Security guard leaves gun unattended in restroom at Lapeer charter school
Lapeer, MI -- A security officer at a Lapeer charter school left a firearm unattended in a school bathroom on Monday, Jan. 14, a school official said.
The security officer "made a breach in security protocol" and left an unloaded weapon in a restroom "for a few moments," said Chatfield School Director Matt Young.
Look, unlike many, I'm not necessarily completely opposed to having a police officer assigned to every public school in the country. HOWEVER, it would have to be thought through VERY carefully, and a TON of factors would have to be taken into consideration first.
We have a tendency in the U.S. to shrug off problems until they (sometimes literally) blow up in our faces...and then to completely panic and overreact in the worst possible direction when it does. Case in point: The TSA and the Patriot Act after 9/11.
Now, aside from the obvious danger posed here by a gun being left in the bathroom of a public school (a K-8 school, for the record), there's another problem with this story:
The security officer "made a breach in security protocol" and left an unloaded weapon in a restroom
Um, ok, so let's see.
On the one hand, the guard left a gun in the bathroom of a school filled with hundreds of young kids.
On the other hand, the gun was unloaded...and why is that again? I don't think they should have an armed guard in the first place, but if they're going to do so, what's the point of even having him there if his weapon isn't loaded?
In the event of another mass school shooting, exactly what good is this guy going to do? Ask the killer to hold off on slaughtering kids while he finds his bullets?
In many ways, this is the worst of both sides of the argument--the school district is paying to have a security guard, but the security guard isn't able to provide any actual security, and instead just risks some kid getting ahold of a real weapon and then potentially getting killed themselves by the police if they see him/her holding a real gun.
Just like the TSA manhandling elderly ladies and forcing 6-year olds to take off their shoes while simultaneously not checking most of the cargo that goes into the plane, this is nothing more than security theater.