So this happened last night in my neighborhood. The two stores mentioned are located right outside my community. And the shootings began inside my community. As soon as I received word about it, I immediately contacted my wife and had her implement our emergency plan: Barricade herself, and the kids in one of the bedrooms, lock and block the doors, set the security alarm, and have her firearm on her as there were an unknown number of shooters loose in the neighborhood and the police were looking for them.
Here is my dilemma. I work for my local school district. So according to my state and local laws, I am not to bring my firearm onto school property AT ALL. This also includes locking it in my car while I am working. I had to work until 10:00pm, and here I am writing this the following day, and the shooters still havenât been apprehended, or even identified. Can I tell you the fear and anxiety that coursed through my veins as I drove through my community just trying to commute home from work? With these people still on the loose I was afraid I was going to get carjacked or killed, with no way to protect myself just because I am observing and adhering to the law as a responsibility armed American citizen.
Why is it that the law abiding citizens are always the ones with their hands tied behind their back when others are breaking the law?
@Shadow2f5, you have my sympathy. That is a vey hard dilemma. I have a friend who was in a similar situation in that his wife (works in the medical field) and they had a situation around the hospital she works for. I am going to spare you the advice to break the law/rules, but there are no other options unless you are able to find some off-campus parking that you can keep items of defense locked in while you are on school property.
But this is the whole problem with the gun control argument. It only makes the law-abiders defenseless. Clearly the perpetrators were not worried about breaking any laws. Its like every time there is a âsituationâ like this, which is thankfully rare, there is a call for increased gun control, as if one or more laws are going to stop a criminal. The solution is less gun control and more education. Less gun laws, make it easier for law-abiding citizens to get and have firearms to defend themselves, and take the government money saved and put it into firearms education in schools, just like they teach sex ed. But the other side of that is notice how gun-free zones are disproportionally targeted. Perhaps this could have been less of a tragedy if they had encountered a trained gun owner early in their rampage?
So, we who follow the rules become prey for those who donât. Does your district have any kind of armed security staff that you can sign up for?
The solution for gun violence is the same as hate speech. More of it. How do you fight words and ideas that you donât like? Simple, exercise your own free speech. How do you protect yourself against crime and violence? Be prepared to meet the threat.
I totally agree with law abiding citizens becoming defenseless because of the law. Especially when criminals donât care about the law.
This is the screwed up thing about my district. I am actually part of the Security staff. Sadly I am not allowed to be armed. We have school resource officers, and an outside company who is contracted to provide armed security services during the school day, which dos me no good as I work on the second shift after the schools are closed. So in order to become one, I would have to give up my pension and benefits as I am directly employed by the district.
I am well aware of the dangers of âGun Free Zonesâ and had often spoken out about it to my employer. The problem is it is a mandated state law in PA that ALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS be Gun Free.
And the other problem is, in my area anyway, this is not a rare occurrence. This is actually the third shooting in my neighborhood in the last year.
Itâs easier to punish well-intentioned, law-abiding citizens than it is to capture criminals with ill intent.
I canât tell you what to do. I always recommend following the law. If youâre genuinely forced to decide between following the law or being safe, then you may have to get creative. Are there other defense tools you could use? Are you willing to accept the risk that your firearm will be discovered?
I always keep a pocket knife and a tactical flashlight on me regardless if I have my firearm or not. Unfortunately I am not willing to accept the risk of losing my job or being arrested.
Unfortunately I just bought this house a couple years ago, and with my income, this is the only area I can afford to live. In order to park off of school property I would have to park a mile away in an unlit parking lot with no surveillance cameras, or three miles away at the casino. Iâd really like to get myself a protective vest but unfortunatelyâŠfunds are always an issue.
As far as the house is concerned though, we reinforced the front door, the sliding deck doors are secured with 2Ă4âs in the tracks when we lock the house down ar night. Security sensors on all doors and windows. The glass on the sliding door isnât ballistic, but we also have Alexa set up to call for help when she hears breaking glass, smoke alarmsâŠetc. And we have flood lights set up around the house⊠Coming into this neighborhood we knew from the start that we would have to make some kind of investment in the security of the property.
As far as weapons of opportunity? I always keep a few things handy. Pocket knives are something that really isnât enforced in my district. All of the custodians, maintenance personnel, and security guards (like me) carry one. Itâs just guns that are the hot ticket issue as it seems.
Any other ideas? Iâm all ears. Thank you for your concern.
I am brainstorming here - in your circumstance I would have called the non-emergency phone for the local Police. I would have explained my situation (I would not mention my firearm at all) and requested Police escort from the school to home. If they denied that request, I would request they meet you at your house to ensure safe transit from your vehicle into your house. If they deny that request, then I would be on the phone with my wife - have her turn on outside lights, and survey the area before moving from the vehicle into the house as quickly as you can.
As long as you are in your vehicle it will provide a lot of personnel protection due to its mobility as well as significant weight advantage over anyone on foot that might shoot at you - in other words, your running vehicle can be used as a self-defense weapon.
Other than call the police. This is exactly what I did. I called my wife to let her know I was back into the neighborhood. When I pulled into my driveway all the outside lights were on and my wife was at the front door with her CZ-75 compact.
I didnât call the police because I knew they were still actively searching for the shooter (s). I passed by at least three patrol vehicles on my way home.
For a long time Iâve concluded that the left wants us to be victims so they could use our death as ammo to disarm more Americans. Itâs the only thing that makes sense. Otherwise, why wouldnât they want us to protect ourselves? Why go to such extraordinary lengths to disarm the populace unless it was specifically with the intent of knowing that every loss of life by a firearm furthers their agenda to pass more restrictive gun laws? Reason and logic rarely play into the leftâs thinkingâŠto them, they want to remove the threat all together but forget that criminals donât follow the lawsâŠthus why they are called criminals.
I guess one possibly option you have is to start up your own 1 man private security company. You create a company name and get it registered in your county, get the necessary permits and licenses to carry at ALL TIMES, and possibly even request your school district hire you as an emergency armed security guard so you can LEGALLY carry on school grounds. OtherwiseâŠI got nothing.
The only issue with that one is that it looks just like a gun and that could cause issues.
@Shadow2f5 - it is nice to know that the police were there. If the worst happened, theyâd be close enough to respond with emergency first aid. (Not the best option, but at least youâre not in the middle of nowhere without helpâŠ)
Iâve seen videos of other more traditional-styled pepper sprays, showing the tester being far more debilitated. In this video, they all appeared to not suffer enough to stop an assailant. Typically you would not be shooting someone, pepper spray nor handgun, at 60 feet. Looking at the cloud this produces, at typical self-defense ranges, you would become just as debilitated as the assailant. As the moderator stated, it looks too much like a real handgun, creating a host of other issues. I would recommend POM, it is small, easy to carry and deploy, and far less expensive. It also does not create a cloud of irritants, so in CBQ, most of the spray will get on the assailant, not you. Though, I understand, deploying any of these devices CBQ will result in your getting some of it on you.
Shooters have been arrested. Theyâre off the streetâŠfor now.
All started as âA case of mistaken identityâ. Not that it makes me feel any better or safer. All this says to me is there are a bunch of untrained, un discplined, trigger-happy, emotional KIDS in my community without any guidance or supervision.
Get out the vote!
Several years ago your Attorney General flipped the script and cancelled reciprocity law. With the stroke of a pen she dropped some states. Pennsylvania has reciprocity agreements with 19 states. ⊠Non-resident CCW licenses are honored from the states on Pennsylvaniaâs reciprocity list with the exception of those from Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Utah and Virginia.
Iâm in a similar environment which places strict limits. Lots of ideas on this thread. Too bad to park your vehicle outside your âfirearms-restrictedâ area is so far. Wish there was an affordable way to get you safely to your carâs sanctuary if you had to park a mile away. Iâve had to become creative with non-restricted/legal methods, when I cannot gun carry.
I worked at a University for 20 years. Although not against the law to carry on campus, employees, students, contractors working for the University, public attending University events etc. were all banned by policy from carrying.
I always carried a backpack from the parking lot to my office. That backpack had a gun in it for 20 years. When I got to my office I would lock the backpack in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet. Whenever I left my office my office door was locked also. Better than leaving it in an unattended vehicle out of reach and ripe to be stolen.
Pretty sure my Boss knew the gun was there but he never perused it. He is a great friend!
Iâve been in similar situations and itâs the ever popular âdammed if you do, dammed of you donâtâ situations. Itâs really screwed up that you canât even carry a pocket knife. You could carry a small pocket sized can of WD40 and use that for self defense, kinda like mace only not.
Your family plan sounds very good and Iâm very happy you guys came up with a plan. To bad you canât have âKevin McAllisterâ to help with home defense, that kid was a genius.
