers..
A plan of this type could very well work in rural areas, where both parents and school authorities are likely to be normal, conservative people..
