Texas Police Chief Advocates Arming Teachers To Prevent Mass Shootings

In the wake of the deadly shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, 17-year-old survivor Colton Haab told Fox News that he believes that if his football coach Aaron Feis, who died in the attack shielding students from gunfire, had been able to carry his firearm at school, he would have been able to effectively obstruct the gunman.

“If Coach Feis had had his firearm in school that day, I believe that he most likely could’ve stopped the threat,” Haab told Fox News.

Haab went on to explain that Feis, who was a trained security guard in addition to being an assistant football coach, upon hearing the sound of gunfire, sped off in his golf cart toward the sound of the gunshots.

While arming teachers is not common practice, The Daily Caller reports that one Texas school district has been doing exactly that for the past four years.

In 2014, motivated in part by the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the Argyle Independent School District began allowing staff members to carry guns on school grounds after “intense interviews and training” in an effort to mitigate the threat from a potential mass shooting.

Argyle Independent School District Police Chief Paul Cairney appeared on MSNBC over the weekend and discussed the steps staff must take in order to carry a firearm on the campus, and he was asked if he was concerned for the safety of students due to the presence of firearms.

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