Recently, the St. Louis Police Department released security footage of the 2022 school shooting at the city’s Central Visual and Performing Arts High School (CVPA). I initially posted about the CVPA shooting here.

To summarize, 19-year-old former student Orlando Harris entered the school with a legally purchased AR-15 and 600 rounds of ammunition. Tragically, the shooting resulted in the deaths of 15-year-old student Alexzandria Bell and 61-year-old teacher Jean Kuczka. Harris was killed in a shootout with the police.

Initially, I was going to question the rationale behind releasing the security footage. However, the St. Louis police explained that the video does not include any footage of the victims being killed and that its release was required under an open records law.

Then, I read something that caught my attention. The family of Jean Kuczka believes the shooting could have been prevented if there had been an armed school resource officer (SRO). Instead, CVPA had unarmed security guards. Her husband believes that armed SROs act as a deterrent to school shootings, and her son shares this view. While I’m deeply sorry for their loss, I must respectfully disagree with their assessment.

Harris was armed with an AR-15 and had fifteen 30-round magazines, totaling 600 rounds of ammunition. He wore seven magazines across his chest in a chest rig, while the remaining eight were in a field bag he carried.

The AR-15 is a military-style rifle designed to inflict maximum bodily damage. SROs are typically armed with 9mm handguns. Even if there were SROs at CVPA, there is little evidence to suggest they could have stopped Harris. The police at both Uvalde and Parkland refused to act during their respective incidents because the shooters were armed with AR-15s, demonstrating how much this weapon is feared by law enforcement.

Some might suggest arming SROs with AR-15s as well. However, as I often say, the answer to gun violence in schools isn’t more guns, as that would be like trying to cure cancer with more cancer. Would you really want your kids in a school where the halls are patrolled by someone carrying an AR-15? One wrong move by the SRO or a student could result in someone going to the morgue instead of their next class.

So, what is the solution? That’s simple, remove the ‘shooting’ part from the school shooting equation by enacting tougher gun control legislation. Harris’ family tried to have the gun removed from the home by police nine days before the shooting due to concerns about his mental health. Missouri, however, lacks red flag laws. Instead, the Missouri legislature is attempting to pass the Anti-Red Flag Gun Seizure Act, which has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.

You know, if politicians on the right genuinely cared about their constituents instead of focusing on ‘sticking it to the libs’ or debating what is or isn’t ‘woke,’ we might actually see a significant reduction or even elimination of school and mass shootings in my lifetime. Unfortunately, I doubt that will happen as long as right-wing politicians continue to take money from the gun lobby.

There’s a quote often attributed to Thomas Jefferson that says, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” It seems that patriots and tyrants have now been replaced by teachers and school children.

(Sources)

• First Alert 4 Investigates: Lessons learned from released CVPA school shooting videos
• St. Louis police release 2022 CVPA shooting videos. Here’s what they show