'deputy Is A Coward'

[Islay]

To quote Trump the deputy that did not wade into the recent high school shoot 'is at the least a disgrace at the worst a coward'
Now I have recently been watching a series of programs investigating the mass shootings in America and all the trained professionals on there stat that you should not enter as an individual but wait until there are at least 3 armed trained professionals.
So is Trump right is the deputy a coward or a disgrace or did he do the right thing?
The man has now resigned and is being slated by the President - I cannot think what that poor man is going through at them moment.
What are your thoughts please?

[Garaman]

I'd have gone in whatever the rules and whatever the consequences.

(That was easy to write.)

[david small]

The situation that occurred, was the very reason that he was there to prevent or curtail. He did nothing. I reiterate, I would have gone in immediately, and as a professional protector he should have done so, end of...

[theshedman]

Everyone knows that Trumps answer is always get more guns but what happens if as he says they arm the teachers and 1 of them go off the rails which could happen as did happen with the student. Teachers who are trained in using guns could be even more deadly than a student who is not. I think more thought needs to go into this idea.

[Zacs-Master]

Arming teachers is tackling the symptom, not the cause.

[Jahulaye]

“but what happens if as he says they arm the teachers“

The teachers can arm themselves dependant on the state they live in anyway and can go Bezerk with or without trumps say so.

[Zacs-Master]

I posted a few links a few weeks ago showing that teachers are already being armed in some states / counties.

[youngmafbog]

A coward? Not sure but one thing is for certain he should have done more as that is what he was paid to do.

Training may say one thing, but it is just training it does not cater for all eventualities. Here we have extremely brave unarmed teachers dying trying to protect the kids whilst a trained and armed Policeman sat under cover. Cannot be right.

Whilst it is easy to sit here on a keyboard and criticise I think what would have driven me in more than anything is that I simply could not live with myself if I didn't go in.

[emmie]

that he has been unfairly in my opinion slated for doing the right thing. staying until there was back up.

[ChillDoubt]

that he has been unfairly in my opinion slated for doing the right thing. staying until there was back up.
-------------------
The right thing would have been to do the job he was being paid handsomely for(£54,000+ per annum according to the BBC).
Waiting for backup won't wash whilst teenagers are being slaughtered and unarmed teachers are throwing themselves in front of them.

[andy-hughes]

Spicerack - // / The difficulty here for President Trump is that this reality punctures a galaxy-wide hole in his gun philosophy - the way to combat bad guys with guns is for good guys to have guns.//

Quite the opposite, imo. One of the main arguments of the pro-gun lobby has been self reliance. This bears out their argument that you can't always rely on the authorities to protect you.
One can see situations when 'wait for back-up' makes sense. This wasn't one of them. //

We had a 'good guy with a gun' who failed to act like Dirty Harry, which is the fantasy that President Trump and the NRA like to believe is what will happen.

So if a trained armed officer failed - what chance teachers being paid a bit extra to arm themselves?

There is this nonsensical notion probably engendered by watching too many Bruce Willis movies, that when faced with a gunman, a police officer will squint down his gun barrel and shoot him between the eyes, and then spark up a Marlboro.

This was reality, it takes seconds, people are scared, they freeze, their overwhelming genetically programmed urge to survive kicks in and they don't walk into danger.

You cannot 'rely' on anyone, police officer, teacher, generic 'good guy with a gun' in these situations, and to suggest that this is the way forward is irresponsible nonsense.

[Spicerack]

'You cannot 'rely' on anyone, police officer, teacher, generic 'good guy with a gun' in these situations, and to suggest that this is the way forward is irresponsible nonsense.'

Exactly what I said, Andy. That's why pro-gun people don't want to give up their weapons and rely on other people to rescue them.

[andy-hughes]

Spicerack - // 'You cannot 'rely' on anyone, police officer, teacher, generic 'good guy with a gun' in these situations, and to suggest that this is the way forward is irresponsible nonsense.'

Exactly what I said, Andy. That's why pro-gun people don't want to give up their weapons and rely on other people to rescue them. //

But the pro-gun lobby reckon that a 'good guy with a gun' is the answer - but clearly as in this situation, it's not, is it?

[Spicerack]

I'm out.

[-SharonA-]

Trump is wrong to publicly blast the man. No matter what job you do, safety is paramount.

Trump seems to think the school guard should have gone in like Bruce Willis!!!

[andy-hughes]

Sharon - // Trump seems to think the school guard should have gone in like Bruce Willis!!! //

Of course he does - in President Trump's world, this is how police officers behave.

The major problem is, high schools are not film sets, gunmen don't follow a script, and police officers are as prone to panic and self-survival as anyone else.

[vetuste_ennemi]

"Trump is wrong to publicly blast the man"

Well, Sharon, you and I agree about that.

But your following statement: " No matter what job you do, safety is paramount"?

I may have misread you, but by that logic a soldier would never go into action and a fireman would never enter a blazing building, which would kind of defeat the object of an army and a fire brigade, don't you think?

[Garaman]

They follow strict rules though, VE, to ensure their own safety. It is fifty years since my forces training, but we were taught that you first ensure you will be safe before trying to help anyone else; you can't help anyone if you are dead.

[Islay]

Thank you for all the responses, and a special thanks for this thread not descending into an online scrap.

[-SharonA-]

Vetuste, I am sure he was not trained to Army level, I could be wrong.
The impression I'm getting, is that he was a security guard with gun.

And quite rightly, he should wait for back-up.

[vetuste_ennemi]

But the universal application of the rule "first ensure you will be safe before trying to help anyone else" would mean you would never have heroes, wouldn't it, Garaman? As well as providing a perfect defence for cowardice (or "inertia" if you prefer): I was just obeying the rule book.