On April 10, there was yet another shooting inside of a U.S. school. A gunman walked into North Park Elementary School in San Bernadino California and shot his wife and two of her students (killing his wife and one of the students) before turning the gun on himself. That shooting, once again, raises the debate of having armed security in schools.

How can safety be ensured for students while they are at school? Many parents fear that their children are not entirely safe during the day. Some parents trust the judgement of school districts, but others think there is too much or not enough levels of security for students.

There is not a simple solution to the issue of student safety, and this question cannot be answered with a simple generalization- it requires real thought. However, based on the opinions of Solon High School (SHS) staff members and experts, I believe SHS would be safer with the addition of more armed police officers.

I do not support a militarized school where big scary guys carry around AK47’s. I do think, however, that there should be some sort of guard that is highly trained in firearm safety should be in the school at all times in case there was an emergency. Solon does have security guards, but their main responsibilities are to monitor student activity and the flow of visitors. A best case scenario would be to have a police officer on campus, but I would be satisfied with a highly trained security guard, if a police officer is not a feasible option. Anyone who is present and armed for protection in a school must understand that firing a weapon is a last resort.

Without even entering into any hypotheticals, having armed security can act as a deterrent to an attack on SHS.

“Historically, active killers seek target-rich environments that are not well defended,” said Lieutenant Bruce Felton, an officer at the Solon Police department who is familiar with police and security protocol. “A school is inherently such a target, and adding armed professionals can make the school less desirable as a target, as well as giving intended victims a stronger chance of survival when there are those present who can match the firepower of the shooter.”

The threat of the attacker being met by defense is enough to stop most people from trying something vicious and cold-blooded. But what happens if that isn’t enough, and someone does go forward with a plan to harm students and staff members inside SHS?

That is when it is most important to have someone inside that can quickly respond to a developing situation, and keep the most people safe.

“I think if you ever have armed guards in the building or a presence of police officers, it helps out with the safety,” said Josh Frazier, an assistant principal at SHS. “Having someone who is trained in crisis management who can respond to situations is beneficial to have.”

Police can work in two different ways, one is that they respond well to a situation in the moment, and the other is that they can prevent the whole situation from begining

“A strong police presence is a deterrent for a lot of people [thinking about causing a problem],” Frazier said. “We have police officers who are routinely in and out of the building on a daily and weekly basis. They come through and want to get to know the kids so that in the event of an emergency they can respond appropriately.”

Not everyone sees this issue the same way, and there are good arguments against more intense levels of security in schools that are worth talking about. For example, SHS Social Studies teacher Sean Fisher mentioned that a firearm in the wrong hands could pose a great risk to all.

“I certainly don’t advocate putting guns in the hands of people who are not trained [enough],” Fisher said. “I don’t think just giving them a bunch of handguns is going to make us safer; I think the odds of those guns getting into the hands of somebody that shouldn’t have them would increase more than the benefit of them being armed just for that rare occasion when they’d have to use them.”

Arguments such as Fishers are definitely valid. I would not want to send my kids to be protected by security guards who have no training in using the weapons that they have. We are lucky at Solon to have security guards with lots of training. But since that training does not involve firearms, I think we should have a bigger presence of police officers at SHS.

Lieutenant Felton believes that it would be beneficial to have a police presence in schools all the time.

“Placing city police officers in the schools would be great; you know they are trained, have been vetted, and have arrest powers.”

There are certain things that must be addressed if a school were to enlist armed security according to Felton. He is not opposed to having armed security guards in schools under the correct conditions, however.

“If care is used to select other armed professionals, a comparable level of competence [to police officers] is achievable at less cost,” Felton said. “Additionally, placing police officers in the school will often cause a hardship for the police departments, who are already being asked to do more with less.”

In addition,  many people believe that a good alternative to guns could be other less lethal weapons— things like pepper spray or tasers. Those may provide a good alternative in dealing with less severe, but still threatening situations. However, Felton’s concern about those alternative options is that no guard wants to step up to a gunfight with anything less than a gun. He says it’s just not fair to not put the defender on the same level as the attacker.

His argument is logical. Would you rather bring a knife to a gunfight or a gun to a knife fight? When there are lives on the line you cannot afford to be unprotected or underprotected. It may seem like overkill or have the potential to be dangerous, but if SHS has the right people to protect us than it can be beneficial.The Solon Police Department , SHS administrators, and our current SHS security staff do a wonderful job keeping us safe, but many will agree that there is always room for improvement. That improvement should come with the use of armed Solon police officers in each Solon school.

Yes, I know it would be costly, and because police departments are always forced to do more with less, it is unlikely to come to fruition. It may even seem like too much precaution for something that likely won’t ever happen, but can we afford to gamble like that? Ask parents in San Bernadino, ask parents in Newtown, ask parents from Columbine- they would have spared no expense in preparation for such an attack, if they knew what was going to happen to their children.

We know that the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun. So as a society we need to stop being scared of the idea of guns as protective tools. Instead we need to embrace extensive training and safety with firearms. That way, in the horrible event of SHS needing that kind of protection, we can minimize the harm that an attacker could cause to students, staff and teachers.

SHS is not allowed to reveal the exact police presence at any given time, but here is my call. First, as a student, if you ever see anything that might be unsafe, tell someone immediately before it is too late. If you are an administrator or a member of the police department and you have some authority- give us the resources to have the safest learning environment possible. Even if that level of force appears to be an excessive amount of caution, it is always better to be safe than sorry.