Letter: How many are armed?
Published 8:14 pm Wednesday, October 31, 2018
- East Rowan High School Resource Officer Tommie Cato engages a reported "man with a gun" during a training exercise. Training officer Master Deputy Jay Davis (right) watches as Cato runs through the drill. School Resource Officers from Rowan County Sheriff's Office and Salisbury Police took part in a solo active shooter at Force Tec training facility in Cleveland in August. JON C. LAKEY / SALISBURY POST
It is sad that two high school students were involved in a fight that resulted one shooting the other. However, this could just as easily have been a multiple-victim shooting. Thank the Lord it was not.
“How did that gun get into the school building?” the reporter asked. “We don’t have that information yet,” replied the police officer. “We’re still investigating … There was a resource officer in the building.”
How the gun got into the school building is no mystery. It is likely the shooter carried it into the building unchallenged. As diligent as resource officers can be, they are not prompted into action until the shooting begins.
The real question is, how many other students are currently armed within our school buildings and how many visitors enter our school buildings armed? A single portal of entry though a metal detector would answer this question. It seems I have heard this before … but not to worry, nothing like that could happen here.
— Chuck Hughes
Salisbury